Consulting Practice of Carlos Stern, Ph. D.

• Provision of Second Opinion
• Contractor Selection & Oversight
• Environmental Forensic Analysis
• Innovative Problem-Solving
• Risk & Technology Assessment
• Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy
• Environmental Liability Insurance
• Due Diligence/Compliance Reviews
• Litigation Support/Expert Testimony

When environmental problems arise, managers have little choice but to turn either to in-house staff or to outside consultants. In reaching their decisions on how best to proceed, these managers often find themselves in the position of having to make strategic and tactical decisions with little in the way of independent technical support. Since these judgments can have significant financial and public relations implications, corporations, law firms, and government entities may find it beneficial to obtain a competent and independent second opinion that can integrate the multiple disciplines that are crucial to solving environmental problems in a cost-effective manner.

Carlos Stern specializes in providing second opinions, contractor oversight, and expert testimony on a broad range of environmental and energy topics. He holds a Ph.D. in Natural Resources Conservation from Cornell University, with emphasis on economics, civil engineering, and public policy, and an undergraduate degree in chemistry from the University of Cape Town.

Among other credentials, Dr. Stern was a tenured professor of environmental economics at the University of Connecticut; and was the principal investigator for several research contracts funded by EPA, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Science Foundation and the State of Connecticut.

Carlos Stern specializes in providing second opinions, contractor oversight, and expert testimony on a broad range of environmental and energy topics. He holds a Ph.D. in Natural Resources Conservation from Cornell University, with emphasis on economics, civil engineering, and public policy, and an undergraduate degree in chemistry from the University of Cape Town. Among other credentials, Dr. Stern was a tenured professor of environmental economics at the University of Connecticut; and was the principal investigator for several research contracts funded by EPA, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Science Foundation and the State of Connecticut.

From 1977 through 1981, Dr. Stern served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, where he managed that service's far-reaching environmental, occupational health and safety, and energy conservation programs, dealing with toxic and hazardous materials, health effects of Agent Orange (dioxin), groundwater contamination, microwave risks, noise, and environmental impact assessments. Later, he served as Director of Environmental Programs for the Chemical Manufacturers Association, and as Vice President of Risk International, a division of a leading insurance brokerage. Dr. Stern has been a consultant for over twenty years.

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Dr. Stern is an independent consultant. For that reason, he has no incentive other than technical merit to advise clients and recommend strategies for addressing environmental problems. He has provided second opinions to clients in many different contexts, including as a technical consultant at active and former industrial waste disposal sites, commercial landfills, and recycling operations regulated by EPA. He performed such engagements for:

• steel companies
• petroleum refiners
• chemical companies
• energy and telecommunication utilities
• galvanizers and metal finishers
• semiconductor manufacturer
• commercial recycling companies
• forest product companies, including lumber and pole pressure treaters a major military facility government-owned, contractor-operated), included on the federal Superfund list.
• a truck spill of dry cleaning solvents adjacent to an interstate highway

These second opinions were provided in the context of assessing risks, conducting regulatory compliance reviews and audits, identifying appropriate and cost-effective technical solutions to environmental problems, and independently determining the technical feasibility of the viable alternatives.

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Based on his independence and substantial experience with both the regulatory and technical aspects of many environmental issues, Dr. Stern has often been called upon to review the qualifications of prospective contractors, to advise management in their selection, and to coordinate and review their work at various intervals of progress. More specifically, he has:

• Coordinated remedial investigation and feasibility studies for contaminated industrial sites. Contaminants of concern included PCBs, heavy metals, halogenated and other solvents, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, and petroleum distillates. Remediation technologies included:
• Biologic degradation
• Incineration,
• Solvent extraction and
• Stabilization/solidification prior to disposal.
• Served as a member of teams consisting of senior corporate executives, hydrogeologists, and engineering consultants in a technical and cost-effectiveness review of remediation and waste minimization technologies. In this capacity, he performed many different roles, including serving as the chief developer of technical appendices for permit applications for treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste. When asked to do so, he has developed "how-clean-is-clean" levels for hazardous waste constituents.
• Been retained to oversee the performance of contractors responsible for site characterization and report preparation to ensure quality control and defensible results.
• Was the owner's representative in the closure of a large industrial property in New England that was subsequently re-developed into a modern shopping center.
• In the case of a large closed industrial property with major fuel oil contamination, served as the former owner/operator's technical representative to oversee studies and reports prepared for submission to the regulatory agencies and to ensure the effectiveness of the remediation projects that have been implemented.

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Dr. Stern has served as a technical consultant on issues related to historical use and disposal of chemicals to determine their probable relationship to existing contamination at specific sites. This work involved forensic analysis of past industrial practices and an understanding of fate and transport of contaminants in their relevant environmental context.

This work was performed in the context of hazardous waste insurance recovery, administrative proceedings, and litigation. For example, Dr. Stern worked

• On behalf of holders of Comprehensive General Liability (CGL) as well as Environmental Impairment Liability (EIL) policies against their insurance carriers;
• On a case by public utilities concerning the recoverability of environmental remediation costs through rate increases;
• On claims by the current land owner against a former owner/operator concerning their respective responsibility for groundwater contamination by industrial solvents; and
• On a damages claim against a scrap metal broker who was sold junked electrical equipment containing PCB fluids.

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For corporate clients, Dr. Stern has conducted audits to ensure sound and efficient practices in addition to compliance with environmental regulations, waste minimization, and energy conservation programs. He has provided these services for petroleum refineries and firms involved in pressure treatment of wood with preservative chemicals, pentacholorophenol, creosote, and cooper-chromate-arsenate. Additionally, he has been retained by counsel for both buyers and sellers to conduct, review, and edit environmental due diligence reports of facilities that present potential environmental liabilities.

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Dr. Stern has:

• Served as the owner/operator's representative in overseeing environmental investigations and remedial activities associated with the re-opening after a 5-year shut-down and subsequent operations of a petroleum refinery and oil terminal in the Midwest.
• Worked closely with counsel in formulating the range of the likely liabilities involved in the acquisition of a petroleum refinery and pipeline in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
• Conducted a study of the market potential for zinc that could be recovered by recycling a regulated zinc-containing hazardous waste that would otherwise be disposed of in landfills.
• Developed the most cost-effective approach for disposing of a large quantity of mixed waste - i.e., solid wastes that are subject to both EPA and Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversight - and obtained the needed change in regulation from both federal agencies as well as the relevant state agencies.
• Obtained regulatory approval for the on-site disposal of approximately 500,000 tons of contaminated soil, including lead and PCBs, at an average cost of about $15 per ton, only about 10% of the cost of off-site disposal.
• Oversaw the demolition of a large industrial plant (former friction products factory) contaminated with asbestos and heavy metals. Regulatory and community approval was obtained to permit burial of the demolition debris and most waste materials on-site, and the property was subsequently landscaped to provide wildlife habitat. The client saved at least $5 million in this manner.
• Developed the plan and obtained approval for remediating an aquifer contaminated with elevated levels of naturally-occurring constituents, including radium and naturally occurring radionuclides, that saved the client several million dollars over the alternative pump-and-treat approaches that had been considered.
• Obtained regulatory approval for disposing of PCB-contaminated soil and other media in an extremely cost-effective manner.
• Studied the economic potential, technical, and regulatory concerns of recycling industrial and post-consumer residuals.
• Provided the technical support for obtaining permits for both hazardous and non-hazardous waste landfills, as a core member of teams consisting of lawyers, hydrogeologists and engineers. These assignments entailed developing technical justifications, communicating findings to public officials and agency staff, and testifying at public hearings.
• Prepared formal comments on EPA proposed actions and negotiated with federal and state agencies as well as citizen groups to pre-empt Superfund or other enforcement actions.
• Reviewed studies and investigations performed for EPA, and drafted comments and counter-proposals of defensible, cost-effective remedial options.
• Worked closely with regulatory agencies and private owners of hazardous waste landfills to obtain approval to dispose of waste that is classified both as hazardous and low-level radioactive.
• Advised federal, state, and local planning and environmental agencies on policy reviews, goal setting, budget planning, training, personnel evaluations, and compliance audits.

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Dr. Stern has:

• Coordinated the preparation of risk assessments for a wide range of remediation projects involving chlorinated dioxins and furans, creosote and coal tar residuals, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, and heavy metals, including lead and arsenic.
• Conducted numerous technology assessments in the area of environmental remediation and energy conservation for both public and private clients.
• Prepared a risk assessment for a defense contractor about to undertake a new project.

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Dr. Stern has:

• Served as an expert witness on several cases, including historical use and disposal of chemicals used by industry prior to the 1970s, the period when the first comprehensive environmental laws were enacted.
• Served as expert witness in a case before the FERC on behalf of a consortium of natural gas utilities contesting a proposed rate increase by a major interstate pipeline to pay for PCB remediation at compressor stations where liquid wastes had been disposed of over a relatively long period of time.
• Been retained by counsel as expert witness in litigation between corporations and their insurers regarding the "sudden and accidental" aspect of the contamination requiring costly response actions.
• Been retained by counsel to provide technical litigation support in a case resulting from a leak of petroleum products from an underground common carrier pipeline traversing a residential neighborhood, in which nearby residents alleged adverse health effects and property damage.
• Served in support of counsel to defend a corporate client and individual staff who had been charged by the State of New York in the illegal disposal of hazardous waste (barium) and other serious violations. The client was found innocent.

Dr. Stern was retained by the City of Alexandria to serve as the environmental member of a team of experts to contest the decision by the Governor of Virginia to build a new football stadium on the site of the former Potomac Rail Yard, a large urban "Brownfield" that had become available for re-development. Dr Stern subsequently reviewed the environmental studies and companion risk assessments for the property that had been prepared under US EPA oversight and advised the City on the implications for the future uses of the site.

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Dr. Stern was principal investigator on several studies funded by the US Government, the State of Connecticut and other organizations to study the technical, economic and social options for conserving energy from fossil fuels. This line of investigation was continued during his tenure as Visiting Scientist in the Office of the Director of the US Geological Survey and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Environment and Safety. The technologies studied included nuclear power, hydroelectric power, various forms of solar energy, and ocean thermal energy. The technology assessments also covered the economic and social factors important to energy conservation.

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Dr. Stern was Vice President and Senior Scientist of Risk Science International, a company established to serve the needs of underwriters in providing their clients coverage for a wide array of environmental risks of both a sudden and accidental nature as well as those that were non-sudden and gradual. In that role, Dr. Stern was responsible for preparing risk assessments and reviewing risk assessments prepared by staff and others. Such risk assessments included dioxin-contaminated properties in Missouri, facilities licensed to treat, store and dispose of regulated hazardous wastes, electronics and semi-conductor manufacturers, chemical plants and oil refineries, underground petroleum pipelines and terminals.

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