SCS Engineers is pleased to welcome John Tsun as its National Industrial Clean Air Act (CAA) Practice Leader. In his role, John will focus on increasing SCS’s services to both public and private sectors related to evolving regulatory policies stemming from the Clean Air Act (CAA). John will be based out of SCS’s Suffern, NY office, serving clients along the eastern seaboard and nationwide.
Mr. Tsun brings over three decades of extensive experience and qualifications in environmental engineering, air quality services, and regulatory compliance. His background includes managing air permitting and compliance projects for sectors including, but not limited to, petroleum, pharmaceutical, chemical, and power-generation facilities and governmental agencies. His specialization is in air-quality-related solutions that include regulatory compliance audits, emissions inventories, emissions control selections, permitting strategies, ambient air-quality monitoring, air dispersion and consequence modeling, soil vapor dispersion modeling, vapor intrusion barrier installation, vapor intrusion sampling, vibration monitoring, bi-axial tilt monitoring, and noise monitoring.
Mr. Tsun is knowledgeable in regulatory applicability, such as New Source Review and Prevention of Significant Deterioration, preparing air permit applications such as Title V computer simulation modeling, and compliance reporting. For our clients, Mr. Tsun’s experience translates into streamlined permits and compliance obligations that are practical while controlling emissions appropriately. These comprehensive attributes are particularly important to SCS Engineers with in-house resources to navigate the permitting process, secure the necessary approvals, and offer solutions that save time and money.
For many industries, CAA is critical because the evolution of regulations impacts capital expenditures, especially those with older facilities, which may be required to install pollution control technologies or upgrade equipment to meet current emission standards. Consequently, implementing and maintaining pollution controls increases operating costs if the environmental solutions are not identified and planned sustainably.
Air permitting is often the critical path element in a construction schedule for new facilities and must be completed before construction can commence. Guiding clients through properly identifying emission sources and inventories, selecting proper control technologies, and efficient modeling will minimize timelines that are important for construction timelines when “speed-to-market” is crucial.
“Our clients face ever-increasing challenges and scrutiny in complying with various State and Federal air and other environmental regulations. John has decades of proven experience helping clients successfully navigate these challenges. We are delighted to have him join our team and expand the CAA services we offer our clients,” SCS Engineers Senior Vice President Michael Miller says.
Clean Air Act Resources:
Join SCS Engineers at the Environment, Labor & Safety+ Conference (ELS+) on April 21-23 at the Omni Charlotte Hotel in Charlotte, NC. The ELS+ Conference is a vital platform for safety, environmental compliance, and HR professionals in the meat and poultry industry.
The conference tackles emerging trends and real-world challenges by delivering practical, actionable insights that help you keep your workforce safe, facilities compliant, and teams engaged. Attendees will benefit from a collaborative, confidential environment where they can exchange strategies, discuss challenges, and learn from industry peers.
ELS+ equips you with tools, knowledge, and talking points to bring back to your plant, helping you drive real, positive change. Whether you’re managing safety programs, navigating complex environmental regulations, or leading HR initiatives, this event offers the expertise and connections you need to succeed.
Click here to register and connect with SCS Engineers at ELS+ to move your team and your company forward.
Do you represent one of the 10,000 companies in the U.S. doing business in California that will be affected by sweeping new climate-related disclosure requirements recently signed into law?
California requirements for public disclosures cover corporate climate-related financial risk (SB 261) and corporate GHG emissions/targets (SB 253). While these state climate disclosure laws are subject to court challenges, they are still in effect, so companies are collecting data now.
The requirements will impact public and private companies in the U.S. doing business in California, including companies headquartered outside of the state.
If you reply yes to the questions below, you must report your company’s Climate Disclosure starting in 2026.
This live educational webinar, now recorded for your convenience, highlights these new disclosure requirements for climate disclosures, applies the standards, and provides the related assurance requirements for each. This one-hour webinar is free, non-commercial, and relevant to all industries. Watch now!
Meet our panelists.
Our panelists explain the carbon accounting expectations, materiality considerations, and what to do now to prepare. We’ll provide an update on the net impact of timely court decisions affecting California requirements, as well as the impact of similar disclosure requirements under the CSRD rules of the European Union.
You can start or refine your roadmap for the journey to mandatory reporting and reflect upon the relationship of these disclosures to U.S. firms remaining globally competitive.
SCS Engineers welcomes Dave Dirkin, who joins the firm as a Senior Environmental Services Project Manager in the U.S. Southwest region. Mr. Dirkin is a Professional Geologist (PG) in California, Oregon, and Washington and brings over two decades of expertise to SCS.
“Dave is an outstanding addition to SCS Engineers. He strongly benefits our clients with his deep understanding of federal regulatory framework requirements and experience implementing modern remedial technologies that keep projects moving,” says SCS Vice President and Project Director Ashley Hutchens.
Mr. Dirkin has extensive federal regulatory experience and works closely with the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), California Regional Water Quality Control Boards (RWQCB), South Coast Air Quality Management Districts (AQMD), and local authorities, e.g., fire departments and environmental health agencies.
As a PG across the Pacific seaboard, with extensive experience in subsurface characterization of soil, soil vapor, and groundwater, he will support remediation for properties impacted by contaminants such as fuel hydrocarbons, chlorinated solvents, and heavy metals.
Dave is recognized for his excellent client relationships and communication skills, which are significant to SCS and its clients. At SCS, he will manage projects for commercial, industrial, and federal facilities such as petrochemical refineries, fuel distribution pipelines, terminals, service stations, retail and industrial dry cleaners, and military installations.
His expertise is valuable for municipalities, developers, and banks when due diligence, including complex Phase II investigations and remediation projects, is essential to recycle strategic properties. Well-versed in coordinating and permitting work, including air quality management for Title V permitting, he supports all related stakeholder communication activities, providing more comprehensive environmental services.
Additional Resources:
Join SCS Engineers at the Wisconsin Safety Council’s Annual Conference April 14 – 16, 2025 at Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells.
We are proud to participate in Wisconsin’s industry event focused on health, safety, and human resource best practices. Now in its 83rd year, the conference features 50+ educational sessions, 200 exhibitors, and five professional development courses, offering valuable insights into workplace safety and regulatory compliance.
Connect with our experts to discuss waste management safety, environmental compliance, and innovative solutions for workplace risk reduction. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain the latest safety insights, network with industry leaders, and explore cutting-edge strategies for a safer work environment. We look forward to seeing you there – register now!
SCS Engineers welcomes Russell Wharton, PE, to SCS Engineers as our new Project Director in Nashville, Tennessee. Russ will run the office that serves the state and brings to diverse SCS clients over three decades of expertise in civil engineering design, municipal, environmental, and geotechnical engineering, architecture, alternative energy (including renewable natural gas), and consulting.
With his years of experience in civil and environmental engineering, Russ’s expertise includes construction management and quality assurance, saving clients time and money. His ability to incorporate LEED elements and sustainability procedures with minimal cost impacts brings more value when applying design elements in the field. These strategies help avoid cost overruns and project delays.
While having experience working on national accounts spanning from the West to East coasts, Russ’s work experience includes counties and cities throughout Tennessee, serving as the client contact and managing regulatory needs, including federal and state agencies and Authority Having Jurisdiction requirements for entitlements (rezoning, special use, variances, design review approvals), and permitting, including such clients as New York City, the Port Authority of NY and NJ, and various international airports.
His broad development design experience – facility siting, grading/drainage, utility (water, sewer, stormwater), pavement, erosion, and sediment control is especially helpful for many businesses and facilities facing stricter regulatory policies necessary to comply with Clean Water regulatory actions.
As a professional engineer and general contractor licensed in Tennessee, Russ earned a Vanderbilt B.E. in civil and environmental engineering. He is also an active member of Rotary International.
Please join SCS Engineers in congratulating our Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), Nathan Hamm, for his new position. As CSO, Hamm will lead SCS efforts for strategic planning, identification of short-and long-term growth objectives, and new business and expansion opportunities.
Hamm will coordinate and facilitate the optimization of the marketing and business development efforts across SCS to support strategic efforts. Further, he will lead the Client Success Program, which seeks to provide the highest value to our clients. As a professional engineer, Nathan Hamm has nearly three decades of experience and an ideal blend of client-focused consulting, business acumen, and hands-on work with our strategic initiatives to draw from.
Further, his previous experience as a Client Manager, Project Manager/Director, and the leader of our Leachate and Industrial Wastewater Treatment strategic initiative provides him with a broad perspective, key relationships, and strategic insight across SCS and the industries we serve. Hamm will oversee the program strategies that keep SCS’s deep bench of professionals poised to provide sustainable, full-service solutions.
SCS Engineers CEO Doug Doerr says, “Nathan Hamm’s background as part of SCS’s executive team, his work with our talented professionals, and his legacy of success with clients are key as SCS continues evolving to serve our core and expanding industry base.”
Additional Information:
Addition of PFAS with final toxicity values
On January 3, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the automatic addition of nine per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances to the list of chemicals covered by the Toxics Release Inventory. The nine PFAS were automatically added for reporting due to EPA having finalized a toxicity value during 2024, and whose identity is not claimed as confidential business information. These nine PFAS are:
Addition of PFAS no longer claimed as confidential business information
Under NDAA section 7321(e), EPA must review CBI claims before adding a PFAS to the TRI list if the chemical identity is subject to a claim of protection from disclosure under 5 U.S.C. 552(a). EPA previously identified Acetic acid, [(γ-ω-perfluoro-C8-10-alkyl)thio] derivs., Bu esters for addition to the TRI list based on the NDAA’s provision to include specific PFAS upon the NDAA’s enactment. Due to CBI claims related to its identity, this PFAS was not added to the TRI list at that time. The identity of this chemical was subsequently declassified in an update to the Toxic Substances Control Act Inventory in May 2024. Because its identity is no longer confidential, it was added to the TRI list.
These nine newly added PFAS, along with the previous 196 TRI-listed PFAS, are also subject to EPA’s action in October 2023 to classify all PFAS subject to TRI reporting as chemicals of special concern. Among other impacts, this removes the use of a reporting exemption that allowed facilities to avoid reporting information on PFAS when those chemicals were used in small concentrations.
Additional TRI Reporting Resources:
The annual Environmental Compliance Conference returns to North Carolina in Raleigh-Durham on January 30. Join your fellow environmental professionals in an insightful event that focuses on regulations and ways to ensure compliance. This conference dives deep into legislation and policies currently impacting the air, water, waste, and natural resource industries. Build your network of resources, register for the event today.
EPA updated its Compliance and Emissions Data Reporting Interface (CEDRI) for the electronic reporting of air emissions under the NESHAP related to MSW landfills. Three new reporting templates were added on October 15, 2024, each linked to its corresponding Excel spreadsheet template. These include the
The Semi-Annual report is the most significant because MSW landfills have 90 days to begin using the Excel template. Reports due January 13, 2025, or any time after that must include this electronic filing.
EPA’s color-coded template provides a bit of instruction.
The gray tab (Company Information) contains general information likely to be unchanged from report to report. After completing the gray tab, you may save the workbook as a site-specific template to use in subsequent reports to limit subsequent data entry.
Complete the green tabs (Certification, CMS Info, Description of Changes, Exceedances, and Number of Exceedances) as appropriate to complete the semi-annual report.
Complete the blue tabs (Deviation Detail, Deviation Summary, CMS Detail, and CMS Summary) if deviations or CMS out-of-control periods or downtime periods occur according to §63.10(e) and as defined in §63.1990.
The orange tabs (Well Expansion, Operational Statements, Site Specific Treatment, Enhanced Monitoring, Bypass CDT Not Operating, and Corrective Action Analysis) cover information required by the semi-annual report requirements of §63.1981(h); be sure to complete the requisite tabs.
Professionals at SCS Engineers will post more guidance but plan to continue preparing our clients’ semi-annual reports as we do now, and completing and submitting this spreadsheet. Please work with your air emissions specialist or project manager, or contact us for support.
Additional Resources:
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