Experts

Patricia Derocher is the President of AlterEcho and Chief Operating Officer of its parent company, TechLaw Consultants, Inc., which has recorded consistent annual growth under her leadership. She oversees day-to-day operations and strategy while working closely with the business development teams to foster client relationships and expand business areas.

Expertise: With 30 years in environmental management, Patricia specializes in environmental chemistry, quality assurance and control, and data analysis. She served as Program Director for the company’s EPA program, managing a range of technical activities nationwide, including the large-scale environmental response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 and the Space Shuttle Columbia explosion in 2003.

Key Experience: Patricia previously managed and provided technical input on an array of EPA Superfund and RCRA contracts across all 10 EPA regions, supporting remediation at industrial sites and federal facilities. She has also been a frequent instructor for federal and state environmental regulators, focusing on hazardous waste identification, waste analysis plans, and developing quality assurance/control programs.

Professional Insight: Patricia believes one of the biggest obstacles to a better environment today is our collective fear of change. She notes, "Our fear of change is a little silly in that we all change each and every day. That doesn't change the fact, though, that change scares us as individuals and as a species. We have a tendency to get hung up on all the unknowns, wanting to wait on taking actions until we know what will happen in the future, instead of trusting ourselves to overcome whatever obstacles we encounter down the road."

Personal Interests: Patricia enjoys spending time at home in her native Upstate New York with her husband and family, sewing and needlepoint, and juggling multiple books at once to satisfy her wide-ranging interests.

Rob Young is a Professional Geologist (PG) with more than 28 years of environmental and management consulting experience. He is well-versed in federal and state regulations, as well as the necessary guidance for a number of regulated solid waste and hazardous waste locations throughout the country— from former military bases to RCRA and federal Superfund sites.

Expertise: Rob specializes in groundwater monitoring, particularly as it relates to permitting and site remediation. He has worked as a consultant to the US EPA for over 30 years and has provided environmental consulting expertise at sites in over 40 different states, including some high-visibility CERCLA and RCRA cases. Rob is also a frequent instructor for federal and state environmental agencies on solid and hazardous waste issues and corrective action and quality assurance techniques, and he has made several public presentations on a variety of environmental topics.

Key Experience: With a BS in geology and a minor in chemistry, Rob has a strong background in CERCLA, RCRA, and TSCA site identification, investigation, and remediation. He has trained federal, state, and industrial clients on various aspects of technical guidance and regulatory programs. One of his most unusual work assignments involved conducting a RCRA inspection at a medium-security prison, which was both intimidating and enlightening. He also led a number of initiatives on a large industrial site with over 100 years of complex contamination and PFAS, organizing a cohesive plan for remediation, operation, and maintenance.

Professional Insight: Rob believes one of the biggest obstacles to a better environment is the increasing competition for public and private money, driven by factors like an aging workforce and infrastructure, differing opinions on the impact of chemicals on humans and the environment,, and a complex world political structure. He notes that both companies and government agencies are asked to do more with less compared to previous decades, which strains the resources available for environmental projects.Personal Interests: Rob enjoys spending time with his two children and grandchild, playing guitar, and writing songs. He also likes walking, biking, and watching Bears, White Sox, and Blackhawks games.

As the Environmental Management Specialist, Judy Manley conducts business development and contract administration activities, manages contracts, and provides technical expertise for PRP searches, CERCLA cost allocation, and contribution projects at AlterEcho.

Expertise: Judy has more than 35 years of experience managing dozens of environmental management and support contracts across multiple programs. She brings extensive knowledge of federal and state environmental laws and regulations, particularly related to hazardous waste enforcement and permitting to AlterEcho. Her preparation of detailed reports for negotiation and litigation decisions, cost allocation, and contribution determinations have helped countless clients realize goals and better the environment.

Key Experience: With over 30 years of management and research experience in the PRP Search area, Judy has conducted and/or managed over 50 Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) projects. Her work includes gathering information and documentation to prepare site histories and identify PRPs for contamination at hazardous waste sites. One of her most noteworthy assignments involved conducting a PRP search for a landfill in Puerto Rico, which required hiring an interpreter and collecting law firm records from a clothing store attic.

Professional Insight: Judy believes that an ever-expanding population is one of the biggest obstacles to a better environment. She knows she’s hit a home run for her clients when she can make their job easier.

Personal Interests: Judy enjoys relaxing at home with her husband, two cats, and one dog. She loves to read, take her dog on long walks, kayak, and visit her son in Charlotte, NC.

Mark McDaniel provides chemistry advice, management support, and technical guidance on various projects at AlterEcho. His work covers laboratory support, environmental remediation, Consumer Packaged Goods, composting, and regulatory support under multiple environmental regulations.

Expertise: Mark has over 23 years of experience specializing in regulatory compliance, environmental remediation, laboratory management, and emergency preparation/response. Mark is deeply involved in helping clients assess their risk/liability surrounding emerging contaminants such as PFAS and 1,4-Dioxane, as well as assisting commercial clients with product and technology development and regulatory compliance.

Key Experience: Mark has managed contracts, programs, laboratories, major remediation sites, and emergency response teams. He has developed several mobile labs for use in emergency response, aiding communities impacted by disasters such as drinking water contamination. His experience includes managing large chemical removal sites, health and safety program development, and hazardous waste identification, handling, and disposal. He is currently advising clients, including legal teams, states, municipalities, and commercial businesses, on PFAS issues. He also serves on the ABA SEER Agriculture and Food Committee and is an ABA board representative to the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST).

Professional Insight: Mark believes that time and money are the biggest barriers to environmental change, especially when it comes to PFAS and emerging contaminants. The toxicology of PFAS is only beginning to come to light for a handful of the thousands of chemicals in the class, and it will take years or even decades to understand the rest. Similarly, the cleanup effort to remove, stabilize, or transform PFAS that are already in groundwater, soil, and other sites will likely run into the trillions of dollars.

Personal Interests: When Mark is not “doing science stuff,” he can be found in Denver, CO, where he enjoys time with his family, hiking, fly-fishing, cooking, remodeling his 110-year-old home, and reading trashy science fiction novels.

Ann Schnitz is AlterEcho’s Principal Toxicologist and risk assessor. She works on all projects involving the determination of chemical toxicity and risk to human health and the environment.

Expertise: Ann has more than 30 years of experience in the environmental consulting field, specializing in toxicology, risk assessment, field biology/ecology, and data analysis. She has worked with federal and state governments, as well as industry clients in the United States and Canada. Ann has performed, managed, and developed numerous human health and ecological risk assessments for various governmental, commercial, retail, refinery, and Fortune 100 industrial clients, under both state and federal jurisdictions. She has written and managed human health and ecological risk assessments under various regulatory programs, including RCRA, CERCLA, SDWA, TSCA, and CAA.

Key Experience: Ann’s extensive experience includes writing and managing risk assessments involving a variety of media and contaminants, such as total petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides, solvents, metals, PAHs, PCBs, explosives, and emerging contaminants like PFAS. One of her most unusual work assignments involved surveying a property for endangered species at a former nuclear weapons test site in Mississippi, which was memorable for both the extreme weather conditions and encounters with copperheads and cottonmouths.

Professional Insight: Ann believes that one of the biggest obstacles to a better environment is the need for people to overcome their greed and care enough to change their habits. She believes that we need to get to a point where it is more economically viable to protect the environment than to harm it for personal gain.

Personal Interests: Ann enjoys cooking, traveling, and spending time with her dog and friends. She is also a dedicated volunteer at West Sound Wildlife Shelter in Bainbridge Island, WA, where she has helped care for injured and orphaned wild animals for over ten years.

Olaf Westphalen is a Professional Geologist and Licensed Site Professional. He assists clients with assessing and remediating environmental issues on their sites. He also helps identify and quantify potential environmental liabilities as part of environmental due diligence for properties or portfolios and performs third-party inspections of underground storage tanks and landfills.

Expertise: Olaf has a BS in Environmental Science with a Geology focus and over 30 years of experience in hazardous waste site characterization and remediation. He holds Professional Geologist (PG) licenses in several states and a Licensed Site Professional (LSP) certification in Massachusetts. Olaf is also a certified Third Party UST Inspector and Solid Waste Third Party Inspector in Massachusetts.

Key Experience: Olaf’s extensive career includes managing environmental cleanup, assessment, and monitoring projects throughout New England for commercial, municipal, and government clients. He has completed hundreds of site investigations for environmental due diligence purposes and managed a wide variety of remediation projects, including underground tank and drum removals, soil excavation, wetlands remediation, monitored natural attenuation, enhanced bioremediation, in-situ chemical oxidation, soil vapor extraction, air sparging, and multiphase extraction. Olaf is experienced with a wide range of contaminants, including petroleum hydrocarbons, chlorinated solvents, coal tar, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), explosives, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heavy metals, and PFAS. One of his most unusual assignments involved a geophysical investigation at an Army base in Germany searching for rumored hidden vintage planes. The investigation was documented by a British film company, but no planes were ever found so the film was never released

Professional Insight: Olaf believes that one of the biggest obstacles to a better environment is finding the funds to perform the needed cleanup for existing and historically impacted sites. For PFAS in particular, he believes the next five to ten years will be critical as regulations and guidance continue to evolve.

Personal Interests: Olaf enjoys riding his motorcycle, camping, hiking, Blackstone grilling, and performing music.

Jonathan Tatman is Tech Law’s Military Munitions Response Program Manager. He provides strategic direction, leadership, and project governance for large-scale and high-profile projects related to global Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRN-E) threats. His role involves ensuring compliance with CERCLA, RCRA, and other regulatory frameworks, while addressing and managing Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive threats.

Expertise: Jonathan has more than 16 years of technical and management experience addressing munitions-related concerns, including over seven years in program/project management under CERCLA, RCRA, and various federal and state regulations. His expertise covers all aspects of munitions-related operations, from fieldwork to strategic oversight. He is experienced in all facets of domestic and international munitions-related operations, providing strategic direction, leadership, and project governance for simultaneous multimillion-dollar projects related to global Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRN-E) threats.

Key Experience: Jonathan has led numerous munitions response projects, both domestically and internationally. His extensive background includes providing support to Naval Special Warfare and Army Special Forces, focusing on Explosive Remnants of War. He served more than nine years in the U.S. Navy as a Chief Master Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Instructor and Technician. Jonathan’s technical prowess and leadership were recognized with prestigious awards, including the Purple Heart and Bronze Star with Valor.

Professional Insight: Jonathan finds that the lack of funding and resources dedicated to MMRP work is only deepening the impact of Munitions Constituents (MC) and Unexploded Ordnance. The longer these sites go untouched, the more likely it is that the data will be obsolete or previous estimates will fall short of what is actually needed to remediate those sites. He hopes that the National Association of Ordnance Contractors (NAOC) and Congress are able to more effectively fund this work to enable the industry to utilize the full range of methods available instead of forcing rushed solutions.

Personal Interests: Jonathan is passionate about providing for his family and his community. He comes from a long line of Veterans and believes in paying it forward to future generations, saying, “As a recipient of the Bronze Star with Valor and Purple Heart, providing outlets to other Veterans plays a vital role in my success and my own well-being.”