Preparers

November 21, 2011

Qualifications of Preparers of Proposed Categorical Exclusions (CatExs)
In accordance with guidance on CatExs published by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) in November 2010, a summary of the qualifications of persons involved in developing the proposed CatExs is being made available. This includes the members who have served on NASA’s core CFR Work Group formed in 2006.

Additionally, every Center NEPA Manager has contributed examples of completed NEPA actions that support the proposed CATEXs and each served as a technical expert in the development of NASA’s proposed CATEXs. They oversee that official Administrative Records are maintained by the Center. NASA’s CFR Work Group has also been well supported by the technical expertise of program and project mission managers across the agency. The proposed revisions to the NEPA regulations (including the new CatExs being proposed) were reviewed and approved by environmental attorneys at the Office of General Counsel, NASA Headquarters.

Kathleen (Kathy) Callister
Deputy Director, Office of Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Washington, D.C.
Years of Experience: 19
From 2006-2010 Ms. Callister served as NASA’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Program Manager and expert authority on Environmental Planning. In these roles, she was responsible for establishing Agency policy, procedures and guidance for integrating the wide range of federal environmental planning and historic preservation requirements that apply to all federal agencies. While at NASA Ms. Callister held the primary role in such projects as spear-heading the re-write of NASA’s regulations implementing NEPA (14 CFR 1216.3) and related guidance and led NASA’s CFR Work Group. She also played a key role in developing the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for NASA’s Constellation Program. Prior to coming to NASA, Ms. Callister spent 8 years with the U.S. Army, in a wide variety of roles including Supervisor of the Environmental Technology Office at the U.S. West Desert Test Center in Dugway, Utah, the Chief of the Conservation-Preservation Division at the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground, and the Installation Cultural Resource Management Officer, also at the Dugway Proving Ground. She also worked six years previously as an archaeologist. Ms. Callister holds a Master’s Degree in Anthropology/Archaeology and a Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology, both from Brigham Young University. Ms. Callister joined FEMA in September 2010.

Richard (Rick) Cornelius
Senior Project Manager
TEC Inc., Charlottesville, Virginia
Years of Experience: 37
From 1975-1987 Mr. Cornelius served as The U.S. Navy’s first civilian environmental counsel. During this time he litigated dozens of NEPA cases, including two cases that were successfully argued at the U.S. Supreme Court. He was the author of the Navy’s first NEPA regulations promulgated in accordance with CEQ guidance. Since 1987 Mr. Cornelius has worked as an environmental consultant, being one of the founders of TEC Inc., in 1990. He has been a Project Manager, Project Director and Program Manager on dozens of NEPA projects. Recently he was the Project Director for the Navy’s EIS to relocate several thousand Marines and their families from Okinawa, Japan, to Guam. This EIS took four years to complete and is one of the largest, most complex EIS’s ever written. He has worked on NEPA documents for numerous federal Agencies, including the Navy, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force, and Department of Energy. He has assisted NASA in updating their NEPA regulations since 2006. Mr. Cornelius holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Government from The American University, and a Juris Doctorate from the William and Mary College of Law.

Caroline Diehl
Sr. Environmental Protection Specialist, SAIC
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia
Years of Experience: 19
Ms. Diehl has provided contract support to NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) for the past 14 years in the areas of environmental protection and compliance. She has provided technical assistance to NASA staff concerning compliance in the areas of NEPA, cultural resource management (CRM), wastewater testing and discharge, and hazardous waste management. Ms. Diehl has served as project lead and/or principal investigator on a wide variety of environmental task orders. Examples include: Under Ground Storage Tank Cleaning and Integrity Testing, development of LaRC’s Integrated Spill Contingency Plan for Above Ground Storage Tank and Hazardous Material spills, Wetlands Delineation, Inflow and Infiltration Study, and numerous Cultural Resource Surveys and Environmental Assessments. In 2009, Ms. Diehl played an integral role in the development and execution of the Center-wide Programmatic Agreement among NASA LaRC, the Virginia State Historic Preservation Officer, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation for the Management of Facilities, Infrastructure and Sites at NASA LaRC, as well as development of LaRC’s Cultural Resource Management Program and Plan. She serves on the NASA Headquarters working groups for development of the Agency’s new CRM procedural requirements and revision of NASA’s NEPA regulations. Ms. Diehl also provides technical support to develop and update the LaRC’s environmental policy, procedure and resource documents such as the Langley Procedural Requirement (LPR) 8500.1, the Environmental Program Manual and the Environmental Resource Document. Prior to working for NASA, Ms. Diehl spent 5 years as a Sr. Chemist with Clean Harbors Environmental Support Services. Ms. Diehl holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from Smith College and is a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager Master Level.

Lizabeth (Beth) Montgomery
NEPA Program Manager
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland
Years of Experience: 27
Since 1997, Ms. Montgomery has been serving as the NEPA Program Manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. In this role Ms. Montgomery has been responsible for managing the NEPA compliance process for spacecraft missions and facility projects. Her responsibilities include the evaluation of potential environmental impacts of proposed projects and alternatives and the preparation and review of NEPA documentation. One of her many accomplishments includes the implementation of a process for review of center projects to allow for the incorporation of environmental planning and compliance requirements. Prior to becoming the NEPA Program Manager, Ms. Montgomery managed the Center Water Program where she was responsible for environmental permit development, compliance and reporting for storm water and industrial discharges. Ms. Montgomery’s career at Goddard has also included environmental testing of spaceflight hardware. Prior to joining NASA, Ms. Montgomery worked for a Navy research and development laboratory where she performed NEPA analysis for Navy research and development projects, as well as, environmental testing of Navy hardware and equipment. Ms. Montgomery earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland.

Tina Norwood
NASA NEPA Manager
NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC
Years of Experience: 27
Ms. Norwood began her career in Cameroon, Africa, as a fisheries ecologist with the US Peace Corps before joining EPA Region IX in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). As an environmental planner she served on the CNMI board for major sitings for Saipan, Tinian and Rota, reviewing international EIAs and developing the first NEPA training for CNMI regulators. She served as environmental consultant in the CNMI, Guam (Environmental Equinox, sole proprietor) and Buffalo, New York (Dames & Moore, Inc.) before moving to Washington, D.C., to join the US Postal Service in 1996. Ms. Norwood managed the NEPA program during which time the USPS NEPA Regulations were revised, NEPA policy and guidance were updated, new templates developed, and new agency NEPA Repository created. She served on numerous Facilities project teams completing environmental due diligence (ESAs) and NEPA for projects across the country that required Board of Governors approval. This included successfully defending one NEPA action that was legally challenged in Maine and serving as the NEPA manager for the mail sanitization project proposed in response to the bioterrorist attack involving anthrax. Projects involved new mail processing and distribution plants up to 1M square feet and were often controversial, requiring expensive community outreach and traffic studies. After transferring to NASA in 2005 Ms. Norwood served on two of CEQ’s interagency NEPA work groups, Training and Harmonizing NEPA. While serving as NASA’s Federal Preservation Officer she contributed to the development of the Shuttle Program EA and Constellation Programmatic EIS and reviewed Center NEPA documents. Designated NASA’s NEPA Manager in April 2010, she is responsible for overseeing the agencies NEPA rules, policies and guidelines including leading the internal CFR Work Group. Ms. Norwood is also responsible for maintaining NASA’s public NEPA website and Library. Ms. Norwood holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Animal Science from the University of Maryland and a Master’s Degree in Ecology from Texas A&M University and is a Registered Environmental Manager.

John Shaffer
Center NEPA Manager
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Years of Experience: 22
Mr. Shaffer has worked at the Kennedy Space Center since 1990, first as a support contractor to the Center’s Environmental Program Branch and since 2000 as a civil servant for the Branch. His responsibilities include managing the NEPA process for KSC (Lead since 2008), overseeing land management strategies along with the Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, and management of the Ecological Support Contract overseeing the Center Ecological Program. As KSC’s NEPA Manager, Mr. Shaffer is responsible for ensuring the completion of NEPA for all the proposed actions at KSC. His responsibilities include the preparation and review of all NEPA documentation for the Center starting with the KSC Environmental Checklist, the NEPA document used to make the determination as to whether an action is CATEX, or requires further NEPA review. Mr. Shaffer also prepares detailed NEPA documentation for NEPA actions that require an EA or EIS. He authorizes all Records of Environmental Consideration created for NASA actions at KSC. His knowledge incorporates 20 years experience working KSC’s long range goals, vision and mission objectives in planning and implementation of those Program objectives and ensuring compliance with NEPA. Mr. Shaffer evaluates all proposed KSC programs and projects for potential impacts to natural and cultural resources, incorporates the Centers land management and habitat management goals into Program plans. He also oversees the preparation of alternative analysis as mandated by NEPA and prepares mitigation strategies for those Program plans that may have impacts to natural and/or cultural resources. The activities directed by the Environmental Program Branch include: Center-wide policy development, interfacing with regulatory agencies both federal and state, ensuring NASA compliance with all regulatory guidelines, development assistance and review of environmental permits, overseeing the conservation of natural and historical resources at KSC including the 140,000 acre Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, and development of programs to reduce future environmental burden. Mr. Shaffer holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biological Sciences from the Florida Institute of Technology.

Paul VanDamme
Deputy Launch Approval Engineering Manager
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC
Years of Experience: 17
From 1993 to present, Paul Van Damme has supported development of NEPA compliance documentation for NASA-JPL missions, most notably those potentially utilizing special nuclear material (e.g., Cassini mission to Saturn, Mars Exploration Rover 2003 Mission, Mars Surface Laboratory 2011). He coordinates NEPA compliance activities between JPL and multiple NASA HQ offices, and supporting government agencies. In this role he also develops internal and public materials to augment the EA/EIS documents required for NEPA compliance, and produces public outreach response strategies and materials addressing nuclear safety of JPL missions. Besides NEPA, Mr. VanDamme is responsible for developing and implementing strategies for compliance with Presidential Launch Approval and coordinates compliance activities between JPL and multiple NASA HQ offices, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and multiple government agencies. For the last 12 years he has contributed to the formulation and implementation of long-term strategies concerning Unite Nation (UN) principles and agreements relating to planetary space policy. Mr. Van Damme holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering Physics from the Colorado School of Mines, and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Georgia Tech.