STEVE A. WEAVER
Consultant, The VMP Group, LLC
Phone: 501-952-0530
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BACKGROUND SUMMARY:
More than twenty years of legal, administrative and executive level experience in matters involving civil rights law, environmental regulations, and environmental law. Teach Environmental Law I and II, Introductory Environmental Science, and various other courses in the Environmental Management Masters Program. Drafted multiple Arkansas environmental criminal, civil, and administrative penalty statutes. Significant experience includes:
ISO 14001 Environmental Quality
Environmental Management
Regulatory Negotiations
State and Federal Pollution Regulations
Criminal Law
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
Washington Demilitarization Company (WDC) 1999-Present
Washington Group International, Inc/Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility Deputy Environmental Manager/Principle Environmental Specialist
• Developed first ISO 14001-based Environmental Management System for a chemical weapon demilitarization facility.
• Directed WDC legal strategy in response to appeals of facility’s environmental permits.
• Coordinated staffing of a 20-member Environmental Department.
• Represent WDC on the Boards of the Arkansas Environmental Federation (AEF) and the Washington DC-based Coalition for Responsible Waste Incineration (CRWI). Current President and Co-Chair of the Governmental Affairs Committee for AEF and Board Chairman of CRWI.
• Made presentations to or testimony before the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, the Arkansas Pollution Control & Ecology Commission, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Office of Management and Budget on behalf of the above organizations.
AR Dept of Pollution Control & Ecology 1987–1998
Chief Legal Counsel/Policy Advisor to the Director
• Lead counsel in e.g., Bryant v. Mathis; Enviroclean, Inc. v. APC&EC; Gurley v. Mathis; City of Jacksonville v. ADPC&E; consulting attorney in the Arkansas v. Oklahoma appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court; supervising or trial counsel in several cases in state and federal court stemming from the Vertac remediation project; trial counsel in dozens of administrative permit appeals and enforcement actions; legal supervisory authority over hundreds of environmental permitting and enforcement actions.
• Draftsman of the Arkansas environmental criminal, civil, and administrative penalty statutes (e.g., A.C.A. §8-4-103); the nation’s first Environmental Justice statute (A.C.A. §§8-6-1501 et seq.); the Arkansas Pollution Prevention Act (A.C.A. §§8-10-201 et seq.); the act delineating the respective duties of the PC&E Department and Commission (A.C.A. §8-1-201 et seq.) and the act changing the agency’s name to “Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.”
• Regulatory negotiator on such issues as state air regulations and administrative procedures; legislation concerning solid waste, medical waste, water and air quality, and Environmental Justice; the law clarifying the respective duties of ADEQ and the PC&E Commission; and laws reforming Arkansas environmental rulemaking, permitting, and enforcement procedures.
• ADPC&E Legal Division Chief from 1988 – 1993; Policy Advisor to the Director from 1993 – 1998.
• Chair of the Department Policy Review Committee.
Quiggle & Thompson, P.A. Little Rock 1985–1987
Associate Attorney
Tried cases, primarily in federal court, concerning plaintiffs’ civil rights claims (e.g., employment discrimination, police misconduct, prison and jail reform).
EDUCATION:
B.A. University of Arkansas at Little Rock 1981
Major: English
Minor: Political Science.
J.D. University of Arkansas School of Law 1985
Class rank: top 15%
HONORS AND AWARDS:
• Three-time recipient of the ABA’s Best of CLE Award (1994-1996).
• Arkansas Environmental Federation Award of Merit (1998).
• Washington Group International Lion Award for Environmental Excellence: ISO 14001 Pilot Project (2002).
PUBLICATIONS:
“The ‘Mixture’ and ‘Derived-From’ Rules Are Alive and Well in Arkansas,” 15 UALR L.J. 713 (Summer 1993).
“Solid Waste Strategies for the Nineties,” The Arkansas Lawyer (April 1990)[Winner of the 1990 Arkansas Bar Association (ABA) General Writing Award]. Republished in R. Wang & M. Dougan, Eds., Arkansas Politics: A Reader (M&M Press 1997)].
“Between Science and Soundbites: The Future of Environmental Regulation,” The Arkansas Lawyer (Winter 1992)(Winner of the 1993 ABA Writing Excellence Award).
“Common Sense and Retrograde Environmental Reform,” The Arkansas Lawyer (Summer 1996)(Winner of the 1997 ABA Writing Excellence Award).
Numerous articles in the Arkansas Environmental Federation newsletter (2005 – 2007).