Neptune and Company, Inc.

(505) 662-0707, ext. 24

(505) 662-0500

Dr. Markwiese supervises risk assessment activities at Neptune and Company, develops new business opportunities and is a task leader on several major assessment projects. He plays a technical and supervisory role for company ecological risk assessments. He has broad experience in the environmental sciences with expertise in ecology, toxicology, chemistry and microbiology. His focus for the last six years has been on performing ecological risk assessments for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. Dr. Markwiese helped develop Ecological Data Quality Objectives (DQOs) for the Hanford Site Central Plateau terrestrial ecosystem as well as the River Corridor by implementing the Ecological Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund under CERCLA. Regulator and public participation was obtained in a series of meetings based on draft assessment endpoints, measures, and study design elements. Existing environmental surveillance and environmental monitoring data were employed to assess potential ecological effects from legacy contaminants. Several sampling and analysis plans were written based on this information.

The Central Plateau area considered included waste sites in an arid shrub steppe habitat over an area larger than 6000 hectares, inhalation risks associated with a subsurface vapor (carbon tetrachloride) plume and effects on aquatic receptors at an alkali lake. Jim was also involved in the planning stages for the assessment of ecological risk at the Tank Farms Area C. The area considered for the River Corridor Baseline Risk Assessment included waste sites and habitat within an area spanning the entire Hanford Reach of the Columbia River. As a result of this effort, Jim was among team members that were awarded the Environmental Gold Certificate by client (Bechtel Hanford, Inc.) for the outstanding effort involved in addressing stakeholder concerns. Data assessment for these projects included spatial variation in contaminants and temporal trends in existing biological data. Various measures were used to assess cause and effect of contaminants on ecological receptors. Results of lines of evidence were combined to form risk conclusions in a weight of evidence approach following Washington State, RCRA and federal ecological risk assessment guidance under CERCLA.

Dr. Markwiese is currently working on drafting the quality assurance package for the River Corridor Baseline Risk Assessment. He has extensive experience supporting US EPA quality staff through the Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) program and is a lead auditor for the EPA Office of Research and Development. Dr. Markwiese is also the corporate Quality Assurance Officer for Neptune and Company.

Dr. Markwiese's resume