Dramatic Change Seen Bottom Up

After a brief silence, I said, sort of thinking out loud: “We do have the authority to issue an abatement order to the Navy.” The admiral looked at me and grinned. He said: “Tell me a bit more about that”. I responded by outlining what is called a “Consent Order”. Such orders are issued where an organization is in violation of Federal law or policy and the guilty party has agreed to do something about that. Where EPA then agrees to accept the response proposed by the organization in violation, a consent order can be issued. That order requires the guilty party to implement the agreed plan. There is a reason that it is important to do that. Federal environmental law permits third parties to sue persons who are in violation of its provisions. However, federal courts will not accept such a third-party lawsuit if there is a federal order in place that addresses the violation. Thus, in effect, such an order puts the organization which is subject to it in a position of being in a “not in violation status” so long as they diligently pursue implementation of the actions and schedules set forth in the consent order. I cautioned the Admiral that he should get his lawyers to give him an explanation, as I was not a lawyer, and so might not understand all the nuances of such an order. Again, he and Lou looked at each other, Lou nodded, and so the Admiral offered: “Let’s do it”.

L. Russell (Russ) Freeman is happily married; the couple having experienced 63 anniversaries. They have successfully raised a son and a daughter. An 85-year-old retired engineer, strategic planner, and investment advisor, Russ is a Colorado native. He was raised in a family re-purposing business. Upon graduation from the University of Colorado with degrees in business and engineering he received a commission in the United States Public health service. Through governmental reorganization, he served briefly at HEW, (now Health and Human Services), Interior and then EPA. His career took him to Dallas, Baltimore, Denver, Honolulu, and San Francisco. He left federal service after serving for a time as Deputy Regional Administrator of the EPA Region 9 office in San Francisco. After a second career with engineering and construction management firms, he retired to a small town in south-central Colorado. In retirement, he has continued advising, and in some cases helping entities engaged the transformation from linear to circular. He has also published several technical papers on aspects of such a transformation.