The International Erosion Control Association Region One (IECA) has officially announced its keynote speakers for Environmental Connection 2017. Renowned meteorologist Jim Cantore of the Weather Channel will deliver opening remarks. The conference will also feature Craig Zeller, PE, Senior Regional Project Manager with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Zeller has the honor of delivering the long-running event’s first-ever closing keynote lecture.
Environmental Connection 2017 will be held 21 – 24 February 2017 at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta, Georgia.
IECA’s annual conference is a premier educational event for the erosion and sediment control and stormwater management industries.
JIM CANTORE, CRAIG ZELLER
Jim Cantore is one of the most recognized faces in weather. He will discuss changes in weather patterns, predictions for the future, and how these changes will affect soils, stormwater management, and other environmental and infrastructure concerns. What can we do today to prepare for the weather changes over the next 50 years? Jim Cantore will lend his insights.
Cantore’s 30-year career has included a lengthy tenure with the popular Weather Channel and high-profile coverage and interpretation of major events such as Hurricanes Katrina and Irene and Superstorm Sandy. He is a regular contribution to NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, The TODAY Show, and various NBC affiliates.
Craig Zeller will share his experience as the US Environmental Protection Agency’s on-site coordinator for the clean-up and recovery efforts of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston Fossil Plant environmental disaster. That December 2008 event—a coal ash berm failure—caused a 5.4 million cubic yard spill of contaminated ash across 300 acres and into the Emory River. It disrupted the region’s power supply, ruptured gas and water lines, and blocked road and railway routes.
The Kingston clean-up has cost more than US $1 billion over the past six years. A range of proven and innovative BMPs were applied to not only mitigate off-site ash transport to receiving waters, but to prevent dust inhalation by on-site personnel and adjacent communities. The ash landfill has been successfully closed, and hundreds of acres of habitat have been restored for ecological and recreational use.
Zeller has also been a Superfund Remedial Project Manager in the EPA’s Region 4 area for 25 years, and has worked with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) issues, often in the Carolinas and Tennessee. His significant site experience in contaminated sediments has made him the Region 4 representative on the EPA’s National Contaminated Sediments Technical Advisory Group (CSTAG).
Learn more about Environmental Connection 2017 and register at www.eventscribe.com/2017/enviroconnect/.
Learn more about the International Erosion Control Association at www.ieca.org.
