John Fitzgerald

Expertise

Environmental Engineering

Education

B.S. and M.S., Civil Engineering, UMass Lowell 1979

Biosketch

Since 1980, Mr. Fitzgerald has been employed as an environmental engineer by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Since 1981, he has specialized in the investigation, assessment, and remediation of sites contaminated by oil and hazardous materials, becoming a Branch Chief in 1984, Deputy Regional Engineer in 1993, and Regional Engineer in 1999

During his tenure at DEP, Mr. Fitzgerald has been involved in the implementation or oversight of response actions at thousands of contaminated sites, primarily in the role of a technical advisor and/or decision-maker. Concurrent with this field role, he has also been involved in the development and/or review and approval of most of the technical policies and regulations developed by the agency in the area of waste site cleanup, and has participated in a number of state and national workgroups and committees developing technical standards and procedures.

Mr. Fitzgerald was instrumental in the development and implementation of the numerous technical and institutional innovations embodied in the 1993 Massachusetts Contingency Plan, which privatized much of the provisions related to the assessment and cleanup of contaminated properties in Massachusetts, and which has been cited as a national model. He is also a key member of an agency team that has developed a new toxicological and analytical approach to characterize petroleum contamination; an approach that has been adopted and/or is currently being used by a number of states, EPA Regional Offices, and Canadian provinces

In 1998, under a contract with the Harvard Institute for International Development, Mr. Fitzgerald was the leader of an international team of scientists, engineers, and attorneys advising the government of Romania on the regulation and cleanup of sites contaminated by releases of petroleum and chemical products. As part of this effort, he proposed and authored an innovative national remedial framework incorporating risk-based decision-making and market incentives to optimize environmental restoration in a country with an economy in transition

Mr. Fitzgerald is a Technical Advisor to the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Hazardous Waste Site Professionals, and has overseen and participated in the development, review and approval of all examination questions and challenges. He is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UMass Lowell, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the annual Soil and Groundwater Contamination conference held at UMass Amherst. He has been a guest lecturer for Northeastern University, the Boston Bar Association, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, and the LSP Association.