Environmental Science Associates (ESA), a leading environmental science and planning firm with offices on the West and Gulf Coasts, has added Patrick Tennant as environmental mitigation compliance director and Jon Waggoner as environmental compliance program manager. Tennant is based in the firm’s Irvine office and Waggoner is located in Sacramento, each bringing extensive experience in managing large-scale compliance programs for high-profile infrastructure projects.
“We have long followed both Patrick and Jon’s careers and impressive work managing environmental compliance programs for some of our state’s largest infrastructure projects. Their additions bring a depth of experience and expertise to our team, particularly in regard to developing environmental compliance tracking programs, that we are thrilled to offer our clients and will be invaluable in moving our projects forward in a verifiable and responsible manner,” said Erich Fischer, ESA senior vice president and biological resources practice leader.
Tennant has more than two decades of experience in environmental permitting and compliance, as well as habitat restoration and mitigation. Prior to joining ESA, he served as senior manager of mitigation and restoration for Southern California Edison where he oversaw compliance for the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project (TRTP), 170 miles of 500kv transmission lines bringing clean renewable power to the Los Angeles Basin. Tennant is well-versed in environmental documentation for licensing and permitting of projects, including Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) related to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and Environmental Impact Statements (EIS’s) in regard to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). His experience also includes the development and implementation of a centralized field database system for environmental compliance data and mapping, which is now utilized as standard for Southern California Edison. Tennant received his M.S. in Environmental Studies from California State University Fullerton and his B.A. in Environmental Biology from California State University Northridge.
Possessing 30 years of experience as an environmental consultant, Waggoner’s expertise lies in environmental compliance during construction of large infrastructure projects, as well as for land use planning and land management decisions, specifically within the NEPA framework. Most recently, he served as the environmental compliance manager for the California High Speed Rail Program where he was responsible for the design and implementation of environmental compliance policies and reporting structure for the 520-mile project. Part of Waggoner’s work on the highly-complex project included the development of a web-based compliance tracking database for documentation of environmental compliance efforts. He has completed Master’s work in Biology at Humboldt State University and earned his B.S. in Psychology from U.C Davis.
