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Pam Sparks of Normandeau Completes FEMA Deployment | Vancouver, WA — Sunday, July 18, 2010 — Ms. Pamela Sparks of Normandeau's Vancouver, WA office just returned from a 9-month deployment to New Orleans, Louisiana, working on the firm's FEMA contract with Emergency Response Program Management Consultants (ERPMC). Over this period of time her assignment as an environmental specialist for the Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts involved conducting field studies of the presence/absence of natural resources, wetland delineations, Phase I assessments, and environmental reviews/approvals per CWA, ESA, TSCA, the State's HPO Section 106 statues as well as developing support documents for the inclusion in environmental impact assessments, public notices, and public involvement plans per NEPA requirements. Accomplishing these responsibilities required extensive communications and rapport with in-house staff (such as administrators of the floodplain mitigation program, archaeologists, project managers/grant writers, etc.) and federal or state officials and scientists.
During this temporary assignment Ms. Sparks "environmentally" cleared over $300, 000,000 federal grant dollars for Louisiana's Regional recovery program. Although Katrina's five year anniversary will be observed this coming August 29th in New Orleans, and much obvious progress has been made, her travels throughout the city and its surrounding parishes found constant reminders of damages caused by this horrific event such as the presence of immense numbers of cleared-vacant lots, visible emergency management diamond code markings on abandoned lower ninth ward homes, and barricades around remnants of public facilities (hospitals, schools, emergency services) awaiting repairs. Prior to her deployment, Ms. Sparks attended a week long training session in Virginia to learn the FEMA process to conduct investigations on their behalf. |
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Normandeau Associates Media Contact
Elizabeth Evarts
603.472.5191 Ext 115
bevarts@normandeau.com
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