E-Tech Staff
Richard Kamp is currently the director of E-Tech International
and has also been the director of the Border Ecology
Project, with offices in Arizona and New Mexico, since
1983. With Kamp as director, BEP catalyzed and partially
drafted binational treaties on copper smelter emissions
and transboundary hazardous waste movement, developed
binational emergency response plans, helped create
environmental safeguards for NAFTA, established funds
to support NGOs and a variety of technical projects
in Mexico, and administered $1.2 million of funds
for collaborative Mexican-US environmental projects.
Kamp has overseen development of a model multi-sector
water projects in northern Mexico, including the establishment
of a public-sector analytical laboratory in Sonora.
BEP has also promoted stronger environmental loan
conditions from export credit agencies to Mexico,
and helped develop environmentally sound power plant
requirements in both Mexico and the US. In other geographic
areas, Kamp and BEP have worked with Chileans to establish
environmental protection under free trade agreements,
helped establish three public interest law groups
in Latin America, investigated the effects of mining
and smelting wastes on waterways in Peru, and developed
guidelines for EPA to protect workers in coal-mining
communities in Appalachia. As a consultant, Kamp was
coauthor of a mercury inventory in Mexico, co-authored
studies for EPA and their counterpart SEMARNAT on
strengthening US-Mexico air agreements, worked with
several foundations on establishing Mexican and binational
grantmaking programs, and has been on the editorial
staff of Wick Communications for 21 years. As a result
of his work to protect citizens from environmental
impacts internationally, Mr. Kamp received the 1991
Children’s Global Environmental Award from the
United Nation’s Environmental Program (kamp
resume.pdf)
Ann Maest is an aqueous geochemist specializing in the fate and
transport of metals and other contaminants in groundwater,
surface water, and soils. She has worked across the
United States and in Latin America on technical and
policy aspects of water quality and resource extraction.
Dr. Maest has over 20 years of experience designing,
conducting, and interpreting the results of environmental
monitoring studies of groundwater, surface water, soils,
and industrial wastes. She has recently worked with
groups in northern Peru to conduct community-based environmental
monitoring of a gold mine and is working to expand a
public-interest laboratory in Mexico. Ann was a research
geochemist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park,
California for six years; a senior scientist at Environmental
Defense in Washington, DC; and is currently an environmental
consultant in Boulder, Colorado and chief scientist
of E-Tech International. Ann is also senior advisor
at Stratus Consulting, Inc. in Boulder, Colorado. Ann
has published numerous articles on the fate and transport
of metals in natural waters, testified as a water quality
expert for state, federal, environmental, and tribal
clients in large environmental trials, and served on
many national and international committees related to
technical and policy aspects of resource extraction,
minerals research, and sustainable development. She
holds a PhD in geochemistry and water resources from
Princeton University and an undergraduate degree in
geology from Boston University (maest
resume.pdf).
Bill Powers is the chief engineer of E-Tech International and the
principal of Powers Engineering, an environmental engineering
firm established in San Diego in 1994. His project work
focuses on emission control technology assessments and
water conservation for new and existing industrial sources,
principally in the power generation, petroleum, aluminum,
and copper sectors. Recent projects include: 1) development
of draft air emission standards for power generation
plants, petroleum refineries, and oil production facilities
for the Ministry of Energy and Mines in Peru, 2) assessment
of the environmental liabilities associated with the
state-owned Venezuelan aluminum industry during initial
phase of privatization, 3) evaluation of effectiveness
of US-Mexico binational agreement to minimize SO2 emissions
from border copper smelters, 4) co-authorship of two
Electric Power Research Institute gas turbine power
plant siting documents, and 5) translation of U.S. EPA
air quality engineering documents to Spanish. He is
also currently active in an ongoing effort to develop
binational environmental and siting standards for power
plants and LNG regasification terminals in the U.S.-Mexico
border region. Mr. Powers has a bachelor’s degree
in mechanical engineering from Duke University and a
master’s degree in environmental science from
the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill,
and is a registered professional engineer in California
(powers resume.pdf).