E-Tech Staff
Dick Kamp has been Director of E-Tech International since 2003 and coordinates international environmental projects with technical staff. His work at E-Tech has included assisting development of projects and funding in Peru, working on the bases for independent monitoring of the Camisea natural gas complex and pipelines, and assisting in coordinating annual fora in Peru on independent monitoring, indigenous environmental protection and oil-gas industry best practices. He is working with Chief Scientist Ann Maest on mining environmental impact analyses in Guatemala, Peru, Ghana, Mali and in developing field analysis of mine impacts in southern Ecuador. Kamp worked with E-Tech staff on assessing Chevron-Texaco oil dumping environmental impacts in Ecuador and developed a general environmental overview of oil and liquid natural gas development impacts in Northern Mexico.
Separately from E-Tech, Dick is also a prize-winning environmental journalist and editor for a group of small newspapers, primarily in the western United States. From 1983-2005, Dick directed the Border Ecology Project (BEP) in the southwestern United States. BEP developed the drafts of two US-Mexico accords controlling smelter air pollution, hazardous waste transport and regulation, and assisted with accords between the two countries to allow legal action against transboundary polluters. Kamp also coordinated hazardous material emergency response strategies along the US-Mexico border. BEP administered 1.2 million dollars of US EPA and foundation money to assist Mexican NGOs get established as organizations and to survive; some for more than 20 years. Kamp co-directed a 10-year long independent water monitoring project in northern Mexico with a Mexican NGO and with help from the state of Arizona state laboratory and the University of Sonora.
BEP was a key organization in establishing environmental agreements and institutions related to the NAFTA and Kamp co-chaired committees study the environmental impacts of the NAFTA.
Dick was named a Purpose Prize Fellow in 2010, received the Gildardo Acosta award for outstanding protection of the US-Mexico border in 2005, co-chaired the US-Mexico environmental protection board in 1992 and received the 1991 UNEP children’s award for global environmental protection.
Ann S. Maest is an aqueous geochemist and Chief Scientist with E-Tech International. Dr. Maest’s primary area of expertise is the evaluation of the effects of hard rock mining and oil and gas development on water resources. After her PhD, Ann worked for six years as a research geochemist in the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Research Program, where she conducted research on metal-organic interactions, metal and metalloid speciation, and redox geochemistry at a variety of surface water and groundwater sites around the United States. Ann also worked as a senior scientist at Environmental Defense Fund, where she was responsible for designing technical and policy approaches to minimizing releases of toxic substances from mining and manufacturing facilities. She works internationally with community and indigenous groups to predict and monitor the environmental effects of mining and oil and gas development projects. The results of Dr. Maest’s research have been published in books and in peer-reviewed journals, including Applied Geochemistry, Chemical Geology, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, and Environmental Science and Technology.
Ann has served on a number of national and international committees, including several National Academy of Sciences committees related to earth resources, and is a regularly invited speaker at national and international conferences and universities. Dr. Maest has provided expert testimony to the U.S. Congress, at various State boards and hearings, and as an expert in U.S. federal court. She holds a PhD in geochemistry and water resources from Princeton 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).