Witt O'Brien's Compliance Workshop Snapshot and Takeaways
John K. Carroll III
Associate Managing Director at Witt O'Brien's, LLC, Part of the Ambipar Group
If you missed it, Witt O'Brien's / Ambipar Response held our 9th annual compliance workshop last week. We hosted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for three days this year. On day one, Troy Swackhammer and Chris Perry presented over the EPA's Facility Response Program (FRP). Day two, Rebecca Stewart Broussard presented over the EPA's new Hazardous Substances Worst Case Discharge rule. Day three, Mark W. Howard and Chris Perry covered the EPA's Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) rule.
Due to the hurricane scare earlier in the week, many people converted their in-person attendance to virtual, but nonetheless, we had over 300 participants this year: a new record. Another remarkable statistic from this year's workshop was the number of questions from the audience. As many people were online, we were able to track things better. This year, we had over 175 questions asked of the presenters. I also noted a lot of younger faces in the crowd, which, honestly, shows the "great" shift in the industry: a lot of the "old guard" is retiring, and the "next generation" is slowly taking over.
I've been a consultant for just over 23 years, and one thing I can say about these conferences is that every year, I hear new nuggets of information, hear new initiatives of the EPA, and learn new ways in which the EPA wants specific conversations addressed. This year, we also learned about the EPA's new rule. If there is one takeaway, learning about these rules never stops, and to be the best practitioner one can be, one must regularly participate in training and keep up with guidance.
In the upcoming weeks, I will devote my articles to things I found as "new," areas where I saw many crowd questions focused, and updates on the EPA's new rule I heard.
Below are some pictures from the event.
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For a complete listing of archived articles and compliance insights, click here . Past articles cover training requirements, clarification on additional unclear elements within the above rules, and much more.
We are here to help solve your compliance questions and challenges. If you need compliance assistance or have a question, please email John K. Carroll III ([email protected] ), Associate Managing Director – Compliance Services, or call +1 954-625-9373.
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