• Mark S. Kieser, Senior Scientist
• Brian Boyer, P.E., Environmental Engineer
• Jim Klang, PE, Senior Project Manager
• Laura Stephenson, Office Manager
• Andrew F. Fang, PhD, Project Scientist
• Dave Batchelor, Senior Policy Advisor
• Laurence Picq, Project Scientist
• Patricia J. Hoch-Melluish, Project Scientist
• Jamie McCarthy , Project Scientist

MARK S. KIESER, Senior Scientist
mkieser@kieser-associates.com

Mr. Kieser, Senior Scientist and Principal at KIESER & ASSOCIATES, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences from Wittenberg University (Springfield, Ohio) and a Master of Science degree from Michigan Technological University in Biological Sciences. Mr. Kieser has over 22 years of environmental consulting experience in addition to three years of academic research on water resource issues. As a consultant, he has been responsible for implementing studies at over 250 sites throughout Michigan, the Midwest, the eastern and southern United States. These have involved various investigations of surface water, wastewater, groundwater, soils and atmospheric contaminant issues encompassing sites ranging from the Great Lakes, to remote undeveloped areas, to Superfund sites with more than 100 years of industrial use. Mr. Kieser has directed more than 100 other environmental engineering projects since the firm was founded in 1992. These have required an intensive knowledge of scientific and engineering principles as well as the full range of applicable state and federal regulations.

Mr. Kieser is broadly recognized for his expertise in market-based environmental strategies, particularly through his work on water quality trading with U.S. EPA, USDA, states, watershed organizations, and the governments of Japan and Canada.  He has been involved in water quality trading program and policy development for over a decade. Mr. Kieser led one of the five EPA supported water quality trading projects in the U.S. in the late 1990s. He served on the state of Michigan Water Quality Trading Workgroup that developed the framework for Michigan's water quality trading rules; the first such statewide rules adopted in the U.S. Mr. Kieser has led a variety of trading projects in the U.S. focused on: state-wide and watershed trading program development; agricultural credit banking schemes; trading applications for urban storm water; electronic water quality trading registries; and, restoration of natural flow regimes in tributaries to the Great Lakes.  He is co-author of a 2006 McGraw-Hill textbook on water quality trading. Since 2001, Mr. Kieser has also been serving as the Acting Chair of the Environmental Trading Network (ETN). The ETN (www.envtn.org) is a non-profit clearinghouse for water quality trading program information.

Areas of Expertise:

• Water Quality Trading Policy
• Surface Water Quality Assessment & Modeling
• Non-point Source Pollution Assessment & Modeling
• Lake and Watershed Management
• Soil and Groundwater Contaminant Investigations & Remediation
• Hydrogeologic Investigations
• Environmental Site Assessments
• Ecological Modeling
• NPDES Permitting
• Waste Load Allocation
• Underground Storage Tank Removal/Compliance
• Sediment-Water Interactions

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K. BRIAN BOYER, P.E., Environmental Engineering Manager
bboyer@kieser-associates.com

Mr. Brian Boyer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Engineering from Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan. Mr. Boyer has 10 years of civil and environmental consulting and engineering experience. While employed for Owen-Ames-Kimball Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he was a construction superintendent on several multi-million dollar building projects involving up to 16 individual site contractors. Mr. Boyer leads K&A's environmental engineering and hydrogeologic investigation projects. Many such projects involve Phase II Environmental Site Assessments (ESA's), soil and groundwater sampling, free product investigations for NAPL and DNAPL releases and regulatory reporting. Mr. Boyer also oversees installation of innovative, large-scale stormwater treatment systems directed by K&A. He is responsible for all Computer Aided Design (CAD) systems and engineering design of stormwater controls, BMP's, wastewater treatment, groundwater remediation and streambank restoration plans with the firm.

Areas of Expertise:

• Construction Management & Oversight
• Project Scheduling & Coordination
• Hydrogeologic Investigations
• Soil and Groundwater Contaminant Investigations & Remediation
• Surface Water Quality Monitoring and Reporting
• Conceptual and Engineering Design of Stormwater Controls and BMP's
• Hydraulics Modeling
• Landfill Groundwater Monitoring and Reporting
• Wastewater Treatment and Pollution Prevention (P2)
• EPA Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plans

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JAMES A. KLANG, PE, Senior Project Engineer
jklang@kieser-associates.com

Mr Klang holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University. Mr Klang has over 20 years experience in water quality and watershed management. Prior to joining K&A, Mr Klang was the lead Engineer at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) TMDL program. He was the technical lead for the Minnesota River Summer Low Flow DO TMDL and co-authored the Low Dissolved Oxygen TMDL Protocol at the MPCA. He also has extensive experience in water quality trading through involvement in the following permits:

• the Rahr Malting Company and Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative NPDES permits contain point-nonpoint trading provisions.
• the Minnesota River Basin General Phosphorus Watershed Permit implements the Minnesota River Summer Low Flow DO TMDL required waste load allocation reductions for wastewater facilities while allowing for growth through the flexibility of point-point trading.

Mr. Klang has been a speaker at many national conferences on water quality and trading issues.

Mr Klang is responsible for the development and implementation of innovative trading projects across the United States.

Areas of expertise:

Watershed Assessment
Soil Erosion and Nutrient Load Estimation
Water Quality Trading Policy & Program Development
Non-point Source Best Management Practices
Lake & River Assessments
Waste Load Allocation
TMDL Development
NPDES Permitting

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LAURA STEPHENSON, Office Manager  
lstephenson@kieser-associates.com 

 

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ANDREW F. FANG, PhD, Project Scientist
ffang@kieser-associates.com

Dr. Fang received his PhD in Water Resources Science with a focus in Environmental Chemistry from University of Minnesota in 2002. He also obtained an MS in Applied Economics with a focus in Resource and Environmental Economics from University of Minnesota in 2002. His BS was in Environmental Engineering from Shanghai University, China. Dr. Fang had an MS in Ecology and Environmental Science from University of Maine in 1997. His research areas include phosphorus pollution control in agricultural river basins and the economics of nutrient trading. Prior to joining K&A, he worked as an intern for the Metropolitan Council in St. Paul, Minnesota, participating in the Twin Cities Natural Resources Inventory project in the areas of GIS mapping, water features prioritization, and groundwater quality protection. As a graduate student, Mr. Fang teaching-assisted various courses in general chemistry, water chemistry, microeconomics, and water policy. He also interned at the World Bank in Washington DC in 1998 reviewing the environmental and economic consequences of bank-funded on-site sanitation projects in developing countries.

At K&A, Dr. Fang works in projects ranging from watershed modeling, water chemistry analysis, and TMDL planning and implementation to developing ecosystem multiple markets for environmental protection.

Areas of Expertise:

• Environmental Chemistry
• Watershed Management
• Environmental and Resource Economics

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DAVID J. BATCHELOR, Senior Policy Advisor

Mr. Batchelor has extensive regulatory and environmental policy experience. Most recently, Mr. Batchelor served as senior policy advisor to the Assistant Administrator of Water at EPA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. David was responsible for drafting EPA's 2003 Water Quality Trading Policy. Before joining EPA, he was a Market Trading Specialist, with Michigan DEQ's, Surface Water Quality Division where he authored Michigan's state-wide trading rules in 2002; the first of their kind in the U.S. This followed his successful development of Michigan's Air Trading Rules in the mid-1990s. Trading program development efforts followed years of enforcement activities with the MDNR and MDEQ dating back to 1978.

Mr. Batchelor was one of the co-principal investigators for the Kalamazoo River Water Quality Trading Demonstration Project in the late 1990s and the original Chair of the Great Lakes Trading Network (now the Environmental Trading Network). He has served on a number of advisory panels and trading projects across the country. With over 25 years of experience, his expertise focuses on environmental regulatory program management.

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LAURENCE PICQ, Project Scientist
lpicq@kieser-associates.com

Mrs Picq holds a Master of Arts degree in Geography, with a focus on Environmental & Resources Management, from Western Michigan University. For her Master's thesis, Mrs Picq used the water quality model SWAT to assess nutrient and sediment loads in the Macatawa Watershed, MI. Mrs Picq also has a BA in Media and Cultural Studies from Middlesex University, UK.
At K&A, she is responsible for GIS analysis and mapping, water quality modeling as well as web design and maintenance.

Areas of expertise

• Geographic Information Systems and spatial analysis
• Watershed/water quality modeling
• Web design

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PATRICIA J. HOCH-MELLUISH, Project Scientist
phoch-melluish@kieser-associates.com

Ms. Hoch-Melluish holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Western Michigan University and a Master of Science degree from the University of Minnesota-St. Paul in Water Resources Science. Ms. Hoch-Melluish has 13 years of professional experience in the environmental field. For over two years, Ms. Hoch-Melluish conducted aquatic toxicity assays on municipal and industrial point-source discharges, and developed Battelle Great Lake's sediment toxicity program. In addition, Ms. Hoch-Melluish performed numerous Toxicity Identification and Reduction Evaluations (TI/RE) for point-source dischargers and conducted surface water sampling and fish entrainment studies for FERC relicensing of hydroelectric facilities.

Ms. Hoch-Melluish has also conducted bench-scale bioreactor studies to determine waste treatment options for Monsanto's manufacturing facilities and also performed microbial assays on potential new products to determine their waste treatment potential while at Monsanto Company for three years. Ms. Hoch-Melluish served as an intern for the Minnesota Department of Transportation and developed a database of wetland replacement plans and wetland banking activities, and ultimately drafted a report of these findings for the State of Minnesota Wetland Banking Committee. As part of the K&A project team, Ms. Hoch-Melluish is responsible for wetland/streambank/lakeshore rehabilitation using native plantings, streambank erosion emphasizing bioengineering methods, comprehensive lake studies, water quality sampling, watershed-scale pollutant loading analyses, wetland delineations, and design of created wetlands.

Areas of Expertise:

• Wetland/Streambank/Lakeshore Restoration
• Watershed Management
• Surface Water Quality Modeling
• Aquatic and Sediment Toxicity Testing
• Toxicity Identification and Reduction Evaluations
• Wetland Banking
• Microbial Waste Treatment
• Stormwater Treatment Wetland Design

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JAMIE MCCARTHY , Project Scientist
jmccarthy@kieser-associates.com

Ms. McCarthy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan and a Master of Science degree in Aquatic Ecology from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Before joining K&A, Ms. McCarthy worked at the USGS Great Lakes Science Center in Ann Arbor in the Wetlands Division, where she conducted research related to a coastal wetlands restoration study in the Lake Erie basin.  Her research at the University focused on watershed management and water chemistry analysis for the River Raisin watershed in Southeast Michigan.  As part of this research project, she worked at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory on water chemistry assessment and nutrient data analysis. 

At K&A, she is involved in a planning grant for the creation of a watershed management plan for the Kalamazoo River and serves as the technical consultant for the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council.  She is also involved in Phase I Environmental Site Assessments around the state.

Areas of Expertise:

• Watershed Management
• Water Quality Monitoring
• Fluvial Assessment