Lead Environmental Specialist - Waste & Water

Chevron•Pasadena, TX

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Lead Environmental Specialist – Waste & Water provides technical leadership and day-to-day environmental compliance support for Chevron’s Pasadena Refinery, with primary responsibility for the facility’s waste and water environmental programs. The role serves as a key environmental advisor to Operations, Maintenance, Engineering/Projects, Turnarounds, and other business partners. It interprets environmental requirements, provides field-based compliance support, coordinates regulatory deliverables, identifies and mitigates environmental risk, and drives continuous improvement in waste and water management practices. The position leads implementation of refinery waste-management programs and provides technical guidance on RCRA and applicable Texas waste-management requirements. It manages waste characterization and documentation, inspections, shipment coordination, reporting, and records. It also serves as the lead environmental resource for water and wastewater compliance, supporting operational activities, sampling and monitoring, permitting, investigations, and regulatory deliverables. The role provides environmental field support for spills, releases, turnarounds, outages, maintenance, construction, and capital projects. It oversees environmental contractors and service providers, supports regulatory inspections and audits, and provides technical guidance and mentoring to environmental personnel, contractors, and refinery stakeholders. The successful candidate is expected to promote compliance and safety, identify risks early, build collaborative relationships, and drive corrective actions and continuous improvement.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science, Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Chemistry, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent relevant environmental experience.
Demonstrated experience supporting environmental compliance in a refinery, petrochemical, chemical, manufacturing, or similar industrial environment.
Knowledge of industrial waste management and RCRA requirements.
Working knowledge of water and wastewater environmental compliance and permitting.
Ability to interpret regulatory and permit requirements and translate them into practical field expectations.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to work effectively across Operations, Maintenance, Engineering, Projects, HSE, and contractor organizations.
Ability to independently prioritize multiple environmental compliance activities and deliverables.
Ability to lead by example in environmental compliance, safety, and field execution; take ownership of programs and obligations; recognize and communicate risks; balance regulatory requirements with practical operating needs; build collaborative relationships; and track commitments and corrective actions to completion.

Nice To Haves

Significant environmental experience in refining, petrochemical, or heavy industrial operations.
Experience leading or coordinating waste and wastewater compliance programs.
Experience with RCRA hazardous waste management, waste characterization, manifests/e-Manifest, and industrial waste reporting.
Experience supporting environmental regulatory inspections and audits.
Experience supporting turnarounds, outages, capital projects, and environmental incident response.
Knowledge of Texas environmental regulatory requirements and experience working with applicable environmental agencies.
Experience providing technical direction or oversight to environmental contractors and field personnel.
Ability to support development of less-experienced environmental personnel through technical guidance and knowledge transfer.

Responsibilities

Lead day-to-day implementation and oversight of refinery hazardous, industrial, non-hazardous, and recyclable waste-management programs.
Provide technical guidance on RCRA and applicable Texas waste-management requirements.
Manage waste characterization, profiling, container management, labeling, accumulation, transportation, manifesting, recycling, and disposal.
Conduct or oversee waste-area and container inspections and support management of satellite and other accumulation areas.
Coordinate off-site waste shipments with transporters and treatment, storage, and disposal facilities; maintain waste profiles and accurate shipment documentation and records.
Support Chevron’s Third-Party Waste Stewardship process, including evaluation and documentation of waste-management facilities.
Coordinate regulatory waste reporting and data-quality reviews.
Serve as the lead environmental resource for refinery water and wastewater compliance, supporting wastewater collection, treatment, discharge, stormwater, and related water-management activities.
Coordinate environmental sampling, monitoring, inspections, recordkeeping, and compliance evaluations for water programs.
Review operational changes, maintenance activities, projects, and abnormal operating conditions for potential water or wastewater compliance implications.
Support investigation, documentation, and follow-up of wastewater excursions, spills, releases, and other environmental events.
Coordinate with laboratories, Operations, technical resources, and contractors to ensure environmental data and supporting documentation are available and reviewed.
Support permitting and regulatory activities for refinery water and wastewater programs.
Provide environmental guidance for spills, releases, cleanup, waste disposition, and remediation; support environmental sampling, investigations, corrective actions, and lessons learned.
Provide field environmental support during planned and unplanned operating events and assist response organizations with environmental considerations during incident response and recovery.
Represent Waste/Water environmental interests during turnarounds, outages, maintenance, construction, and capital projects; participate in planning and environmental reviews to identify requirements.
Coordinate environmental support and contractor resources during high-activity operating periods and provide timely field guidance to Operations and project teams.
Provide technical direction and oversight for environmental contractors and service providers supporting waste and water activities.
Coordinate waste transportation, disposal, recycling, laboratory, sampling, vacuum-truck, and other environmental support services as applicable.
Review invoices, service requirements, work scopes, and environmental service needs, and identify opportunities to improve performance, efficiency, and cost management.
Maintain awareness of federal, state, and local environmental requirements affecting refinery waste and water programs.
Coordinate preparation, review, and timely completion of regulatory reports and environmental deliverables; maintain records capable of supporting internal reviews and regulatory inspections.
Support regulatory inspections, information requests, audits, and follow-up activities; communicate compliance issues and emerging risks to Environmental leadership and refinery stakeholders.
Support development and implementation of corrective actions when compliance gaps are identified.
Provide technical guidance and mentoring, promote consistent application of environmental requirements, and build working relationships across refinery functions and contractors.
Lead or support continuous-improvement initiatives, environmental training, and development of procedures, work processes, guidance documents, and compliance tools.
Take ownership of Waste & Water programs, identify environmental risks early, communicate concerns, and drive issues and corrective actions through resolution.