Associate, Environmental Compliance and Strategy - Invenergy

About the Environmental Compliance and Strategy Team

At Invenergy, our environmental commitment goes beyond the development of clean energy. Invenergy is committed to the responsible development, construction, and operation of our renewable energy generation and transmission projects. Understanding the impacts of infrastructure on the landscape and how to minimize those impacts while advancing the deployment of clean energy is a cornerstone of our company process. Invenergy’s dedication to responsible development is reflected in its Environmental Compliance and Strategy (ECS) team, which is unparalleled in the industry. The ECS team consists of over 50 environmental experts with different backgrounds from biology to law. The team regularly collaborates across regions and portfolios to leverage its expertise and consults with federal and state governments and resource experts to ensure projects incorporate real-time data to inform responsible project decisions. The ECS team supports projects from development to construction and through operations, maintaining project expertise and oversight of compliance through each project’s life cycle.

Position Overview

As an Associate, you will support environmental data collection and compliance through siting, permitting, construction, and operations for a portfolio of renewable energy projects. The projects are in different phases, and each require their own environmental compliance approach, which will be guided by law, permit conditions, contracts, guidelines, industry practices, and broader company strategy. Success requires coordination across internal departments and with outside parties such as regulators, NGOs, customers, lenders, and counsel. The preferred candidate will rely on professional experience, with guidance from colleagues and ECS leadership. The candidate will understand and have experience working under relevant federal laws and guidelines, such as the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, and Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act; the US Fish and Wildlife’s Land-based Wind Energy Guidelines; and state and local equivalents.

The ideal candidate will be driven to be part of a team. This candidate will also be a critical thinker and collaborative self-starter with a keen attention to detail, and the ability and interest in effectively managing a diverse portfolio.

Note: this is not an EHS role.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate with consultants providing environmental survey, design, and permitting support, which includes reviewing proposals, managing survey timelines, and ensuring survey methodologies follow agency input and satisfy permit conditions and project needs, with guidance from a manager

• Review of technical reports provided by consultants in coordination with colleagues. Reports typically include but are not limited to: preliminary site assessments, site characterization studies, species surveys, wetland delineations, avian and bat use surveys, and post-construction monitoring studies

• Provide review of and support for the incorporation of environmental resources into engineering designs to ensure alignment with project environmental commitments and/or permitting requirements

• Identify and communicate with project support teams each project’s environmental strategy, data needs, associated schedules, and identified potential risks. Work collaboratively and efficiently with internal teams and external parties (e.g., consultants) to execute the same on schedule following input from manager

• Coordinate with and review the work of Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contractors and environmental construction monitors for adherence with environmental commitments/requirements with support from colleagues with construction experience

• Maintain a complete and organized project record to demonstrate compliance with federal and state environmental regulations

• Maintain relationships and support federal and state regulatory agency consultation

• Conduct environmental due diligence for potential development and acquisition opportunities

• Develop a comprehensive knowledge of environmental policy, regulation and compliance that affect permitting and impacts on project siting and compliance, and support the development of compliance strategies

• Contribute to internal initiatives related to ECS team processes and function

Requirements

• Minimum of bachelor’s degree

• 2-5 years of experience managing responsibilities like those listed above; preferably with 1+ years of experience in the renewable energy field

• Experience applying federal and state environmental laws (e.g., NEPA, BGEPA, MBTA, ESA, CWA), guidelines, and policies to support the development and execution of environmental compliance strategies, avoidance, and minimization techniques during project planning and implementation, preferably in the Western U.S.

• Ability to effectively prioritize multiple tasks and make decisions that promote/advance company and project goals and objectives

• Self-directed and detail oriented, with the ability and desire to work effectively in a team environment

• Ability to maintain strict confidentiality of sensitive materials, activities, and initiatives

• Able to act and adapt to a fast-paced business environment with competing deadlines, and quickly learn and implement internal processes

• Strong attention to detail, assuring documents and communications are concise and accurate.

• Ability to navigate ArcGIS and/or Google Earth to interpret environmental spatial data and identify potential project risks

• Flexible to travel

• Eligible to work in the United States without the need for employer visa sponsorship now or in the future