TPSA Adviser – June 2020

Welcome to the TPSA Adviser Newsletter!

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Jack Ranney – CleanEarth

A Texan through and through, Jack’s interest in agriculture and his passion for environmental stewardship has always been an integral part of his career.  He grew up in Austin, Texas and his life journey led him back home.

Jack’s professional career began in 1976 in Sheridan, Wyoming in animal production and feed/seed sales. After 4 years in Sheridan, he moved back to his hometown of Austin.  Austin was beginning a period of rapid development and expansion.  During this time, Jack got married and for 3 years was a restaurant entrepreneur.  From 1987-1993 Jack worked as a real estate appraiser and licensed broker.

But what does that have to do with agriculture?
“While doing real estate appraisals, the industry became increasingly responsible for researching and acknowledging environmental impacts on property valuations and transactions.  I realized the environmental impact was critical not only for residential properties, but equally important in all sectors including agriculture. I moved to the technical side of the environmental and remediation industry and became certified in Environmental Assessment and Asbestos Inspection.”

By 1993, the appraisal and environmental training led to a position with the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA), headquartered in Austin, in the department responsible for Resource and Environmental Conservation.  Initially involved in the Solid Waste Project, Jack worked on a regional feasibility study for LCRA’s electric and water customers to manage municipal solid waste as a response to the EPA’s RCRA (Resource Conservation Recovery Act).  In 1996, Jack was Program Coordinator of the LCRA Household Hazardous Waste Collection and Education Program.  This enabled him to work with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Texas Department of Agriculture to implement agricultural pesticide and chemical collections in the LCRA watershed.  “I was able to see first hand the volume of chemicals used in agriculture. It was clear that disposal costs deterred producers from managing agricultural chemicals properly.  Government needed to provide a program for collections of these chemicals.  Otherwise, end users would simply accumulate and store unused products creating an environmental hazard that was serious and costly.”

Producers had kept stockpiles of what became banned pesticides, including dioxins, which posed a contamination threat to surface and groundwater resources.  “It was very rewarding working with the State to provide pesticide waste collections to have these chemicals managed and disposed of properly.”

During his career with LCRA, Jack was the Program Manager for the Household Hazardous Waste Collection and Education Program in Texas which administered the HHW collection program in 10 counties along the Colorado River. For approximately 12 years Jack served as a Liaison to the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission and Texas Department of Agriculture assigned to assist with pesticide waste collections. By 2008, the HHW collection program ended and Jack transferred to LCRA’s Economic Development Department with primary responsibility to assist LCRA’s electric and water customer communities in developing their own HHW programs.

In 2013, Jack was hired by PSC Environmental Services as Account Manager servicing governmental HHW and agricultural pesticide waste collection programs for Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas, Missouri, and Colorado.  In 2014, PSC was acquired by Stericycle, Inc. and Stericycle Environmental Solutions, Inc. was formed.

Jack continued as the HHW Account Manager with Stericycle.
Recently Stericycle Environmental Solutions, Inc. was acquired by Harsco Corporation and will be merged into Harsco’s Clean Earth, Inc.

For the last 27 years, Jack’s expertise has kept him in the forefront of the HHW and pesticide waste industries.  A Texan with a love of agriculture, Jack Ranney is making a positive impact to help improve the stewardship of agriculture.

 

Jack Ranney describes the benefits of being a member of TPSA

“TPSA is a unique group that brings together educational institutions, ag chemical manufacturers, hazardous waste management companies, Federal and State government representatives, and environmental entities to develop and share information.  This helps promote proper management practices, overall management of agricultural chemicals, alternatives in farm production, and industry sustainability.  TPSA helps inform representatives in our industry about the professional services we as a company provide.  With all stake holders working in a collaborative manner, it helps our industry to implement the right combination of chemical waste management, with the progress and change that best serves our industry and communities.”

2021 TPSA Annual Conference • February 2-4
Whitney Peak Hotel
255 N Virginia St,
Reno, Nevada 89501

More information on the 2021 Annual Conference to be available in the Fall.

TPSA 2020 Conference Highlights – San Antonio

TPSA held its 20th annual conference in San Antonio at the Marriott Plaza.

There were two Keynote Speakers:

Jeff Case – Senior Director, Government Affairs CropLife America
Crop Protection Industry Challenges and Opportunities

Jay Hall – Assistant Chief, Texas Division of Emergency Management
Natural Disasters: Emergency Response Planning & Preparedness

The Conference included informational sessions on:

  • State Specific Program Update – Recycling/Disposal
  • Program Funding Models
  • USDA Grant Survey: National Perspective
  • Using Auxins Responsibly
  • Closed Systems for Transferring Pesticides
  • EPA Certification Rule
  • Drone Use in Ag – Technology Overview/EPA Perspective

  • Natural Disasters – Response, Planning and Preparedness
  • Hemp/Marijuana EPA Perspective
  • Container Rinsing
  • Soil Health
  • Understanding and Communicating Risk – NPIC
  • AgVocating
  • Ag Plastics/Vermont and Other State Program Changes

The Pesticide Stewardship Alliance Presents 2020 Awards

program-innovation

Program Innovation Award – Washington State Department of Agriculture

Ofelio Borges, Director, Washington State Department of Agriculture Pesticide Management Division. Team members include Flor Servin, Jaime Ramon, Lorena Lopez, Manuel Ornelas, Bradley Farrar, Jeff Robinson, Joe Hoffman, and Kimberly Diaz

2020 Program Innovation Award

maria-mirsky

Outstanding Member Contribution Award

Maria Mirsky, Mirsky Associates, Inc.

2020 Outstanding Member Contribution Award

Becoming a Member of TPSA

TPSP membership offers many benefits including access to conference presentations. Members also receive reduced conference fees and have the opportunity to get involved in the administrative and policy functions of TPSA through committees and projects.

  • Individual $75
  • Organization $200 (up to 3 individuals)
  • Retired $35
  • Student $25


Annual TPSA Membership Cycle is from September 1 to August 31.

For more member benefit information, click here.

Be sure to check out the TPSA homepage for the member benefits video featuring 4 of our members.

To complete the membership application, click here.

This issue of the TPSA Adviser is sponsored by:

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