Director of Environmental Affairs in Livingston, Merced County, California

Foster Farms has been a family-owned and operated company for four generations. Since our founding days back in 1939, we have always been committed to providing consumers with the highest-quality, best-tasting poultry products available. The hope is that our commitment to excellence, honesty, quality, service, and our people will shine through in everything we do.

We are always looking for talented individuals to join the Foster Farms team. We offer the experience of a large organization, but operate like a family business. More than half of our job openings are filled by internal promotion, and we encourage employees to gain a variety of experiences across different functional groups.

Job Description

PURPOSE OF POSITION:

Primary Purpose: Provide corporate direction on environmental compliance matters and activities in all aspects of corporate and field-level operations. Maintain effective relationships with corporate and field-level managers, plant supervisory personnel, and federal, state, and local regulatory officials. Develop, direct, and maintain corporate environmental programs for more than 200 facilities in California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Analyze federal, state, and local regulations for applicability to operations and create or modify programs accordingly, provide environmental litigation support, perform comprehensive environmental audits at Foster Farms facilities, report and oversee emergency response issues, manage all aspects of remediation activities, investigate employee pesticide exposures, train Foster Farms personnel on environmental topics, manage due diligence assessments during property transactions, negotiate penalties and other compliance matters with regulatory agencies, and respond to public concerns.

The End Result: The Director of Environmental Affairs minimizes corporate costs through effective resource management and coordinates and facilitates corporate compliance efforts through oversight, training, and information dissemination.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

Manage (create and maintain) all corporate environmental programs, plans, reports, permits and fee payments for Foster Farms holdings nationally. Review for accuracy, assess overall process, and develop list of improvements based on findings.

Initiate Environmental Compliance Audits (internal and/or external) at Foster Farms' plants in order of priority (e.g., processing, truck shops, feedmills, hatcheries, and ranches). Document observations and regulatory citations, implement corrections, and inform appropriate managers.

Develop and implement an environmental training program and schedule for Foster Farms' facilities to satisfy federal and state annual training requirements for stormwater, hazardous waste, hazardous materials, chemical spill prevention and response, pesticide handling and management, Hazardous Materials Business Plan training, etc. Train key plant personnel multiple times to ensure a thorough understanding of regulatory requirements.

Perform environmental due diligence assessments for all potential property/company purchases to determine extent of environmental liability.

Perform assessment of Foster Farms' Environmental Program to determine efficacy of the following programs: air quality, stormwater, hazardous waste, universal waste, CAFO, hazardous materials, chemical spill prevention and response, and pesticide handling and management. Create list of improvements based on findings.

Manage federal underground storage tank (UST) upgrade process and groundwater remediation projects for Foster Farms, act as emergency response lead during chemical spills and as Foster Farms representative following complaints by environmental agencies, and create and maintain a database of compliance tasks and Safety Data Sheets to facilitate compliance efforts and reduce response time to agencies.

Manage the internal evaluations of programs and methodologies to ensure their effectiveness and minimize cost and corporate/individual liability, comment on developing regulations to minimize their impact on Foster Farms' operations, find ways of eliminating waste and low-cost legal methods for disposing of wastes that cannot be eliminated, evaluate and modify (as needed) current operating practices to protect the environment and reduce liability (e.g., institute diesel tank inspection program), manage superfund assessments and assist with their resolution, and provide Foster Farms' personnel with guidance on miscellaneous issues (e.g., mosquito abatement). Work with corporate staff to develop and maintain corporate sustainability programs.

Qualifications

REQUIREMENTS:

Master's Degree in Environmental Science, Industrial Health or Biological Science.

Minimum of 8 years of professional experience, at least 4 years working in the planning, development and implementation of corporate-wide environmental compliance and training programs.

Education and experience must clearly show the existence of specialized knowledge in three or more of the following specialties: air quality, wastewater, hazardous materials, hazardous waste, pesticide safety, site remediation, underground storage tanks regulations, and emergency response.

Knowledge of federal, state and local environmental laws, regulations, and standards.

Must work well with other people both internally and externally.

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Additional Information

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Foster Farms is an Equal Opportunity Employer - Minorities, Females, Veterans and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Foster Farms participates in E-Verify during the hire process at all locations for all new employees.