Technical Assistance

The Technical Advice You Need—In Plain English

Environmental issues and projects are complex: comprised of a wide range of technical, regulatory, administrative, and logistical components. It can be difficult and extremely frustrating for laymen to wade through the myriad of regulatory programs, technical jargon, and acronyms associated with environmental projects and issues. That’s where GeoInsight’s technical assistance services come in: we make the complex comprehensible, unravel the issues, and bring focus and priority to the concerns that affect you.

Technical Assistance Grant Programs: Background and Purpose

State and federal government agencies developed Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) programs to increase public awareness and facilitate public involvement in the decision making process associated with environmental projects. The program’s primary objective is to provide financial assistance to citizens groups, communities, and interested third parties, allowing them to hire independent technical advisors.

The Technical Advisor’s Role

The technical advisor’s role is to educate: helping the affected community understand the technical information and the ins and outs of the various regulatory programs. As a corporate theme, GeoInsight focuses upon developing strong working relationships with clients. Nowhere is this more important than the work we do with local communities under TAG Programs.

Why Choose GeoInsight?

Since our founding in 1993, we have developed considerable expertise in serving as a technical advisor to groups (planning boards, community action groups, TAG recipients, etc.) on a wide range of environmental projects. We have a reputation for fairness and even-handedness with regulatory community representatives. We have TAG expertise in both state regulatory frameworks and the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) program, commonly referred to as Superfund.

Characteristics that differentiate us from other firms, include our ability to:

• Listen to and understand common concerns within a group
• Identify influencing factors and a range of potential solutions
• Focus upon strategic and creative problem solving
• Communicate complex technical and regulatory issues in a simple, easy-to-understand manner, and
• Help groups reach objectives in a win-win atmosphere.

GeoInsight’s Technical Advisory Services Include:

• Reviewing, interpreting, and commenting upon analytical data and technical reports
• Summarizing and explaining technical issues and regulatory programs
• Attending and participating in agency and public meetings
• Interacting with technical advisors and consultants hired by regulatory agencies and responsible parties
• Conducting independent research, analyses, and evaluations regarding issues that are important to local community objectives and concerns
• Helping local communities identify and prioritize issues, and desired outcomes with regard to participation in public involvement activities, and
• Assisting with public outreach efforts, including the preparation of mailers, flyers, web sites, and other media.