Environmental Protection Specialist
What you'd do
The Environmental Protection Specialist plans and administers environmental programs that deal with the environmental impacts of human activities on air, land, water, and other media, and are designed to ensure compliance with regulations (federal/local/state) governing air emissions, hazardous materials, non-hazardous/hazardous waste, oil spills, water quality, and the storage of regulated substances, among other areas, and to alleviate the adverse impacts of the activities on the environment.
Major duties
The Environmental Protection Specialist duties include, but are not limited to, the following: GEMS COORDINATION: Responsible for administering the GEMS program, planning, management, and is responsible for implementation of GEMS activities and internal reporting activities to assure compliance with environmental laws and regulation. Completes permits and leads facility self-assessments, inspections, and other environmental investigations. Advises senior level management officials within the facility on the status of environmental programs and recommends changes in the design of facility work programs to meet new environmental requirements. The employee serves as a technical expert on issues related to environmental statutes including the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Superfund statutes, Toxic Substances Control Act, and Safe Drinking Water Act. Reviews facility projects, including expansion, renovation, maintenance, closure or construction of structures and infrastructure to determine the effect to the environment. Provides information that will minimize adverse impact to human health and the environment and reduce the VA Medical Center's vulnerability. Manages and/or provides technical advice regarding response to environmental emergencies including releases/spills of hazardous material. Interacts with federal, state, and local environmental agencies with respect to facility environmental issues. Independently schedules and leads environmental audits to identify and evaluate program implementation and compliance activities. Conducts internal gap analyses of EMS at VAMC. Issues reports of gap analyses and tracks status of corrective and preventive actions. Manages computer programs and databases to enhance management of environmental programs. Trains other employees and lower grade environmental staff, providing instruction on a variety of subjects related to specific and specialized environmental topics. He/she adapts various available media to fit special and unique training requirements and participates in the development of novel or innovative environmental training and promotion activities. The employee participates in the facility GEMS committee. HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGMENT: Implementation of the hazardous waste management program, including conducting or overseeing identification, collection, segregation, packaging and manifesting of hazardous wastes. Performs other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday. 8:00am-4:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Environmental Protection Specialist/PD20F87O Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.
What you need to qualify
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/15/2026. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS 11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: experience with planning, implementing, and evaluating programs, including, but not limited to environmental protection programs; administering or supporting a green environmental management program, or an equivalent program; experience conducting or supporting environmental or regulatory compliance inspections or audits in a healthcare or similar setting to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations; advising or communicating with management or leadership on environmental program, or similar program, status, compliance findings, or corrective action recommendations; conducts the identification, collection, packaging and manifesting of hazardous wastes; preparing reports; and compiling information. OR, Education: Applicants must also have a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree possess OR 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.
Before you apply
Federal applications are different: your resume should be 3–5 pages and mirror the language of this announcement. Read our federal resume guide first — it's the #1 reason qualified people get screened out.
Don't miss the next one.
Get an email the moment a similar federal job opens — postings can close in as little as 5 days.