Environmental Scientist 1,2,3

24-38 ESSERO KS

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTIST 1/2/3

OEC/ SURVEILLANCE/ SERO

This position is in the Southeast Regional Section of the Surveillance Division within the Office of Environmental Compliance. This position will be domiciled in the New Orleans office in Jefferson Parish.

The incumbent of this position will primarily be a solid/hazardous waste inspector but will be expected to assist with other media as assigned. Specific duties may include: Conducting compliance inspections of facilities; Conducting response activities and investigations related to environmental incidents and citizen complaints; Participating in emergency response activities; Preparing written reports documenting facts and details related to the review of compliance with state and federal regulations for activities conducted including inspections, complaint investigations, and incidents responses; Conducting ambient sampling and monitoring efforts to document environmental impacts to air, water, and soil caused by pollution sources within a region.

This posting will be used to fill 2 vacancies.

This position may be filled as either a probational appointment, job appointment (a temporary appointment not to exceed four years), or promotions of permanent classified employees.  If the positions are filled as job appointments, they could be converted to probational appointments should funding become available.

As part of a Career Progression Group, vacancies may be filled from this recruitment as an Environmental Scientist 1, 2 or 3 depending on the level of experience of the selected applicant.   The maximum salary for the Environmental Scientist 3 is $84,136.  Please refer to the "Job Specifications" tab located at the top of the LA Careers "Current Job Opportunities page" for specific information on salary ranges, minimum qualification requirements and job concepts for each level. 

There is a Special Entrance Rate (SER) for this position, as follows:

Environmental Scientist 1 - $20.91 per hour or $1672.80 biweekly

Environmental Scientist 2 - $22.38 per hour or $1789.80 biweekly

Environmental Scientist 3 - $25.62 per hour or $2049.20 biweekly

No Civil Service test score is required in order to be considered for this vacancy.

This position will be filled using the generic or lab option.

To apply for this vacancy, click on the "Apply" link above and complete an electronic application which can be used for this vacancy as well as future job opportunities.   Applicants are responsible for checking the status of their application to determine where they are in the recruitment process by selecting the 'Applications' link after logging into their account.

• Resumes WILL NOT be accepted in lieu of completed education and experience sections on your application. Applications may be rejected if incomplete.*

For recruitment purposes, applicants who are within 90 days of graduating with a bachelor's degree may be eligible for this position; however, the effective date of the appointment cannot be prior to your graduation date.

Please make every effort to attach a copy of your transcript to your application if possible (PDF format preferred). The selected candidate will be required to submit original documentation upon hire.

Applications will be rejected if the applicant fails to meet the minimum qualifications, submits an incomplete application or fails to apply by the closing date of the announcement.  Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of an application listing complete work experience and education.

This agency participates in the E-Verify system for verification of citizenship and employment authorization.

Equal Opportunity Employer. Louisiana is a State as a Model Employer for individuals with disabilities.

For further information about this vacancy contact:

Kierra Smith

Human Resources

LA Department of Environmental Quality

P.O. Box 4303

Baton Rouge, LA  70821

Kierra.Smith2@la.gov       

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

A baccalaureate degree with a major in one of the following scientific fields: agronomy, animal science, atmospheric sciences, biological sciences, chemistry, engineering, environmental sciences, forestry, geosciences, health physics, health sciences, medical physics, nuclear science, physical geography, physics, soil sciences, statistics and quantitative methods, toxicology, or wildlife and fisheries sciences.

SUBSTITUTIONS:

A master's degree or Ph.D. in any of the qualifying fields will substitute for the baccalaureate degree.

NOTE:

Any college hours or degree must be from an accredited college or university.

NOTE:

The transcript must state that the applicant's major is in one of the specified fields. Baccalaureate degrees with majors in a field not listed above which included a heavy concentration in science courses will not be considered qualifying.

NOTE:

Some specific scientific fields that are not qualifying are agriculture, architecture, computer science, food science, horticulture, mathematics, and science education.

FUNCTION OF WORK:

To regulate environmental effects of industrial, commercial, governmental and construction activities through performance of permitting, certification, investigation, inspection, enforcement, emergency response, data collection and assessment, quality assurance, facility classification, laboratory analysis, and/or environmental assessment tasks.

LEVEL OF WORK:

Entry.

SUPERVISION RECEIVED:

Direct from an Environmental Scientist Supervisor or equivalent level technical supervisor. May be supervised by higher level personnel.

SUPERVISION EXERCISED:

None.

LOCATION OF WORK:

Department of Environmental Quality.

JOB DISTINCTIONS:

Differs from Environmental Scientist 2 by the absence of independent responsibility for basic level scientific projects.

The primary function of this level is to receive the necessary training and experience to prepare for the responsibility of higher levels. The focus is on formal and on-the-job training in the multi medias of air/water/waste or environmental laboratory analysis.

EXAMPLES BELOW ARE A BRIEF SAMPLE OF COMMON DUTIES ASSOCIATED WITH THIS JOB TITLE. NOT ALL POSSIBLE TASKS ARE INCLUDED.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTIST/ GENERIC OPTION:

Assists in review of permit applications for minor sources of pollution or minor modifications to major sources of pollution.

May draft permits under close supervision.

Assists in routine inspection and complaint investigations.

Participates in emergency response activities.

Participates and/or assists in enforcement actions.

Assists in the operations of monitoring equipment and collection of monitoring data.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTIST/ LABORATORY OPTION:

Perform routine "wet-chemistry" analyses of water and wastewater samples for various chemical and physical parameters using titrimetric, gravimetric, and volumetric procedures.

Performs basic potentiometric analyses of water and wastewater samples.

Develops skills and assists in the analyses of various environmental samples (air water, wastewater, soils, sediments and aquatic organisms) using various instrumental procedures including atomic absorption spectrophotometry, automated colorimetry, ion chromatography, gas chromatography infrared spectrometry, mass spectroscopy, polarized light microscopy, or scanning electron microscopy.

Develops skills and assists in the required distillation/extraction of environmental samples prior to instrumental analysis, or the preparation and calibration of sampling devises used to collect ambient air samples.

Develops skills and assists in the preparation of necessary standard solutions and reagents required for laboratory operations.

Assist in the acquisition, formatting, reporting, and quality control of analytical data.

Assist in the calibration and maintenance of laboratory equipment.