Environmental Protection Specialist

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/13/2024. 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-13 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12. 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 as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Work that involves resourcing, implementing and overseeing environmental programs Performing environmental assessments to ensure regulatory compliance and conservation Preparing required environmental documents and reports for project coordination Evaluating environmental programs to compliance with federal and state requirements Conducting environmental audits and management surveys You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Analytical Thinking Communication Compliance Environmental Engineering Hazardous Materials Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: Physical Requirements: Facility inspections, audits, surveys and fact-finding investigations will periodically require moderate physical exertion, including walking, standing, climbing stairs and ladders, carrying light items such as manuals or briefcases. Such investigations may also require incumbent to observe work operations and identify existing hazards, such as leaking containers, in treatment, storage or disposal areas and come in contact with environmental and/or hazardous materials/situations. Occasional use of personal protective equipment (PPE) including respiratory protection is required. 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/.
The incumbent serves as the VISN 15 (VA Heartland Network) Green Environmental Management Systems (GEMS) Program Manager. This key program leadership position is responsible for ensuring that the medical facilities environmental protection programs comply with applicable federal, state and local statutory and regulatory requirements, Executive Orders, VA and VHA Directives and VA Network-directed environmental program requirements in order to protect human health and the environment.