20041235 Ver 1_Email_20071030

Re: DWQ Lab Certification
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Subject: Re: DWQ Lab Certification
From: Larry Eaton <[e-mail]>
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:42:48 -0400
To: Christine Miller <[e-mail]>
CC: Trish MacPherson <[e-mail]>, Eric Kulz <[e-mail]>, John
Dorney <[e-mail]>
Hey Christine,
You have the situation correct, Dave and Wendell Pennington are the only people who
should be doing the IDs. I know the Certification process is a pain in the neck;
but the only way to keep this (who IDs samples) from spinning out of control, is to
insist on some sort of baseline. My mistake with Dave was to let him slide while he
"worked on getting certified". Two years later he had done nothing toward that
end. After I told him I was rescinding his special status (it really wasn't fair to
all the other biologists out there) he got serious and you now have double the
choices of biologists. Bobby and Chris appear to be in a similar situation. They
have been talking to Trish for years about getting certified, but have never gotten
around to it. I suspect that if you call them and say "Larry is being a hard ass
and I can't use you guys until you are certified" that they, like Lenat, will
discover some more urgency in their application process.
What I can offer is to talk to Trish and see at what point in the certification
process she thinks indicates when someone is serious about getting certified and is
likely to succeed (maybe after they pass their bug test?). If you were willing to
help me light a fire under these guys to get certified, once Bobby and Chris get to
that point in the process, I might (gotta check around here to be sure its OK) be
willing to let them do your (and only your) samples again until they finish the
process (assuming they don't stall out). And then there will be 3 labs - good for
everyone.
Larry
Christine Miller wrote:
Hi Larry,
I checked in with Trish, she said that the only people in North Carolina who are
certified are Dave Lenat, Duke Power, Progress Energy, and Mecklenburg County,
then there was Wendell Pendleton from Tennessee. As Trish explained to me,
Duke, Progress, and Mecklenburg don't contract out their biologists. I guess my
question is, moving forward, can I only use Dave Lenat or Wendell Pendleton to id
my 401 samples? I'd like to keep using Chris and Bobby since we have a working
relationship established, but want to make sure we are doing what we have to.
Thank you!
Christine
Christine Miller
Baker Engineering NY, Inc.
1447 S. Tryon Street, Suite 200
Charlotte, NC 28203
704-334-4454 main line
704-319-7898 direct line
704-334-4492 fax
[e-mail]
Larry Eaton <[e-mail]> 10/25/2007 7:21 AM »> I
Hey Christine,
Actually, I really don't get a say in who is or is not qualified. That is a job
1 of 2 2/7/2008 9:06 AM

Re: DWQ Lab Certification
for Trish and her Lab Certification program
http://h2o.enr.state.nc.us/esb/ATUwww/Default.html#labcert I just assumed that
Tony LaRoux in Charlotte and Chris and Bobby in Durham had gone through her
Certification process and that they were only doing samples for their respective
cities, which don't have an impact on the regulatory game. The only person I
"approved" without certification (and that temporarily) was Dave Lenat, who has
now bridged the gap and has become a Certified Lab.
That temporary "unofficial certification" was probably a mistake, which I hope
not to make again, so recently I proposed an alternative Certification process
for identifying 401 projects (see attached). For people who don't want to go
through the Lab Certification program, this alternative could be an easier way to
demonstrate taxonomic expertise. while this is not official policy yet, I am
confident that something similar to this will eventually be adopted. If you were
interested in doing your own samples, either one of these methods of
demonstrating expertise would be acceptable to me.
Let me know if you have any further questions.
Larry
Christine Miller wrote:
Hi Larry,
we always use Bobby Loque and Chris Outlaw for macro id. I recently was
asked by the City of Charlotte to state how they are certified to do bug ID.
Chris told me that when Greg Price worked for us, you and Greg talked and you
decided that they were qualified to do the work that DWQ certified labs do.
I was hoping you could help me with the wording on that - are they certified
by DWQ or acknowledged as qualified or how do you usually state that?
Hope all is well - thanks!!
Christine
Christine Miller
Baker Engineering NY, Inc.
1447 S. Tryon Street, Suite 200
Charlotte, NC 28203
704-334-4454 main line
704-319-7898 direct line
704-334-4492 fax
[e-mail]
2 of 2 2/7/2008 9:06 AM