Environmental Scientist 1/2/3

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Environmental Scientist 1/2/3

Salary

$3,624.40 - $5,724.00 Monthly

Location

Baton Rouge, LA

Job Type

Classified

Job Number

24-39 ESBR KS

Department

Department of Environmental Quality

Division

OEA AIR FIELD SERVICES / AIR PLANNING

Opening Date

07/02/2024

Closing Date

7/12/2024 11:59 PM Central

• Description

• Benefits

• Questions

Supplemental Information

24-39 ESBR KS

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTIST 1/2/3

OEA/ AIR PLANNING/ AIR FIELD SERVICES

This position is in the Air Field Services Section of the Air Planning Division within the Office of Environmental Assessment. This position will be domiciled at Headquarters in East Baton Rouge Parish.

The incumbent of this position performs technical, administrative, and professional work at an advanced level in the Air Field Services Section. This position requires complete understanding of the operation of LDEQ’s Mobile Air Monitoring Laboratory (MAML). Work is performed in accordance with principles, concepts, and techniques of higher mathematics, the physical, chemical, and engineering sciences, and with federal and state rules, regulations and guidelines related to the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, the Code of Federal Regulations, (CFR) and the Louisiana Environmental Quality Act. The position requires use of a state vehicle in the performance of duties, since these duties frequently require travel to monitoring sites throughout the state. Supervision is received from an Environmental Scientist Supervisor.

30% Maintain the MAML in a state of readiness at all times. Plan, coordinate, and conduct air monitoring missions statewide using the MAML. Effectively communicate with local, regional, or state officials and private individuals or parties the needs of the MAML such as seeking permission for the positioning or operating requirements of the MAML on their property. Drive the MAML, assist with setting up, and initialize data collection. Operates and maintains specialized monitoring equipment in a safe manner according to standard operating procedures, and adhering to appropriate calibration and maintenance schedules. Collect ambient air data by ensuring that all equipment is maintained and operational at all times. Ensure that all equipment is properly calibrated and reporting correctly to the AirVision system. Evaluate, interpret, calculate, validate and report data generated by the analytical system. Assess results in an attempt to regulate environmental effects. Responsible for the continuous operation of the MAML.

15% Provide post mission scientific reports of all MAML missions, including instruments and methods used for sampling, field conditions during sampling, operating conditions of the facilities in question, and any other pertinent or incidental information necessary for the assessment of data results. Gather, manipulate, assess, present, and store MAML data generated using a variety of software platforms, mathematical equations, and formulas. Assists administrative staff with responses to requests for information before, during, and after MAML missions. Ensures MAML plans, reports, and other required or important information is submitted into EDMS in a timely manner. Develop, assist, and review MAML Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to ensure safety, accuracy, and consistency.

15% Assists in the operations and maintenance of ambient air monitoring sites and special ambient air monitoring projects.

10% Formulate detailed MAML Sampling and Analysis Plans (SAPs) for specific projects detailing the purpose or reason for the mission, facility of interest, staffing requirements, time lines, etc. This may require the participation in and formation of teams with other sections, divisions, or offices and incident command within the department and where appropriate outside the department. Maintains flexibility in being available for duty in response to after hours, unplanned or emergency response incidents.

10% Troubleshoot and perform maintenance and repairs on instrumentation to make sure a high percentage of data quality is captured for the monitoring conducted. Determine needs, provide specifications, and recommend the purchase of equipment and supplies to be used within the section. Perform maintenance to ensure that the MAML is kept neat and orderly – both inside and outside.

10% Blend customized volatile organic compound standard mixes following department SOPs necessary for the calibration of the MAML gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (GC/MS) using specialized hardware and software. Maintain schedule of calibrations, verifications, precision checks and certifications of MAML instrumentation as part of the QA/QC mandated by the U.S. EPA to retrieve quality data. Record all appropriate documentation in site logbooks.

5% Prepare and give speeches, slide shows, and presentations about the MAML to a variety of interested parties statewide. Represent the agency at state, regional, or national conferences, public meetings with citizens and environmental groups, and responses to news media. Travel statewide to oversee project implementation and provide training of MAML team members.

5% Perform other duties as assigned by supervisor or manager.

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

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

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

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

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.

Job Concepts

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 of Work

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.

Louisiana State Government represents a wide variety of career options and offers an outstanding opportunity tomake a differencethrough public service. With an array of career opportunities in every major metropolitan center and in many rural areas, state employment provides an outstanding option to begin or continue your career.

As a state employee, you will earn competitive pay, choose from a variety of benefits, and have access to a great professional development program:

Insurance Coverage More information can be found at https://info.groupbenefits.org/

Parental Leave– Up to six weeks paid parental leave

More information can be found athttps://www.civilservice.louisiana.gov/Parental-Leave/Default.aspx

Holidays and Leave – State employees receive the following paid holidays each year:

• New Year's Day

• Martin Luther King, Jr. Day,

• Mardi Gras,

• Good Friday,

• Memorial Day,

• Independence Day,

• Labor Day,

• Veteran's Day,

• Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

* Additional holidays may be proclaimed by the Governor

State employees earn sick and annual leave which can be accumulated and saved for future use. Your accrual rate increases as your years of service increase.

Retirement – State of Louisiana employees are eligible to participate in various retirement systems (based on the type of appointment and agency for which an employee works). These retirement systems provide retirement allowances and other benefits for state officers and employees and their beneficiaries. State retirement systems may include (but are not limited to):

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System (www.lasersonline.org). LASERS has provided this video (https://lasersonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Your_Retirement_System.mp4) to give you more detailed information about their system

• Teacher's Retirement System of Louisiana (www.trsl.org),

• Louisiana School Employees Retirement System (www.lsers.net), among others

  01

  Are you expected to graduate within the next 90 days?

• Yes

• No

  02

  If you answered 'yes' to the question above, please enter your anticipated graduation date below. If you answered 'no,' please enter N/A.

  Required Question

Agency

State of Louisiana

Address

For agency contact information, please refer to

the supplemental information above.

Louisiana State Civil Service, Louisiana, 70802

Phone

(866) 783-5462

Website

http://agency.governmentjobs.com/louisiana/default.cfm

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