GEI Expands Pacific Northwest Staff, Services and Locations

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—May 15, 2014— GEI Consultants, Inc., one of the nation’s leading geotechnical, environmental, water resources, and ecological science and engineering firms, announced today that the company has expanded its staff and services in the Pacific Northwest, moved to new offices in Portland, and opened its first office in Seattle. The new offices are located at the following addresses:

GEI Consultants’ New Portland Office

GEI Consultants, Inc.

700 NE Multnomah Street

Suite 230

Portland, OR 97232

503.697.1478 (reception)

GEI Consultants First Seattle Office

GEI Consultants, Inc.

2701 First Avenue

Suite 400

Seattle, WA 98121-1121

206.757.3223 (reception)

The Portland office led by GEI vice president Ginger Gillin provides a variety of environmental and ecological assessment, compliance and permitting services including hydropower regulatory compliance and environmental assessments, site investigation and remediation, program management and related services to utilities, dam owners, freight rail, industrial, and public entities across the Pacific Northwest and nationally.

GEI’s first Seattle office adds expertise in water resources, NEPA, hydropower licensing and compliance, ecological services, and environmental compliance and permitting services. The office is led by GEI vice president Jeremy Pratt, who brings more than 38 years of experience moving large, controversial water and energy projects through complex regulatory processes. Kenneth Slattery joins the Seattle office with more than 34 years of experience in Washington water resources management, including six years as the state’s highest ranking water resources official. Jeffrey Deason, formerly with the Okanogan Public Utility District, joins the Seattle office with more than ten years of experience overseeing environmental and hydro license compliance, and compliance management for transmission development. Shannon Luoma has more than ten years of Pacific Northwest experience with habitat restoration, native plants, invasive plant removal, and salmon habitat survey and monitoring. Stephanie Breeden brings 8 years of experience managing the environmental compliance and NEPA processes for federal agencies such as BPA, DOD, and USDA.

Jeremy, Ken, Jeff, Shannon and Stephanie join several additional new technical staff in GEI’s Seattle office, supporting clients across the Pacific Northwest and western states.

Newer GEI Staff – Enhanced Career Summaries

Jeremy Pratt’s career has focused on moving large, controversial projects through complex regulatory processes. Under his leadership, GEI is managing hydropower compliance for the recent 50-year license issued to Okanogan PUD, a project that Jeremy managed over the past nine years. He has led a series of large water and energy projects meeting the requirements of FERC hydropower licensing, NEPA, CEQA, SEPA, the major federal permitting processes, as well as environmental compliance in many Western states. Jeremy’s project experience includes hydroelectric and thermal generation, transmission lines, pipelines, dam removal, watershed planning, water supply planning, and natural resources economics and management.

Kenneth Slattery joined GEI in 2014 and has more than 34 years of professional experience with the State of Washington in water resources management, policy development, planning and organizational leadership, including six years as the Department of Ecology’s Water Resources Program Manager. He led more than 150 staff in the issuance, regulation and adjudication of water rights, dam safety, well drilling, water information management, and protection and restoration of instream flows. Ken participated in every significant policy initiative and debate regarding water resources over three decades in the state of Washington regarding watershed planning, water use efficiency, water right processing and use fees, salmon recovery and climate change.

Jeffrey A. Deason bolsters GEI’s PNW presence as a project professional located in the Seattle office. He has more than ten years of experience overseeing environmental compliance for hydropower licensings and transmission line development. Formerly with the Okanogan PUD, Jeff is familiar with state and federal environmental law, including NEPA/SEPA, Section 106 of the NHPA, RCRA, and the TSCA. He was also involved with the dam safety and license implementation for Enloe Hydroelectric Project in Washington, served as the environmental manager for looping the 28-mile, 115kv Methow Transmission line, and authored the District’s Avian Protection Act Plan.

Shannon Luoma has also joined the Seattle office as a project scientist. She has more than ten years of Pacific Northwest experience with habitat restoration, native plants, invasive plant removal, and salmon habitat survey and monitoring. She was involved with major projects such as the Keystone Pipeline, the NAWS water system in North Dakota, and the Enloe Hydroelectric Project in Washington. Her experience includes NEPA/SEPA, project management, client management, research and data analysis, budget creation, implementation and tracking, ArcGIS, and field support.

Stephanie Breeden joins the GEI Portland office with eight years of professional experience preparing environmental documentation pursuant to NEPA and conducting biological services such as wetland, endangered species, and botany surveys in a variety of ecosystems. For more than four years, she worked as an Environmental Protection Specialist at BPA, .managing NEPA and environmental compliance for large and small scale projects including transmission line rebuilds, substation construction, and fish habitat restoration. Stephanie became experienced in leading the consultation for the ESA and NHPA for BPA projects, and developed mitigation and avoidance strategies for protected resources.

About GEI: GEI’s multidisciplinary team of engineers, scientists, and planners deliver integrated water resources, environmental, ecological, geotechnical and waterfront engineering solutions to diverse clientele nationwide. The firm has provided a broad range of consulting and engineering services on over 50,000 projects in 50 states and 22 countries. For more information on GEI, please visit www.geiconsultants.com.