Last September, California Governor Edmund G. Brown signed milestone legislation into law establishing the nation’s highest targets for expanding renewable energy and increasing energy efficiency.

Aspen Environmental Group is a leader in providing professional biological services in support of public and private clients. The accurate identification, documentation, disclosure of biological resource information, and identification of any potential significant impacts and measures to avoid or minimize these impacts are critical to ensuring that projects commence on time and without costly delays.

During most of 2015, Aspen Vice President Susan Lee served as a member of a six-member Independent Scientific Technical Advisory Panel (ISTAP) that studied seawater intake technology options for the Proposed Poseidon Resources LLC Desalination Facility in Huntington Beach, California

Since the fall of 2013, Aspen has been working with the California Department of Conservation, its Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR), and the California Natural Resources Agency to prepare an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) entitled “Analysis of Oil and Gas Well Stimulation Treatments in California,” which is more familiarly referred to as the “SB 4” EIR.

The goal of AB 52 is to promote the involvement of California Native American Tribes in the decision-making process when it comes to identifying and developing mitigation for impacts to resources of importance to their culture.

Aspen has an array of multi-year on-call contracts with a variety of agencies. One of the most recent on-call contracts is for delivering environmental and air quality services to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).

With a 5-0 vote at its regular business meeting on June 10, the California Energy Commission (CEC) agreed with its staff’s recommendation and approved the awarding of a 6-year contract to the Aspen Environmental Group team for providing consulting and administrative services under the Commission’s Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) Program.

Aspen Environmental Group understands the ever-growing importance of geospatial information and its contribution to the environmental consulting industry as well as to other industries and clients.

Under the new Santa Ana River monitoring contract with the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Aspen recently used several Reconyx HyperfireTM HC 600 trail cameras to monitor wildlife usage in and around the Prado Basin near Corona, CA

Catherine Elder and Ashley Spalding, part of the Aspen’s Energy Resource Economics group, attended the Center for Research in Regulated Industries’ (CRRI) 28th Annual Western Conference in Monterey, CA from June 24 through June 26.

Aspen Environmental Group is currently providing assistance in the preparation of two programmatic environmental documents that are the first of their kind to analyze well stimulation treatments specific to California.

Aspen Environmental Group is recognized as one of California’s most experienced firms in conducting CEQA and NEPA analysis for transmission lines. In 2014, Aspen bolstered that massive experience with several additional major transmission projects throughout California, Arizona, and Nevada.

Aspen’s Cultural Resources group is growing. Group Manager Dr. Beth Bagwell and her team of cultural resources specialists are Registered Professional Archaeologists who meet the Secretary of the Interior’s qualification criteria.

Aspen Environmental Group assisted the California Energy Commission in evaluating potential impacts associated with the proposed Palen Solar Electric Generating Station (PSEGS) to be located adjacent to Interstate-10 in the Chuckwalla Valley, an area east of Palm Springs in the remote Colorado Desert.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) has issued grants to California counties “for the development or revision of rules and policies that facilitate the development of eligible renewable energy resources, and their associated electric transmission facilities, and the processing of permits for eligible renewable energy resources” (Pub. Res. Code § 25619).

Aspen’s GIS Department, under the direction of Anton Kozhevnikov and his team of dedicated GIS specialists, are preparing to hit the road with a new product: the Resource Asset Management System, or RAMS.

Aspen’s Energy Resource Economics practice director Catherine Elder spoke at the Heartland Consumers Power District Annual Meeting on April 10, 2014 in Madison, South Dakota. Asked to address “The Rush Towards Natural Gas.”

Aspen was recently awarded a contract with the San Bernardino County Department of Public Works (County) to prepare environmental documentation and regulatory permits for the proposed Dola Ditch and Lanzit Ditch Bridge Replacement Projects.