Environmental Chemistry Expert Witnesses: 6

Dr. Olen R. Brown, PhD is a board certified Diplomate in Toxicology and member of the standards of knowledge committee. He has the PhD in Microbiology With over 35 years of experience in Life Sciences and more than 150 publications. Dr. Brown specializes in complex, multidisciplinary cases, and he focuses on Human Medicine using the disciplines of bacteriology, virology, immunology, epidemiology, biochemistry, physiology, analytical chemistry, toxicology, and environmental sciences. Dr. Brown has provided litigation support services for 180+ cases in 25 states and 1 in Canada. Dr. Brown has served in Plaintiff/Defense, and Criminal/Civil cases. He has testified in 20 trials and 31 depositions. Dr. Brown's expertise include: cause-and-effect determination after medical record review; risk assessment and causation determination from toxic exposure; evaluation of the therapeutic and harmful effects of ethical drugs, antibiotics, alcohol, and drugs of abuse; the toxicity of solvents, pesticides, heavy metals, ozone, carbon monoxide, particulates, and most organic chemicals for most organ systems including the lung (Asthma, COPD, RADS) and the brain (Parkinson's), Dr. Brown has evaluated human medical and veterinary medical devices and pharmaceuticals for safety. Areas of Expertise

• Toxicology (General, Academic, Pharmacologic, Forensic, Regulatory)
• Medical Sciences - Microbiology, Immunology, Bacteriology, Virology, Cell Physiology, Infectious Diseases, Cancer, Allergy, Mechanisms of Diseases
• Microbiology - Medical, Molecular Biology, Veterinary Medical, Environmental
• Environmental Biology - Hazardous Wastes; Air, Water and Soil Pollution
• Chemistry - Biochemistry, Analytical, Organic
• Veterinary Sciences - Cell Physiology, Mechanisms of Disease

View Dr. Brown's Consulting Profile.

Joel Coats, PhD, is Distinguished Professor of Entomology and Toxicology in the Department of Entomology at Iowa State University. Specializing in Insecticide Toxicology and Environmental Toxicology, he has been on the faculty at Iowa State University since 1978 and served as Department Chairman for seven years.

Dr. Coats’ research program includes two main areas: (1) insect toxicology and (2) environmental toxicology and environmental chemistry of Agrochemicals. His research in the insect toxicology area is focused primarily on natural products as insecticides and insect repellents, including investigations of their spectrum of activity, mechanisms of action, metabolism, synthesis of biorational derivatives and analogs, quantitative structure-activity relationships.

Dr. Coats is familiar with all types of pesticides and insect repellents, including synthetic and botanical insecticides, acaricides, fumigants, and repellents; toxicity, mechanisms of action, environmental and comparative toxicology, ecological risk assessment, persistence of pesticides, movement in the environment, and residue analysis.

Litigation Support - Dr. Coats provides expert witness services to counsel representing both Plaintiff and Defense. He has been deposed and testified on numerous occasions. Dr. Coats offers opinions regarding pesticide cases of many types, including:

Non-target / Off-target Effects Residues Toxic Tort

Environmental Contamination Efficacy of Products Patent Infringement

Dr. Coats has received the International Award for Research in Agrochemicals from the American Chemical Society Agrochemical Division, and he is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America. In October he received the Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

View Dr. Coats' Consulting Profile.

The experts at Minnich and Scotto, Inc. are Meteorologists – each with 40+ years' experience in providing a wide range of ambient air-related and meteorological services to attorneys, local communities, industry, and government.  

Litigation Support - Established in 1996, their business has evolved over the years based on changing client needs – originally providing predominantly high-end, “boutique” consulting services to industry and government (such as real-time, emission-rate measurements of airborne toxins from hazardous waste sites and other large area sources), and today offering a variety of technical services to environmental attorneys in support of toxic tort cases, including reconstructive analyses to assess past exposure to hazardous air pollutants (HAP) and other air toxins.

Minnich and Scotto's unique skill set – owing to a high level of proficiency in diverse disciplines such as ambient air monitoring, air dispersion modeling, CERCLA (Superfund) and Clean Air Act regulations, forensic meteorology, and environmental quality assurance – has often led to development of winning legal strategies for our attorney clients which otherwise might not have been envisioned. They have extensive knowledge in the following areas:

Regulatory:

• CERCLA and Clean Air Act Compliance

Ambient Air Monitoring and Sampling: Strategy and Design Technology Selection Analysis Techniques

Air Dispersion Modeling: Strategy and Design Model Selection and Execution Model Calibration / Validation

HAP Emission Investigations: Real-Time Emission-Rate Assessments Exposure Assessments and Reconstructions

Meteorological Consulting: Chemical Accidents Reconstruction Toxicology Investigative Support

Quality Assurance: 

• DQO Process Compliance
• Monitoring / Sampling Plan Assessment

Timothy R. Minnich, President, MS, QEP, is a Meteorologist and Atmospheric Scientist with over 40 years experience in the design and management of a wide range of ambient air and meteorological investigations under CERCLA and the Clean Air Act. He is a recognized technical expert on high-profile legal cases, with assignments involving forensic meteorology and reconstruction of inhalation scenarios in relation to community exposure to hazardous air pollutants (HAP). 

Mr. Minnich is accomplished in presenting conclusions and opinions derived from analysis of complex technical data in a well-reasoned and easily understood manner. He is a skilled technical writer and proven manager in a highly specialized arena. He is a nationally recognized expert in the application of optical remote sensing (ORS) for hazardous waste site remediation. He has designed and managed more than 25 ORS field investigations and air dispersion model validation studies since the promulgation of U.S.EPA (EPA) Method TO-16 for open-path FTIR (Fourier-transform infrared) spectroscopy in 1988. 

Mr. Minnich was an instructor for several half-day continuing education courses on calculating emission rates from ground-level sources.

Robert L. Scotto is a Meteorologist with over 40 years of experience in the design, management, and execution of a variety of air quality investigations. He is a specialist in Clean Air Act permitting, and is an expert in a broad range of CERCLA-related QA/QC issues. 

Mr. Scotto is a highly skilled air dispersion modeler and has extensive experience in customization and validation of AERMOD – USEPA’s most recent guideline air dispersion model. In addition to having co-founded Minnich and Scotto, he has held significant positions with other organizations, including vice president of ETG Services and zone-wide QA manager for NUS Corporation, USEPA's Field Investigation Team (FIT) contractor. In this latter capacity, Mr. Scotto was responsible for QA program implementation in all four USEPA Zone I FIT offices (Regions 1 through 4). The total value of that contract was $300 million.

Dr. James J. Connors is a Professional Hydrologist, certified by the American Institute of Hydrology, and a licensed Professional Geoscientist in several states. He has more than 38 years' experience working on projects and legal cases involving groundwater, surface water, stormwater runoff, and environmental contamination. His career includes extensive bodies of work as an award-winning academic, a private-sector consultant, and a testifying and consulting expert witness. Dr. Connors has performed hundreds of environmental and hydrological consulting projects across the U.S.; taught university-level hydrology and hydrogeology; and has been designated as an expert witness in more than 50 legal cases in 12 states and New Zealand (in both state and federal courts). 

Areas of Expertise

Stormwater runoff & related flooding, erosion, & sedimentation Hydrological & environmental impacts related to construction, development, & land-use changes Environmental contamination of groundwater, soil, sediment, & surface water General issues associated with hydrology & hydrogeology Coastal, pond, lake, watershed, & wetlands hydrology Coastal erosion & related sediment transport / deposition River & stream flow

Dr. Connors has worked at sites contaminated with PFAS compounds, PCBs, benzene / BTEX, metals, chlorinated solvents, mercury, arsenic, nutrients, pesticides / nerve agents, herbicides, radiation, VOCs / SVOCs, disinfectants & related by-products, landfill leachate, crude oil, fuel, explosives, unexploded ordinance, etc. He has worked at various types of facilities including oil, gas, & gasoline pipelines; landfills; chemical plants; leaking above-ground tanks & UST sites; refineries; fertilizer plants; casinos; neighborhoods & apartment / housing complexes; junk yards; theme parks; bottled water plants; agricultural & animal facilities (oyster, fish, alligator, & dairy / CAFO); construction sites; estuaries & bays; commercial & residential properties; beaches, rivers, ponds, & lakes; oil & gas fields; accident sites; railroad facilities; airports; water & sewage treatment plants; chemical & oil spill sites; military bases; & others.

View Dr. James J. Connors' Consulting Profile.

Nancy M. McClellan, MPH, CIH, CHMM, is an award winning, Industrial Hygiene and Safety expert with over 25 years of broad international experience practicing, teaching and authoring to anticipate, recognize, evaluate, control and prevent workplace health and safety hazards in high hazard industries.

Ms. McClellan is domestically and internationally recognized for leadership service to the IH profession for the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH), the Occupational Hygiene Training Association (OHTA) and the Joint Industrial Hygiene Ethics Education (JIHEEC) Boards of Directors and Committees. She currently serves on the AIHA Executive Board of Directors.

Prior to her independent expert and consulting practice, Ms. McClellan practiced industrial hygiene management as a Board Certified Industrial Hygienist on a global scale for both AbbVie, a major producer of highly potent biopharmaceuticals and LafargeHolcim, the world’s largest building materials corporation.

She currently provides industrial hygiene and safety legal expert, management, training, and select field services to sectors such as the pharmaceutical, automotive, military, hospital, electronic, food, chemical, and commercial real estate industries. She is also Chair of the COHSE External Advisory Board at the University of Michigan Graduate School of Public Health, a subject matter expert, and an international expert lecturer.

As a result of combined experience, education, and certifications, Ms. McClellan was interviewed in October 2020 on the ABC Network’s Good Morning America program regarding Covid pandemic controls, as well as a number of ABC News and professional journal articles regarding the association between HVAC systems, Indoor Air Quality and the Covid pandemic to advance public and worker health protections.

Ms. McClellan has extensive expertise in Pandemic, Covid-19 Response Management, including chemical and non-chemical disinfectant exposure evaluation and real estate/facility controls.

Good Morning America Pandemic / Indoor Air Interview 

Litigation Support - Nancy McClellan seeks to work with clients that present a challenge in determining whether workers and/or the public have been exposed to chemical, biological, physical or ergonomic hazards, and are willing to objectively and collaboratively explore and investigate the scientific possibilities. Her services include thorough reporting, depositions, and trial testimony as needed.

Areas of Expertise:

• Covid-19 Response & Management  
• Bioaerosol Assessment and Pandemic Control Programs 
• Indoor Air Quality 
• H&S Policy and Program Development and Audits
• Highly Potent Compound Containment 
• Workplace Hazard Risk and Exposure Assessment 
• USP 800 Safe Hazardous Drug Handling Conformance
• Hearing Conservation Program Development and Controls
• Respiratory Protection Evaluation and Program Development
• Worksite Ergonomic Evaluation and Controls

View Nancy McClellan's Consulting Profile.

Professor Christopher J. Tennant, PhD, CIH, has over 40 years of experience in the field of Environmental Health and Industrial Hygiene. He is Board Certified in the Comprehensive Practice of Industrial Hygiene. Dr. Tennant is currently President, CEO, and Principal Consultant at San Joaquin Environmental, in Fresno California, where he consults with Federal, State, County, City, various public agencies, and private industry sectors from public housing to Aerospace. His services are available in all 50 US States and the United Kingdom.

Dr. Tennant also serves as Professor Emeritus for the Department of Public Health at Fresno State University where he's taught Environment Health, Industrial Hygiene, and Occupational Health and Safety for 35 years at both undergraduate and post graduate levels.

Litigation Support - Dr. Tennant has been retained by numerous insurances companies and law firms on various Industrial Hygiene matters throughout the US, including workers compensation, property damage, personal injury, and wrongful death. He has testified as an expert witness in Federal Court, Superior Court, and Workers Compensation Appeals Board over 100 times. He's been deposed many more times. 

Areas of Expertise:

Mold Asbestos Lead-based Paint Bad Faith Environmental Contamination Hazardous Materials Clandestine Drug Lab Remediation Industrial Hygiene

Chemical, Biologic, and Physical Hazard Exposure Landlord / Tenant Disputes over Habitability / Sanitary Standards OSHA, HSE, and EU Compliance Wrongful Death Lead and other Heavy Metal Poisoning Indoor Air Quality and Human Health Hearing Conservation and Noise Ordinance Solvent Exposures