 Michael Baker Jr., Inc.
Telephone: 412-375-3195
E-mail: bmccartney@mbakercorp.com
Position/Title: Assistant Vice President/NEPA Practice Leaders
EDUCATION: University of Toledo, Bachelor of Science in History/Government; Biology/Chemistry, 1963; Bowling Green State University, Master of Arts in Biology (Ecology), 1969; Bowling Green State University, Ph.D. in Biology (Ecology), 1972
EXPERTISE: Context Sensitive Solutions, Endangered Species/Ecosystem Management, Indirect and Cumulative Impacts, and NEPA/Environmental Process Generalist
RELATED TOPICS/EXPERIENCES: Since joining Michael Baker Jr., a lead engineering and energy service firm, Willard McCartney has been directly or indirectly responsible for the growth of a NEPA staff from 5 individuals located in the Pittsburgh, PA office to more than 120 personnel located in 11 offices and 7 states. He has served as NEPA Project Manager or Technical Manager on more than a dozen highway EIS’s in 7 states and numerous EA’s and CE’s in the same states. His major role has been to assist DOT’s in developing and implementing approaches to these “hot button” issues that would satisfy resource agencies or citizen concerns. He has also assisted FHWA and WVDOT legal staff in preparation for lawsuits by participating in writing and reviewing legal briefs, and in preparing administrative records and exhibits for the courts.
He has written or supervised the development of multiple US FWS or NMFS approved Biological Assessments for a wide range of endangered species and assisted various state DOTs in the development of comprehensive natural and cultural resource mitigation planning. He has also directed the design of more than 300 acres of successful wetland replacement sites. Dr. McCartney is a member of the TRB Committee of Transportation and the Environment and serves as on NCHRP Panel Project Technologies to Improve Consideration of Environmental Concerns in Transportation Decisions. Under his leadership, Baker received the 1999, WVDOTs Planning and Environmental Engineering Excellence Award and the FHWA 2001 Environmental Excellence Award.
Dr. McCartney’s position has allowed him to assist DOT’s in various states and to work collaboratively with resource agencies and citizen groups to solve transportation issues in an environmentally sensitive manner. As is often the case, not all of the projects that he works on are without controversy. Solving, or at least resolving, issues surrounding these projects, is something that he finds intellectually challenging and satisfying, and it is something in which he has shown repeated success. During his 20 years of PA residency, he has served as an appointed public official on borough and township planning commissions, zoning appeals boards, and, at one time, served on the executive committee off a council of governments with a membership of 17 municipalities. Through these experiences, he came to understand the fiduciary and other responsibilities of public officials and the importance of building coalitions to attempt to arrive at consensus decisions.
In addition, he has spent 15 years teaching and doing ecological research at the university and college levels. Some of that was “pure” research, but much of his attention was devoted to the integration of public policy and natural resource decisions. His career as a consultant in NEPA and transportation has allowed him to continue the integration of these two areas to assist clients in moving important public projects forward.
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