Linda Anderson-Carnahan has worked for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the past 35 years and has been a longtime member of the NW CASC’s Stakeholder Advisory Committee. During her career with the EPA, Linda worked in the Southeast and Midwest regions before moving to the Pacific Northwest region. In this time, she also conducted details with EPA’s Office of Research and Development, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer and the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. Most recently, Linda served as the Director of the Region 10 Laboratory Services and Applied Science Division.
Linda’s experience includes both staff and management positions in the areas of air and water quality, toxicity and risk assessment, pollution prevention, strategic planning, interagency and cooperative agreement management, and in the Puget Sound, Superfund and Brownfields programs. She holds a B.S. from Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin, and an M.S. in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Linda will retire from the EPA at the end of this month. An avid outdoors person, she plans to spend time outside cycling, backpacking, kayaking, skiing and mountaineering, as well as volunteering for environmental causes. The NW CASC wants to thank Linda for her long career of public service and for her contributions on the NW CASC Stakeholder Advisory Committee!
What led you to work in the field of climate adaptation?
The EPA Pacific Northwest Region (Region 10) initially placed climate change work in its science office where I was located. Since the science office has a broad focus across programs, this placement made sense since the impacts of climate change cross water, land and air. The science office worked across programs to determine how they could integrate climate adaptation considerations into their work.
What does your day-to-day work look like?
As the Director of EPA Region 10’s Laboratory Services and Applied Science Division, I work with my colleagues to provide our partners in different programs with the technical support and data they need to make decisions about environmental and public health protection. We provide chemical and microbial laboratory analyses, quality assurance, air and water modeling and monitoring, human health and ecological risk assessment, and hydrogeology and geochemistry. These services support our air, water, Superfund, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Brownfields, Tribal and enforcement programs, as well as their state and Tribal partners.
How does your organization support climate resilience in the Northwest?
I was the Executive Sponsor for Region 10’s cross-program Climate, Energy and Sustainability (CES) Team. The CES Team developed a draft action plan that proposes the following actions to build a strong foundation for climate work: integrate climate considerations into all program decisions; leverage financial incentives and funding mechanisms to address climate change; assist communities in climate mitigation, adaptation and sustainability; and build sustainable operations.
What is your favorite thing about your work?
I am passionate about science and environmental protection and I believe that climate change is one of the greatest risks we face. I enjoy working to increase awareness about climate change and the actions that each of us can take to address it.