Profile: Mathy Stanislaus fights to clean up toxic sites

Photo courtesy EPA

Why He Matters

Mathy Stanislaus has been working for more than 20 years in the environmental field, primarily in the areas of brownfields (commercial or industrial sites that are polluted and unused), Superfund (the government’s program for cleaning up uncontrolled hazardous waste sites) and solid waste.

Stanislaus serves as Assistant Administrator of OSWER, the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response at the Environmental Protection Agency. He is responsible for hazardous and solid waste management, hazardous waste cleanup, redevelopment, and brownfields. Stanislaus is also responsible for oil spill prevention and response, chemical accident prevention and preparedness and underground storage tanks.

Mathy Stanislaus co-founded and currently co-directs New Partners for Community Revitalization, Inc. (NPCR), not-for-profit organization based in New York. The mission of NPCR is to advance the renewal of New York’s low and moderate income neighborhoods and through the redevelopment of brownfield sites.

Stanislaus has been an adviser on a number of environmental issues to the EPA, other federal government agencies, Congress and the United Nations. Stanislaus served as assistant regional counsel for the United States EPA in its New York Region II Offices. He is a current board member of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, Inc.

EPA Career

Mathy Stanislaus began work as Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 8, 2009.

In His Own Words

“I’ve spent the better part of my career working with communities that suffer
from the clustering of contaminated sites, waste facilities, and high levels of
pollution, and yet are often invisible to the government offices and programs
that are supposed to help them. I have the greatest respect for the tireless
work of community leaders around the country who fight for environmental
justice.”

The Issues

Reuse and Revitalization

Stanislaus sent a letter on September 2, 2009 to the EPA’s Land Revitalization Coordinators stressing the importance of cleaning up contaminated land and putting it back into use. He stressed six points: putting affected communities in leadership positions for decision making, forming partnerships with other federal agencies and EPA offices, putting land to use as urban gardens and urban agriculture, promoting cleanup and redevelopment of areas next to transit centers, cleaning up auto industry areas, and promoting the use of renewable energy.

Environmental Justice

Stanislaus served for three years on the EPA’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council under President Bill Clinton. Stanislaus was on the waste and facility siting subcommittee where he focused on advising EPA on how to integrate environmental justice into federal environmental programs.

The Network

At the EPA, Barry N. Breen serves under Stanislaus as Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator. Stanislaus was selected for appointment by President Barack Obama as part of his Environment and Energy team. Lisa Jackson is the EPA Administrator and serves as Stanislaus’ supervisor.