Frederick Tornatore

Frederick Tornatore
Chief Technical Officer
Email: fatoxic@tssconsultants.com
Phone: (916) 601-0531

Frederick Tornatore is Chief Technical Officer of TSS. Mr. Tornatore has over 45 years experience in environmental management and regulatory compliance, energy development, permitting and environmental impact analyses, and technology evaluation. As a consultant, he has worked for a large array of clients in a variety of energy, industrial, commercial, and institutional areas. Clients have included firms in the fields of energy development, manufacturing, aerospace, utilities, refining, exploration and production, mining and cement, recycling and scrap metal, real estate development, law, as well as federal (DOD and DOE), state, local, and tribal governmental entities.

Professional Experience

Energy Development

Mr. Tornatore has a long history of environmental and development work in the energy industry. He began this track in the early 1970’s with geothermal power plant development in Northern and Southern California, along with environmental and development work in the oil, gas, and coal sectors, small hydroelectric, and biomass to energy projects.

During the 1980’s, Mr. Tornatore was Manager of the Geothermal Marketing Program for the California Energy Commission. He worked on biomass, geothermal, and small hydroelectric projects during his tenure with the State of California. He also implemented state legislation that established the California Energy Technology Assessment Program at the Energy Commission, which was later incorporated into the Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program.

Technology Evaluation/Development

Mr. Tornatore continues to be at the cutting edge of alternative energy development and waste management technologies. He created the California Remedial Technology Assessment Program, based in part on the EPA’s SITE Program (evaluation of remediation technology for the cleanup of hazardous waste sites), while employed at the Department of Toxic Substances Control and also managed over 20 remedial projects. In addition, he spearheaded the department’s RD&D Program. He continues to evaluate alternative treatment technologies for hazardous waste cleanup projects.

Mr. Tornatore implemented legislation while at the California Energy Commission for the Geothermal Grant and Loan Program (a program which fostered the use and promotion of geothermal resources by local governments) and the Energy Technology Assessment Program (a program which funded a wide variety of alternative and innovative conventional energy system developments). He was also heavily involved in the promotion of alternative energy technologies, such as geothermal, small hydro, and biomass.

Mr. Tornatore has been conducting biomass energy and utilization technologies evaluations for over 20 years.  These evaluations have included technologies for producing fungible  transportation fuels (liquid fuels, renewable natural gas, and hydrogen) and renewable electricity from wood biomass and organic waste.  Mr. Tornatore has also evaluated other value-added uses of biomass conversion including biochar, composting, and various wood products.

Environmental Management and Regulatory Compliance

For the last 20 years, Mr. Tornatore has been conducting work in a wide variety of areas related to air, water, and waste management including litigation support; investigation and remediation project engineering and management; statutory and regulatory compliance; pollution prevention; waste minimization and source reduction; air and wastewater permitting; waste classification; evaluation of alternative treatment and remediation technologies; recycling; integrated waste management and landfill permitting; environmental and OSHA compliance audits; health, safety, and emergency response planning and training; air toxics reporting and RMP development; Proposition 65 compliance and listings; storm water planning; business plan and compliance program development; property assessments and site investigations; and all forms of environmental-related legislative and regulatory analyses.

As a former government employee, Mr. Tornatore has developed an in-depth understanding of the regulatory and legislative process. He has implemented several major pieces of legislation for both the energy and environmental fields, as well as having presented testimony to legislative bodies.

Project Permitting and Environmental Impact Assessment

Mr. Tornatore has worked on numerous permitting documents in the air, water, waste water, and waste management areas for a wide variety of projects. He has conducted turn-key permitting for a geothermal power plant in the Basin and Range region, turn-key permitting for a 40 million gallon per year biomass-to-ethanol facility in Northern California and a 30 million gallon per year biodiesel production facility in Southern California. This turn-key permitting includes all air, water, waste water, waste management, and land use related permits for the facilities. He has also worked on waste management and water issues for a 600 megawatt natural gas-fired electrical generating power plant.

Mr. Tornatore has been involved with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for nearly 50 years. Since 1974, he has managed and/or consulted on NEPA and CEQA-related studies: Initial Studies, Negative Declarations, Environmental Assessments, Environmental Impact Statements and Reports, and Findings of No Significant Impacts. Work with environmental documentation includes: on-shore and off-shore oil and gas exploration and development; large industrial facilities, such as mining, manufacturing, and refining; geothermal, hydroelectric, biomass, and cogeneration energy development; DOD and other related defense installations; large irrigation canals in the Southwest Desert; hazardous and solid waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities; California and federal Superfund sites; office, industrial park, and medical facility construction; highway and roadway expansions and realignments; large and small scale residential subdivision development; high-rise building construction; and County General Plan elements. He is currently managing the environmental impact assessment process for two industrial facilities and a biomass-to-ethanol facility.

Education

• B.S., Botany, University of California, Berkeley 

Professional Licenses

• California Registered Environmental Assessor, No. 04102

Key Committee/Association Memberships

• Chairman (2021 & 2022), Bioenergy Association of California
• Founding Member and Director, Bioenergy Association of California
• University of California, Forest Biofuels Working Group
• Executive Board Member, California Biomass Collaborative
• Sacramento Environmental Commission, Chairman
• Association of Environmental Professionals, Charter Member
• California Environmental Business Council, Founding Member
• California Manufacturers and Technology Association – Environmental Quality Committee
• California Department of Toxic Substances Control – External Advisory Committee
• Technology Development, Demonstration, Certification, and Commercialization Task Force, California Environmental Technology Partnership, CAL/EPA
• CytoCulture Environmental Biotechnology, Inc. – Board of Directors