Tad Mason has over 30 years of experience in the fields of renewable energy project development, natural resources management, biomass fuels/feedstock procurement, and forest/range hazardous fuels reduction.  As a Registered Professional Forester, Mr. Mason has hands on experience in all aspects of natural resources management from preparation of forest management plans, to managing forest fuels reduction projects, to advising decision makers on key policies in support of forest fuels treatment/restoration. 

Frederick Tornatore is Chief Technical Office and Executive Vice President of TSS. Mr. Tornatore has over 35 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, and local governmental entities.

Dr. von Wedel pioneered the introduction of biodiesel to California (August, 1993) conducting grant-supported research, including the first marine toxicology studies of biodiesel, that led to the first commercial distribution of marine biodiesel on the San Francisco Bay in 1994.   Dr. von Wedel is a biochemist originally trained in basic medical research.   Dr. von Wedel is a graduate of Dartmouth College (BA 1974 in biology and chemistry) and received his Doctorate in Biochemistry (Ph.D. 1981) from the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco.  After 5 years of research in neuroscience and cell culture, he founded CytoCulture in 1986 as an environmental biotech research and consulting firm to develop and commercialize environmental technologies to reduce water and air pollution.

David Augustine has over thirty years experience in environmental analysis, management, and compliance and the economic and financial analysis of electric generating facilities.  He has worked for an electric utility, a natural gas utility and a number of management and environmental consulting firms.  Clients worked for have included power plant developers, a residential developer, alternative electric generation developers, an engine inventor, and federal, state and local government agencies including the DOE, DOT and the California Public Utilities Commission.

Dr. Harris was project manager and/or principal-in-charge for many environmental assessment and planning projects throughout California and in other western states during the period 1977-1982. These included general plans, resource management plans, environmental impact reports and statements and forest management plans.From1982 to the present, Dr. Harris conducted riparian vegetation assessments for numerous proposed and existing hydroelectric, water supply and flood control projects on streams throughout California. These studies have included comprehensive literature reviews, field data collection, quantitative analysis of field data, and publication of many professional reports and several peer-reviewed journal articles. Clients have included EA Engineering, ENTRIX, MWH, Resource Insights and START California. Recent projects have been on the Kern River, Feather River (Oroville Project), Whitewater River, South Fork American River, Orestimba Creek and Truckee River.

Dr. Roy McDonald serves diverse private and public clients focusing upon project and program management and the development and implementation of innovative, cost-saving environmental regulatory permitting and compliance strategies.  Dr. McDonald is an expert on California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) procedures, processes, and compliance strategies.  On behalf of his clients, Dr. McDonald has worked extensively with multiple federal, State, and local agencies, with NGOs, and with the public on many kinds and scales of permitting projects, from repairing existing pipelines and transmission lines, to dredging San Francisco Bay, selling multiple utility-owned hydropower and fossil fuel generating assets, and expanding California’s largest water supply system.  He is a skilled negotiator and facilitator.

Dr. Unger has 35 years of experience emphasizing environmental impact assessment and permitting, aquatic and fisheries ecology, fisheries modeling, limnology, water quality, and statistical sampling design. Her technical skills also include hydroacoustics, statistical analysis, and field sampling for fish, plankton, macroinvertebrates, and water quality. Dr. Unger has worked on a wide range of aquatic ecosystem issues in California, such as impacts of water development and hydropower projects, flow and water quality effects on fish habitat, lake thermal stratification and zooplankton, effects of water levels on reservoir fish habitat, use of benthic macroinvertebrates as indicators of biotic integrity, fish entrainment, habitat restoration, and artificial kelp reefs.

Susan Swift has over 20 years of experience in environmental planning, regulatory compliance, project management and the preparation of environmental documents. Drawing on her environmental psychology and planning background, Ms. Swift’s work centers on issues related to land use, recreation, visual quality and design. Ms. Swift is experienced in the development of innovative approaches and solutions to CEQA compliance, land use, recreation, and aesthetics problems, having executed technical studies and identified planning strategies addressing those issues for over seventy environmental documents. Ms. Swift also has extensive experience in successfully coordinating efforts between public agencies and the private sector; preparing EIRs, EISs, EAs and Mitigated Negative Declarations; and facilitating local, CEQA, NEPA and FERC compliance.

David Stevens has over 35 years of diverse experience in the fields of terrestrial biological assessments, impact modeling, mitigation program development and implementation, threatened and endangered species assessments and habitat enhancement programs associated with utility and non utility projects. Mr. Stevens' experience includes environmental team focus on such projects as combined cycle, gas, nuclear, hydroelectric, pumped-storage hydroelectric, geothermal and solar generation; electric, gas and water transmission projects including substations, water treatment plants and river intake structures, facility siting, and project construction and mining operations environmental resource protection programs and impact monitoring.

Darrel Kelly has worked in the field of Power Engineering for over 49 years. Mr. Kelly has 17 years of experience in the management in power operations for the pulp and paper industry primarily in the western U.S. In addition, he has 26 years of experience in operations and management of wood fired biomass power facilities, also in the western U.S. In his capacity as a consultant with TSS, Mr. Kelly has worked on a variety of assignments with regard to biomass power project development and operations, including permit acquisition, E.P.A air, water and waste compliance issues, and biomass fuel supply and logistics.