Grouse Mountain Environmental Consultants employ countless individuals who bring their unique skill sets to the job every single day. Jay Holt is one of those people. As the SWPPP Specialist for GMEC, Holt is in charge of all of the different types of stormwater planning and BMP installation around oil pads, gravel pits, and some gas locations.
BMP stands for ‘Best Management Practice’ in regards to water pollution control.
“My main job is to write some of those plans and then make sitemaps for each location; which involves putting BMP’s around the location,” Holt said. “Basically, I’m in charge of figuring out how to get all of the information for the locations, and then I need to put that into a stormwater plan and put the BMPs that the company wants to use in the stormwater plan as well. And then, on top of that, I have to make sure I keep up with the stormwater plan so that it stays in compliance with the DEQ.”
Holt also goes into the field and does stormwater inspections on oil pads, making sure that the BMPs he put in those stormwater plans are actually doing their job.
It’s a big job; an important job. And it’s one that Jay Holt takes very seriously. Not only because he cares about the job itself, but because he cares about the company that he works for.
“It’s a smaller company and I know everybody that’s in the company,” Holt said. “I have a personal relationship with my bosses, and it’s not part of some giant corporation where you may never meet half the people.”
To find out more about Jay Holt, we asked him a few questions, which he answered below:
How did you come to work at Grouse Mountain?
In 2017 I was working as a crop consultant for farmers in SW Nebraska, and was not happy with where I was at or what I was doing. After visiting Wyoming in the summer of 2017 after being away for a year and a half I realized how much I missed it and wanted to move back. I was talking to my best friend from college, who at the time was working for GMEC, and he said he needed help, so I applied and got hired onto the reclamation/SWPPP department in October of 2017.
What do you do at Grouse Mountain?
I am a SWPPP Specialist. SWPPP stands for Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan and I am tasked with creating, updating and sometimes implementing these stormwater plans for clients so they can stay in compliance with DEQ standards.
What made you want to choose this career path?
I do not think I chose this career path as much as I may have fallen into it. It was an opportunity for me to step outside my comfort zone and try something new in an industry that I had never experienced up until the point I was hired on at GMEC.
What’s your favorite part about working at Grouse Mountain?
I enjoy being able to go to places off the beaten path that not very many people get to experience. When I get the opportunity to go into places like that I get to see some really neat things from time to time.
What’s an experience that stands out to you from working at Grouse Mountain?
One project we got to do reclamation on was down around Medicine Bow, and there was not a lot of sign that people had been there, but a quick google search led to some amazing history that happened right in the area we were working, and to be in that type of place makes me glad I was able to be a part of this company and get to experience a place like that.
What do you love about Wyoming?
There are a lot of things I love about Wyoming, but the main ones are the scenery and the history.
What are some of your hobbies?
I enjoy hunting and fishing, like most people in this state, but during the summer I have found myself enjoying gardening, golfing, camping, hiking with a purpose, and taking our dogs to play fetch.
Tell us a few fun facts about you!
I have the best mountain corgi there ever was, and I was once charged by a skunk while installing BMPs; not that the two are related.
What differentiates Grouse Mountain from its competitors?
Grouse Mountain is a unit that works well together to find solutions and get the job done quickly and correctly.
