A LEGACY OF RAPID RESPONSE
For more than fifteen years, Lone Star Hazmat Response has excelled at providing industry-leading emergency spill response as well as safe and effective environmental remediation services. Over the years, we’ve added to our capabilities and now maintain four strategically located rapid response centers in the eastern half of Texas, which allows us to deploy rapidly whenever an emergency requires our services.
OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM
Richard Lenius, President
Richard Lenius started his career in the fire service serving as a firefighter and EMT. In 1989 he went to work for Laidlaw Environmental where he was the health and safety officer in charge of compliance and training. In mid-1990 he was transferred to the remediation division and was sent to Fort Smith, Arkansas to project manage EPA Superfund site, Industrial Waste Control. Under the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan, along with the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act, the goal of the site was to permanently and significantly reduce the toxicity, mobility or volume of hazardous waste present at the site.
Later Richard was sent to project manage the Superfund Site; Dutchtown Treatment Plant located in Ascension Parish Louisiana. The facility received waste oil and other waste materials (solvents and petrochemical wastes) from off-site sources and processed and redistributed them. Site activities and waste disposal practices contaminated soil and groundwater with hazardous chemicals. The final Superfund Site that Richard was sent to, located in Mercer County Pennsylvania at the Sharon Steel Corp Site, the site was contaminated with radioactive plutonium 232.
Richard went back into the fire service after leaving Laidlaw and quickly moved up the ranks to become Fire Chief for the City of Katy. In 2004 Richard stepped down to pursue a position with DLS Environmental Services as the Senior Project Manager for the Lufkin TxDOT District. This position was 24/7 emergency response to spills on TxDOT right of ways. During this time Richard was asked by Angelina College to come and teach the hazmat technician classes to the fire academy each quarter. During this time Richard was asked to be the contributing editor for the Brady publication, Hazardous Materials Technician. Richard has been involved with many level 1 and level 2 incidents during this time. He has become an industry leader in the field of hazardous materials response, product handling, product transfer, and site remediation. In 2016 Richard and Michael Romines collaborated on bringing Lone Star Hazmat Response to life and took a different approach to emergency response to focus on maximizing timely and efficient response while minimizing cost.
Dana M. Taylor, General Manager
Dana Taylor began her career at the Boys & Girls Clubs of East Texas as a part-time mentor. In 2004, Dana graduated from The University of Texas at Tyler with a Bachelor of Business Administration, with an emphasis in Marketing. In 2005, Dana was chosen to attend the prestigious Boys & Girls Club Advanced Leadership Certificate Program at Clemson University. The next year, Dana was charged with overseeing all nine of the Boys & Girls Clubs of East Texas’ Afterschool Programs on Tyler Independent School District campuses.
In May of 2006, Dana accepted a position as the Chief Executive Officer of the Boys & Girls Club of Washington County in Brenham, Texas. While serving in Brenham, Dana put together a team and programming that improved the Club’s impact on the community and increased membership. In 2008, Dana and her team opened a new Club in Burton, Texas under the umbrella of the Washington County Club. Dana also served as a Certified Trainer for Boys & Girls Clubs of America and traveled throughout the United States training staff members of local Boys & Girls Clubs.
In 2010, Dana returned to Tyler with one goal: to venture into new fields of business using the skills she learned in the non-profit world. Dana began working for Acme Oilfield Services as the Office Manager and quickly caught on to the fast-paced world of the oil industry. In 2017, Dana moved into the hazmat industry with the newly-acquired, Lone Star HazMat Response. Within the last two years, Dana has moved into the position of Assistant General Manager and is quickly learning the hazmat industry’s best practices, both in the field and in day-to-day management. Dana’s unique experience in the non-profit sector, which fostered her expertise in the areas of leadership, growth, and organization, makes her a valued asset to Lone Star HazMat and we are happy to have her on board.
Greg Conley, Senior Project Manager
Greg Conley worked as an Aquatic Scientist with the Texas Water Commission and the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission in the Houston and Beaumont Regional offices from February 1993 to February 2002. As an Aquatic Scientist, Greg was part of the Surface Water Quality Monitoring team, conducting routine water quality sampling and special studies on impacts of pollution on biological communities in many lakes and riverine systems throughout southeast Texas. He later also became part of the Emergency Response program in the Beaumont Regional office.
In February 2002, Greg accepted a position as a Pollution Biologist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Kills and Spills Team out of the Tyler Regional office, later becoming the Regional Coordinator. As the Regional Pollution Biologist and Coordinator, Greg investigated impacts to the State’s natural resources from various types of pollution incidents as well as coordinated with many environmental consultants, municipalities, and other state agencies on the protection of aquatic life during in stream construction activities from 2002 through December 2018. Greg has been an involved member of the Pollution Committee of the Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society (SDAFS) since 2014 and has conducted lengthy training events for several employees of the States of Texas and Oklahoma, as well as provided training for various other Biologists around the nation at annual SDAFS meetings on American Fisheries Society approved and published methodology for investigating fish kills.
On January 1, 2019, Greg accepted the position of Senior Project Manager with Lone Star Hazmat Response in their corporate office in Tyler. Greg works daily with all the Project Managers statewide on Emergency Response (ER) to pollution incidents in the different districts. Greg also serves as the ER Project Manager for the Tyler District and performs the final edits on all the incident reports from the Project Managers and prepares them for invoicing to the responsible parties. Greg will also be filling the roles of Biologist and Salesman for Lone Star Hazmat.
Karen Rider-MacPherson, CHMN, Waste Management Coordinator
Karen Rider-MacPherson is an experienced environmental corporate manager, regulatory specialist, and environmental consultant with proven success in environmental, health, safety and risk management, including emergency response experience and EH&S training instructor. Karen enjoys providing solutions for clients and staff, and ability to manage multiple projects while working under pressure in fast-paced environments. Prior 34 years of EHS experience that include positions as an Environmental Manager, Environmental Project Manager, QA/QC Officer, County environmental specialist manager/recycling coordinator, and FDEP/EPA Hazardous Waste Compliance and Enforcement Inspector. Karen has executed hundreds of multi-media compliance audits, permitting projects, IAQ/IH projects, Phase I and II ESA’s as well as project management of remediations and hazardous materials emergency responses. Highly versatile; adept at quickly mastering new roles and responsibilities to include implementation of EHS&Q management systems. Reputation for integrity, perseverance, and work ethic.
