Richard W. Popino, PhD, REM, the President of Common Sense Solutions, LLC and founder of The Common Sense Environmental Fund, has more than 30 years of experience in the environmental field. Prior to working as an environmental regulator, Dr. Popino worked at various national parks as a Park Ranger for the U.S. National Park Service. Working as a federal regulator, he experienced the problems property owners encounter when working in or around wetlands and navigable waterways.

With the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Coast Guard, Dr. Popino compiled cases against polluters that ignored statutes and regulations that protect the natural resources, public health, and environment. He gained valuable expertise in the comprehensive requirements of planners and engineers contemplating work around endangered species, parklands, historic or archeologically significant sites, wetlands, and navigable waterways.

Dr. Popino spent the second half of his federal career working for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on hazardous waste cases involving remedial projects, consent decree negotiation, and litigation. In Washington, he spent years creating policy, making important contacts, and interpreting environmental statutes and regulations. 

Dr. Popino's master's degree was obtained form the University of Maryland in National Resources Planning and Management where he completed a comprehensive study of outdoor recreationists at the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire and Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. His PhD work was conducted at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and Kennedy Western University in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Dr. Popino's dissertation involved an extensive study of "brownfield" projects that evaluated their successes and failures.

Dr. Popino has been certified by one of the world's major nonprofit, environmental certification organizations, the National Registry of Environmental Professionals. He has achieved their highest certification as a Registered Environmental Professional (REM).

Dr. Popino successfully completed a variety of professional training programs.
For a list of some of them, click here.

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