Dana Aunkst Named DEP Field Operations Deputy Secretary

Dana Aunkst has been named Deputy Secretary for Field Operations which oversees the operations of DEP’s six major regional offices.  He had been Acting DEP Secretary and Executive Deputy for Programs and also responsible for Field Operations.

The regional field offices directly implement the Air Quality, Environmental Cleanup and Brownfield Redevelopment, Radiation Protection, Waste Management, Watershed Conservation and Restoration, Clean Water, Waterways and Wetlands, and Safe Drinking Water Programs.

He was previously the Director for the Bureau of Water Standards and Facility Regulation at DEP. There he was responsible for planning, directing and coordinating the Department's programs and regulations related to water quality standards, drinking water facilities, and sewage and industrial wastewater treatment facilities.

Aunkst started with DER in 1985 as a sanitary engineer in the Meadville regional office. He also worked for a period of time in the Williamsport regional office. He has been with the Department off and on for 22 years and has worked in environmental protection, in both the private and public sectors, for 30 years.

He has also worked in private practice as a consulting environmental engineer, an industrial plant engineer, and for local government as a Public Works Manager. Mr. Aunkst holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Penn State University and is a registered professional engineer in Pennsylvania.