About this site

Glenn Highway in Alaska, near Eureka Roadhouse.

The Regulatory Ecosystem is an independent publication launched in April 2025 by Jereme Altendorf. If you subscribe today, you'll get full access to the website as well as email newsletters about new content when it's available. Your subscription makes this site possible, and allows The Regulatory Ecosystem to continue to exist. Thank you!

Who am I?

I am a career federal environmental regulator, specializing in Oil and Hazardous substance planning, preparedness, response, investigation and enforcement. Over the past 25 years I have worked for EPA, BSEE and the US Coast Guard and as a consultant for these agencies. I have responded to spills, developed sampling plans, drafted agency SOPs based on specific regulations, executed search warrants, responded to disasters, created and managed interagency task forces, and taught a variety of federal environmental law courses to a variety of regulatory personnel. Oh, and I live in Alaska now. So you'll see lots of my own photos throughout the newsletter.

Who is this for?

This is for that college student that just graduated with their science or engineering degree and got a job with the State environmental protection agency, or the wildlife biologist that got their dream job as a resource trustee or land manager. For the decades experienced regulator looking to learn something new, or maybe just find something that makes them excited about the job again. It’s for the mid-career professional who is taking their first supervisory job, or perhaps you were just put in charge of a new workgroup to review and improve stagnant agency SOPs. This newsletter is for all the above or for anyone that wants to know what it’s like to be someone that needs to know the law as well or better than a lawyer, but without the extensive legal training and enforces laws, regulations, and policies without a badge or uniform.

Why did I start The Regulatory Ecosystem?

Simply put, there is no collective training program, or community of practice geared to Regulators! Traditional police and Federal Law enforcement get weeks of training, lawyers have three years of graduate school and then must pass a state bar exam. Regulators have similar work to both of those communities yet have little formal training beyond agency specific training and/or on the job training that is likely not standardized in the ways police/peace officers and attorneys are. How does one become a Regulator? How do regulators behave in the wild? What traits make a good regulator? What are the different characteristics of a response focused regulator versus an inspection/plan review regulator? I want to begin to answer these questions by creating a community of practice for regulators.

What is a Community of Practice for regulators?

A Community of Practice (CoP) is a group of professionals who share a common interest or expertise and engage in ongoing learning, knowledge exchange, and collaboration to improve their work. In the context of The Regulatory Ecosystem, a Community of Practice for environmental regulators would serve as:

A hub for knowledge sharing, where regulators at different levels of government discuss challenges, solutions, and emerging trends.
A forum for professional development, offering insights into best practices, policy changes, and enforcement strategies.
A network for collaboration, connecting regulators to share experiences and improve compliance assistance, inspections, investigations, and enforcement strategies across jurisdictions.
A resource for problem-solving, where members can seek guidance from peers facing similar regulatory challenges.

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