Jerry
Michael Neff, Ph.D.
Battelle Memorial Institute
Education
B.A. Biology, Antioch College - 1963
Ph.D. Zoology, Duke University - 1967
Qualifications
Dr. Neff is an internationally recognized authority on the fate and effects
of petroleum hydrocarbons, oil well drilling fluids, and produced waters in
marine freshwater, and terrestrial environments. During the past 30 years, he
has performed more than 100 research and monitoring programs on these and related
subjects for government and industrial clients worldwide. He has written three
books dealing with petroleum and aromatic hydrocarbon contamination of aquatic
environments and a major literature review on drilling fluids in the marine
environment. He has been a member of four review panels of the U.S. National
Academy of Sciences, the first dealing with Fate and Effects of Drilling Mud
and Cuttings in the Marine Environment, the second dealing with marine oil spills;
the third was an assessment of marine environmental monitoring in the Southern
California Bight. He currently is serving on the Committee to Review the Oil
Spill Recovery Institute's Research Programs.
He also was a member of the Steering Committee and a Technical Review Author for the Federal COPRDM Committee on "Predictive Assessment for Design of Studies of Long-Term Effects of OCS Oil and Gas Development." This assignment resulted in the authorship of two chapters of a book, published by Elsevier Applied Science Publishers, on "Long-Term Environmental Effects of Offshore Oil and Gas Development", the first dealing with development activities potentially causing long-term environmental effects, and the second with the fate and effects of drilling muds, cuttings, and produced water in the marine environment. He also assisted to assemble and edit a book on the effects of offshore oil and gas development on the marine environment of Australia for the Australian Petroleum Exploration Association. This book won the first prize for new technical books from the Australian Minerals and Energy Environmental Foundation. The book is the most current and comprehensive review of the effects of drilling fluids, produced water, oil spills, and industry facilities on the marine environment. He recently completed a book on "Bioaccumulation in Marine Organisms. Effect of Contaminants from Oil Well Produced Water" that will be published by Elsevier Science Publishers in April 2002.
Dr. Neff has performed extensive research for the oil industry, the U.S. Federal government, and foreign governments on the marine environmental fate and effects of heavy metals and petroleum hydrocarbons from offshore drilling and production operations, and clean ballast water discharges from tankers He has participated in Natural Resource Damage Assessments for several oil spills, including the Amoco Cadiz crude oil spill in France, the Exxon Valdez crude oil spill in Alaska, the Haven oil spill off Genoa, Italy, the Trecate oil spill in rice fields north of Milan, Italy, and the Seki oil spilll in the United Arab Emirates. The focus of much of this research was on the bioavailability and bioaccumulation by aquatic organisms of chemicals, particularly PAHs from permitted and accidental oil industry discharges. The work also included studies of the sources (including natural seeps) and weathering of crude and refined oil in the environment. Several of the oil spill studies included assessments of injury and compensatory damages to commercial and recreational fisheries resources in areas affected by the spills.
Dr. Neff has published more than 150 scientific articles and two books. A few publications related to environmental fates and effects of drilling fluids and produced water are listed here.
Books
Neff, J.M. 2002. Bioaccumulation in Marine Organisms: Effect of Contaminants
from Oil Well Produced Water. Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam. 452 pp.
Swan, J.M., J.M. Neff, and P.C. Young (Eds.). 1994. Environmental Implications of Offshore Oil and Gas Development in Australia - The Findings of an Independent Scientific Review. Australian Petroleum Exploration Association, Sydney, Australia. 696 pp.
Recent Peer-Reviewed
Publications
Neff, J.M., T.C. Sauer, and A. Hart. 2001. Monitoring Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon
(PAH) Bioavailability Near Offshore Oil Wells. Pages 160-180 In: B.M. Greenberg,
R.N. Hull, M.H. Roberts, Jr., and R.W. Gensemer, Eds., Environmental Toxicology
and Risk Assessment: Science, Policy and Standardization - Implications for
Environmental Decisions (Tenth Volume), ASTM STP 1403, American Society for
Testing and Materials, Philadelphia.
Neff, J.M., S. McKelvie, and R.C. Ayers, Jr. 2000. Environmental Impacts of Synthetic Based Drilling Fluids. MMS OCS Study 2000-064. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, New Orleans, LA. 119 pp.
Neff, J.M. and T.C. Sauer, Jr. 1996. An ecological risk assessment for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in produced water discharges to the western Gulf of Mexico. Pages 163-176 In: M. Reed and S. Johnson, Eds., Produced Water 2: Environmental Issues and Mitigation Technologies. Plenum Press, NY.
Neff, J.M. and T.C. Sauer,
Jr. 1996. Aromatic hydrocarbons in produced water:
bioaccumulation and trophic transfer in marine food webs. Pages 355-366 In:
M. Reed
and S. Johnson, Eds., Produced Water 2: Environmental Issues and Mitigation
Technologies. Plenum Press, NY.