Michael joined NOPSEMA (National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Authority) in 2013 where he has worked on the drilling and spill team, focusing on the assessment and compliance inspection of industry environment and contingency plans for offshore oil and gas exploration and development. He has worked extensively in oil spill risk assessment, traditional oil spill response planning, source control preparedness, decommissioning, and public engagement and consultation, in particular with indigenous relevant persons. Michael is based in Perth, Western Australia.
In the years 2001-2013 Michael worked for ITOPF in London as a Technical Advisor and Technical Team Manager. At ITOPF Michael responded to and provided technical advice on the shores of all populated continents. Extensive first-hand experience was gained in initiating first strike actions, the logistics of scaling up operations, ensuring efficient and effective operational management, determining and getting agreement on appropriate termination pathways, wildlife rehabilitation, designing meaningful operational and scientific monitoring programs, and settling claims/ court cases relating to damages.
Prior to ITOPF Michael worked at NOAA’s Damage Assessment Center in Silverspring, Maryland, USA where he conducted Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) for coastal/ estuarine oil spills and legacy clean-up for HNS contaminants (e.g. heavy metals and PCBs) in US river systems.
Michael was educated at Santa Clara University (BS, 1985) and the University of Innsbruck, Austria (PhD, 1998).