James A. Kelsey, PG

KelseyJ4_webJames A. Kelsey, PG

President, Principal Geologist

Albuquerque, New Mexico
Email
505-822-9400

James Kelsey’s career at DBS&A began in 1992, working as a research and development scientist in DBS&A’s Soil Testing and Research Laboratory. Now, as President, he is responsible for leading the firm and overseeing a staff of nearly 100.

His technical and managerial experience includes extensive fieldwork, project management, research and development, work plan and cost estimate preparation, technical reporting, and interaction with state regulatory officials.

Mr. Kelsey oversees a wide variety of environmental projects for clients that range from government agencies, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) Petroleum Storage Tank Bureau (PSTB), Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Los Alamos National Laboratory, and New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT); to the Cities of Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, and Las Cruces, New Mexico; and from private-sector companies, such as Waste Management of New Mexico, Southwest Landfill, U.S. Ecology, and Freeport McMoRan; to tribal entities, such as Pueblo of Jemez, Cherokee Nation, Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Pueblo of Acoma, Pueblo of Cochiti, and Pueblo of Sandia.

According to a confidential waste management client, Mr. Kelsey has “been very responsive to the needs of the [client]. He has been patient and persistent in resolving delays caused by funding and regulatory issues. He has kept projects on schedule and within budget by participating in meetings, giving presentations, and continually providing technical documentation and supporting material in a timely manner.”

At a one-day workshop sponsored by the U.S. EPA, Mr. Kelsey was invited to present on the design, modeling, construction, and monitoring of water balance covers for landfills, waste repositories, and mine waste. He also presented instructional workshops in five Australian states, providing information to landfill owners and Department of Environment and Resource Management regulators regarding assessment and design techniques for ET covers as a cost-effective alternative to traditional landfill covers.

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  • Education

    MS, Civil Engineering, University of New Mexico

    BS, Geology, University of New Mexico

  • Registration / Certification

    Professional Geoscientist, Texas

    Professional Geologist, Utah

    Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) Training

    OSHA Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response Training (HAZWOPER)

  • Patents

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent No. 6,467,994 B1, 2002, Apparatus and method for beneficial use or handling of run-off or collected water

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent No. 6,749,368, 2004, Design monitoring and control of soil carburetors for degradation of volatile compounds

  • Specializations

    Vadose zone hydrology and investigations

    Hydraulic properties testing

    Automated data acquisition

    Water balance cover design, alternative landfill covers (evapotranspiration [ET]/phytocap)

    Infiltration and enhanced recharge studies

    Groundwater and soil testing and remediation

  • Affiliations

    National Ground Water Association

    American Water Resources Association

Select Publications and Presentations

Kelsey, J. 2017. Dispelling Myths about Recharge Via Spreading Basins, Arroyos Etc. presented at American Ground Water Trust 2017 Annual Texas Groundwater Conference. Austin, Texas, May 4, 2017.

Cullen, Stephen J, J. Kelsey, and J. Kay, 2014. Vadose Zone Flow and Transport – Principles and Practices in Agricultural Applications, a workshop presented at SGS Academy, Centro de Formación, Lima, Peru, November 14, 2014.

Cullen, Stephen J, J. Kelsey, and J. Kay, 2014.  Vadose Zone Flow and Transport – Principles and Practices in Mining Applications, a workshop presented at Golder Geotechnical Laboratory, Lima, Peru, November 17, 2014.

Isaacson, K., G. Peterson, J. Kay, and J. Kelsey. 2012. Case studies of performance monitoring of infiltration BMPs. Presented at StormCon 2012. Denver, Colorado, August 23, 2012.

Stephens, D.B. and J.A. Kelsey. 2012. Overview of artificial recharge by surface infiltration. Presentation at the National Ground Water Association Ground Water Summit, May 6-10, Garden Grove, California.

Kelsey, J.A., C.H. Benson, and W.H. Albright. 2011. Water balance covers for landfills, waste repositories and mine waste: design, modeling, construction, and monitoring. One-day workshop sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, December 15, 2011, San Francisco, California.

Isaacson, K., J. Kelsey, and J. Kay. 2011. Comparison of Methods of Monitoring Infiltration. Presented by Kelly Isaacson on behalf of DBS&A at 2011 American Water Resources Association Annual Water Resources Conference. Albuquerque, New Mexico, November 10, 2011.

Golden, T, E. Pease, G. Peterson, and J. Kelsey. 2011. Thermally Enhanced Remediation. Presented by Thomas Golden on behalf of DBS&A at 2011 American Water Resources Association Annual Water Resources Conference. Albuquerque, New Mexico, November 7, 2011.

Stormont, J.C., J.S. Hines, R.E. Pease, J.A. Kelsey, and D. O’Dowd. 2008. The effectiveness of a geotextile as a capillary barrier. GeoAmericas 2008, Cancun, Mexico. March 2-5, 2008.

Kay, J., J. Kelsey, J. Narvaez, and R. Mears. 2007. Data acquisition and management for accurate and defensible water resources accounting. 20th Annual Arizona Hydrological Society Symposium, Tucson, Arizona. August 29-September 1, 2007.

Moore, S.J., J.T. Kay, J.A. Kelsey, and J.M. Stomp. 2007. Vadose zone characterization for the Bear Canyon Recharge Demonstration Project, 2007 NGWA Groundwater Summit, Albuquerque, New Mexico. May 2007.

Stephens, D.B., J.A. Kelsey, J. Hines, J. Kay, and E. Pease. 2007. Elements of vadose zone hydrology. Invited short course at National Ground Water Association 2007 Ground Water Summit, Albuquerque, New Mexico. April 29, 2007.

Kelsey, J.A., J.T.Kay, M.D. Ankeny, and M.A. Plummer. 2006. Darcian flux estimations in evapotranspiration landfill covers. Paper No.12545, The Fourth International Conference on Unsaturated Soils, Carefree, Arizona. April 2-6, 2006.

Plummer, M.A., E.D. Mattson, M.D. Ankeny, and J.A. Kelsey. 2005. Quantifying landfill gas effects on an evaporotranspirative landfill cover. Paper No. 213-7, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah. October 16-19, 2005.

Kay, J., J. Kelsey, A. Ewing, and E. Pease. 2005. Estimating moisture flux in the vadose zone. 2005 New Mexico Technical Water Research Symposium, Socorro, New Mexico. August 2005.

Plummer, M.A., E.D. Mattson, M.D. Ankeny, and J.A. Kelsey. 2005. Landfill gas effects on evaporotranspirative landfill covers. Abstract H13B-09, Eos. Trans. AGU, Joint Assembly, New Orleans, Louisiana. May 23-27, 2005.

Kelsey, J.A. and J.T. Kay. 2003. Infiltration using self-cleaning siphon system. 2003 Annual American Water Resources Association Conference, San Diego, California. November 2-5, 2003.

Kelsey, J.A. and J.T. Kay. 2003. Siphon-infiltration trench field-tested in Albuquerque. Southwest Hydrology, September/October 2003.

Kelsey, J.A. and W. Hutchison. 2003. Comparison of artificial recharge methods. Joint Annual Conference of Rocky Mountain Water Environment Association and Rocky Mountain Section American Water Works Association, Casper, Wyoming. September 14-17, 2003.

Kelsey, J.A. and M.D. Ankeny. 2002. Landfill gas and landfill cover performance. In Proceedings SWANA Arid Climate Symposium, September 6-8, 2002.

Ankeny, M.D. and J.A. Kelsey. 2001. Alternate landfill cover designs for the western U.S. In Proceedings of Arizona Landfill and Solid Waste Management Seminar. June 7-8, 2001.

Miller, M.E., M.D. Ankeny, and J.A. Kelsey. 2001. New method for landfill liner and cover permeability measurements using air-entry permeameters. In Proceedings of Arizona Landfill and Solid Waste Management Seminar. June 7-8, 2001.

Pegram, L.P., M.D. Ankeny, J.A. Kelsey, and M.E. Miller. 1999. Landfill cover permeability measurements using automated air-entry permeameters. In Proceedings of 1999 Landfill Symposium, presented by the Solid Waste Association of North America, Denver, Colorado. June 28-30, 1999.

Stephens, D.B., K.C. Hsu, M.A. Prieksat, M.D. Ankeny, T.N. Blandford, T.L. Roth, J.A. Kelsey, and J.R. Whitworth. 1998. A comparison of estimated and calculated effective porosity. Hydrogeology Journal 6(1):156-165.

Stephens, D.B., J.A. Kelsey, M.A. Prieksat, M.G. Piepho, C. Shan, and M.D. Ankeny. 1998. DNAPL migration through a fractured perching layer. Ground Water 26(4):605-610.

Ankeny, M.D., L.M. Coons, N. Majumdar, J. Kelsey, and M. Miller. 1997. Performance and cost considerations for landfill caps in semiarid climates. In Proceedings of Landfill Capping in the Semi-Arid West: Problems, Perspectives, and Solutions. Conference hosted by Environmental Science and Research Foundation. May 1997.

Ankeny, M.D., M.A. Prieksat, and J.A. Kelsey. 1995. An inexpensive systems-oriented datalogger for the collection and analysis of hydrologic data. International Vadose Zone Conference, Davis, California.

Ankeny, M.D., M.E. Burkhard, J. Forbes, J.A. Kelsey, and C. Shan. 1994. Passive air flow in soils: Theory, methods, and applications. In EOS, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, 1994 Fall Meeting, December 5-9, 1994, 75(44):264.

Kelsey, J.A., M.E. Burkhard, and M.D. Ankeny. 1994. Borehole tensiometer: A new method for measuring soil-profile water potentials. In EOS, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, 1994 Fall Meeting, December 5-9, 1994, 75(44):205.

Stormont, J.C., M.D. Ankeny, M.E. Burkhard, M.K. Tansey, and J.A. Kelsey. 1993. Assessment of an active dry barrier for a landfill cover system. Sandia National Laboratories Report SAND94-0301, UC-721, February 1994.

Stephens, D.B., J.A. Kelsey, M.A. Prieksat, M.G. Piepho, C. Shan, and M.D. Ankeny. 1998. DNAPL migration through a fractured perching layer. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah. October 21, 1998.

Stephens, D.B., J.A. Kelsey, M.A. Prieksat, M.G. Piepho, M.D. Ankeny, and C. Shan. 1996. DNAPL migration in a complex multi-aquifer system. HSRC/WERC Joint Conference on the Environment, Albuquerque, New Mexico. May 21-23, 1996.

Stephens, D.B., J.A. Kelsey, M.A. Prieksat, M.G. Piepho, M.D. Ankeny, and C. Shan. 1996. DNAPL migration in a complex multi-aquifer system. Geological Society of America annual meeting, Denver, Colorado. October 28-31, 1996.

Kelsey, J.A. 1995. Instrumentation used to measure soil characteristics: Guelph permeameter, ponded infiltrometer, and a capacitance probe. Vadose Zone Short Course, presented by Daniel B. Stephens & Associates, Inc. 1995.

Kelsey, J.A. 1995. Environmental sampling and site characterization, ENV 370-95. High Volume Sampling for Fugitive Dust and Metal Emissions using PM10 and TSP High-Volume Samplers During Relocation of Mine Waste. Lecture at College of Santa Fe, New Mexico. 1995.