Biography
Jim Tierney served as the Deputy Commissioner for Water Resources within the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and retired in June 2024. Jim held management responsibility for all clean water programs, including: sewage and industrial wastewater treatment plants; programs to address polluted runoff from concentrated animal feeding operations, construction excavations, and urbanized areas; water quality standards; stream classifications, and water quality assessments. This includes the management of multiple grant programs often exceeding $100 million, and coordination oversight of the $1 billion Clean Water State Revolving Loan fund with the Environmental Facilities Corporation.
Jim served from 1998 to 2007 as the New York City Watershed Inspector General, a joint appointment of the Governor and Attorney General within the New York State Department of Law. This position was created by virtue of the 1997 New York City Watershed Memorandum of Agreement and a 1998 Executive Order of the Governor to better protect the unfiltered drinking water of 9 million consumers. Jim was an Assistant Attorney General with the Environmental Protection Bureau from 1991 to 2007, gaining experience in all levels of State and Federal Courts in the field of environmental, natural resource and public health law.