BOSTON, MA  GEI Consultants, Inc., one of the nation's leading geotechnical, environmental, water resources, and ecological science and engineering firms, announces that Dr. Samuel B. Merrill, PhD, is participating in a climate business roundtable event featuring Senator Angus King and a diverse panel of Maine business leaders in Portland, Maine.

The roundtable will address Maine's membership in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and what more can be done for the preservation of the environment at the business, state, regional, and national level. Additional panelists include: Matt Hancock, co-owner, Mt. Abram; Luke Livingston, owner, Baxter Brewing; John Rooks, founder, The SOAP Group; Don Perkins, President/CEO, Gulf of Maine Research Institute; and Diane Schless, Co-Owner, Horizon Energy Residential Services of Maine. 

The roundtable event is being hosted by the Natural Resources Council of Maine, an organization invested in preserving the environment and natural resources of the state for generations to come, and co-sponsored by the South Portland-Cape Elizabeth Community Chamber of Commerce and E2Tech. 

Dr. Merrill is a Senior Practice Leader in GEI's Portland, Maine, office with over 20 years of experience with the interface of local community needs and coastal planning. From 2001 - 2013, he served as Director of the U.S. EPA's New England Environmental Finance Center and Associate Research Professor at the Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine.

He has published more than 20 peer-reviewed articles and more than 60 agency technical reports, and has received many awards for his work - including in 2000 a military medal for distinguished public service, the highest honorary award presented by to private citizens by the US Department of Defense; an Environmental Merit Award from the U.S. EPA in 2014; and most recently a 2015 Visionary Award from the Gulf of Maine Council. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in zoology from the University of Maine, and both a Master of Science in conservation biology and PhD in wildlife conservation from the University of Minnesota.