Lorrie Council

Lorrie is GWPC’s Water Policy and UIC Manager, with a national focus on water and underground injection well regulatory programs. Lorrie has been active in GWPC since the mid-1980s, first as a consultant involved in UIC work, and more recently as a state agency member.

In this role, she will lead GWPC efforts in Underground Injection Control (UIC) and water policy analysis, manage member workgroups , represent GWPC in national groups, as well as interface with appropriate federal offices to support GWPC member state efforts and needs. Additionally, she will assist in conference planning, webinar programming, and manage deliverables related to UIC, source water and water quality.

Previously, Lorrie served as the UIC Program Liaison for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), coordinating on the subsurface environment with EPA, Texas Water Development Board, Railroad Commission of Texas, University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, and local governments and water providers. Lorrie has regulatory and technical expertise in UIC Class I deep disposal wells, UIC Class III in-situ mining wells, and UIC Class V miscellaneous injection wells, such as those used for aquifer storage and recovery (ASR), managed aquifer recharge (MAR), aquifer remediation, non-hazardous waste disposal, stormwater drainage, etc. Lorrie managed TCEQ’s UIC Permits Section for several years prior to her program liaison role. As a state agency member representative, Lorrie served as the GWPC’s ASR-MAR Workgroup Co-Chair, and she has been a state-representative board member for the Ground Water Research and Education Foundation.

Before joining TCEQ, Lorrie worked for the Texas General Land Office in the Coastal Erosion Planning and Response Program, where she oversaw coastal restoration and protection construction projects and studies. Lorrie started her career as an environmental consultant in the 1980s and 1990s, focusing on remediation of soil and groundwater contamination, environmental property assessments, superfund investigations, RCRA hazardous waste permitting, and UIC Class V injection well studies. As part of a contract with EPA Office of Water in the mid-1980s, Lorrie and her colleagues conducted the initial inventory and assessment of UIC Class V injection wells on a national basis and authored a report to Congress on the inventory and assessment of Class V injection wells.

Lorrie earned a B.S. in Geology from the University of Oklahoma. She is a licensed Professional Geoscientist in Texas and Arizona. When she’s not doing water related work, Lorrie enjoys walking, spending time with friends and family, exploring new territory, as well as trying new restaurants and traveling.