Mr. Delfino has more than 35 years of experience in chemistry, chemical process engineering, and environmental consulting. His work has included sampling and analysis planning, experiment design/treatability studies, process and plant design, plant operations and maintenance, litigation support, decision analysis, and meeting facilitation. Thomas is a retired Naval Reserve Medical Service Corps industrial hygiene officer. His last assignment was as the Training Officer in an Office of Naval Research unit responsible for chemical and biological warfare defense.

EDUCATION
  • MS, Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 1981
  • BS, Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 1978
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
  • Soil and Groundwater Remediation
  • Treatment System Design
  • Hazardous Waste Management
  • Data Analysis
  • Experiment Design
  • Decision Analysis
  • Pre-demolition Building Assessment
  • Root Cause Assessment
  • Expert Witness
PATENTS
  • Reductive Dehalogenation of Organic Halides in Contaminated Groundwater,” Keasling, Bolesch, and Delfino, U.S. Patent No. 6,150,157, November 21, 2000
PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES
  • American Chemical Society (ACS)
  • Phi Beta Kappa (PBK)
REPRESENTATIVE PROJECTS
CenterPoint Oakland2024-10-09T18:35:34+00:00

CenterPoint Oakland

DEPOSITION & TESTIMONY EXPERIENCE

  • Expert Witness for a Specialty Chemical Manufacturer, California: Evaluated scientific studies of the environmental fate of a pesticide, reviewed the results of investigations at a CERCLA site where the pesticide had been formulated, and demonstrated that the chemicals detected at the site were not due to the degradation of that pesticide.

  • Expert Witness for a Former Owner of Property Adjacent to a Release Site, California: Evaluated site documents, including facilities drawings and site investigation reports, to demonstrate that the former owner of the release site was the party most likely responsible for the release.

  • Expert Witness for an Aerospace Coatings Manufacturer, California: Evaluated a claim of wrongful death from benzene in several aerospace coatings occasionally applied by the deceased at his job. Based on information in product specifications for ingredients in the coatings, concluded that the benzene content of a gallon of the coating product with the highest benzene concentration was minuscule—comparable to that in the side-stream smoke from a few cigarettes or in the air breathed during a short drive on a Los Angeles freeway in the 1990s.

  • Expert Witness for a Specialty Wire Coating Manufacturer, California: Evaluated business records and data from analyses soil and building material samples for the potential source of polychlorinated biphenyls at a site previously occupied by an electrical transformer manufacturer. Testified at deposition and trial that the records and data all pointed to the transformer manufacturer’s storage, use, and handling of askarels (transformer fluids containing polychlorinated biphenyls) as the source of releases of polychlorinated biphenyls in the building and soil outside the back door to the building. The court assigned all responsibility to the transformer manufacturer.