Program Overview
Who Will Benefit from Attending
In-house, private, and government attorneys, NRD trustee representatives; land use planners, environmental professionals, senior executives and risk managers, consultants, and others who are involved in environmental damage policy, assessments, and restoration projects
Why You will Benefit from Attending
Long term ecosystem restoration is a timely issue in today's changing regulatory environment, one that has grown in importance and will continue to expand in the future as federal, state, tribal, and local governments address environmental damage in a variety of contexts. In this program, we will address some innovative concepts and approaches that have emerged from the response to major natural resource injury events around the country. You will have an opportunity to hear from key players in the arena with legal, technical, and policy perspectives.
The Department of the Interior recently issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to revise its Type A natural resource damage assessment and restoration (NRDAR) regulations for hazardous substance releases. The goal of the Type A regulations is to provide a streamlined and simplified process to reduce transaction costs and expedite ecosystem restoration in certain NRDAR cases. We are pleased to have representatives from the Department of the Interior participating in this program to discuss these potential regulatory changes, as well as how recent Executive Orders and agency guidance from the Biden administration affect ecosystem restoration and NRDAR.
In addition to recent regulatory changes, this program will also focus on emerging new approaches to ecosystem restoration. For example, how do you maintain completed restoration projects in the face of climate change, rising sea levels, and more intense weather events? One solution is climate resilience, while another is restoration banking. In this program, you will hear tips for incorporating climate resilience into remediation projects, as well as how to effectively establish restoration banks as way to get restoration on the ground more quickly and less costly.
This program will also cover new emerging contaminants, like EPA's designation of PFAS as "hazardous substances." This program will include discussion of the implications of the PFAS listing on NRDAR practice generally, tribal considerations when it comes to PFAS, and whether the listing may trigger reopeners at closed Superfund sites.
We hope you can join us as we explore the changing landscape of ecosystem restoration in a variety of different contexts during this important seminar.
~ Brian Ferrasci-O'Malley, Esq. of Nossaman LLP and Rebecca Stevens, of Coeur d'Alene Tribe, Program Co-Chairs
What You Will Learn
- The legal foundations for remedying Natural Resource injuries
- NRDA regulatory reform: DOI NPR to modernize Type A NRDA regulations
- The need to incorporate Environmental Justice, Indigenous Justice, plus Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations into selection of Remedies
- Ways to maintain Ecosystem Services in the face of rising sea levels and more intense weather events
- Restoration banks as a remedy
- EPA's designation of Two Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances as "hazardous substances
- Groundwater quality restoration
- Approaches for dealing with culturally significant Tribal sites
What Participants Have Said About Similar Programs
- This was a good seminar. It really hit on a lot interesting subjects.
- "Very useful conference"
- "Great Overall"
- "The presenters were an extraordinary group of diverese thinkers who did an excellent job of bringing home the complexities of NRD matters."
Agenda Day 1
9:00 am
Pacific Time Zone: Introduction & Overview
Brian Ferrasci-O'Malley, Esq.
, Program Co-Chair
Nossaman LLP / Seattle, WA
Rebecca Stevens
, Program Co-Chair, Restoration Coordinator
Coeur d'Alene Tribe / Coeur D Alene, ID
9:15 am
The Legal Foundations for Remedying Natural Resource Injuries
Legislative: Statutory pathway options including CERCLA and CWA
Brian Ferrasci-O'Malley, Esq.
, Program Co-Chair
Nossaman LLP / Seattle, WA
Administrative: New Executive Orders and agency guidance documents; tips for identifying the ones applicable to specific type of damage and statutory provisions
Deirdre Donahue, Esq.
, Attorney-Advisor
U.S. Department of the Interior / Portland, OR
10:30 am
Break
10:45 am
NRDA Regulatory Reform
Department of the Interior's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to revise Type A NRDA regulations to modernize the framework for computer modeling for specific types of spills in specific locations
Emily Joseph
, Director, Office of Restoration & Damage Assessment
US Department of the Interior / Washington, DC
Incorporating new requirements for consideration of Environmental Justice, Indigenous Justice, plus Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations into selection of remedies
Frederick E. Kirschner, Jr., Ph.D.
, CEO
AESE Inc / Valleyford, WA
12:15 pm
Lunch Break
1:30 pm
Maintaining Ecosystem Services in the Face of Rising Sea Levels and More Intense Weather Events
Incorporating climate resilience into remediation projects: The advantages of changing the focus from in-situ ecosystem restoration for low lying sites to providing ecosystem services at other locations over the long term
Mark S. Laska, Ph.D.
, CEO and President
Great Ecology / New York, NY
2:30 pm
Habitat Restoration Within a Superfund Site
Case study on the Port of Seattle's Terminal 117 cleanup and habitat restoration
Kathleen Hurley
, Senior Environmental Program Manager
Port of Seattle / Seattle, WA
3:15 pm
Break
3:30 pm
Restoration Banks as a Remedy
Legal, economic, and technical issues associated with restoration banking: Lessons from the Gulf Coast
Megan K. Terrell, Esq.
Plauche & Carr / Baton Rouge, LA
4:15 pm
Anticipating and Addressing Problematic Issues with Long Term Monitoring Plans
Issues and approaches for long-term monitoring & adaptive management as part of a restoration plan in the face of scientific, negotiated settlement, and administrative challenges
David A. Hanson
, Principal
HansonRM / Blaine, WA
5:00 pm
Adjourn Day 1
Thursday, May 25, 2023
9:00 am
PFAS: EPA's Designation of Two Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances as "Hazardous Substances"
A detailed look at the EPA listing and its implications for NRD practice and the legal parameters for selection of remedies; similar chemical compounds that are likely candidates for future listing
Jeff B. Kray, Esq.
Marten Law / Seattle, WA
Downstream impacts of PFAS contamination: How these "forever" chemicals affect drinking water and other natural resources; the implications for selection of remedies
Eric Buer
, Principal Hydrogeologist
Farallon Consulting / Seattle, WA
Reopening NRD claims after discovery of PFAS contamination: Criteria for reopening settled claims; tips for structuring restoration plans and legal documents to anticipate future discovery of PFAS contamination exceeding permissible limits
Ashley Campbell, Esq.
Sher Edling / San Francisco, CA
10:45 am
Break
11:00 am
Groundwater Quality Restoration
Considerations for fingerprinting PFAS sources; treatment/remediation advances
Rula A. Deeb, Ph.D.
, Senior Principal
Geosyntec Consultants / Oakland, CA
Drinking water treatment options: Specific examples of the different types of technologies used to treat PFAS and their effectiveness
Robert Craw
, President & CEO
Aqueous Vets / Danville, CA
12:15 pm
Lunch Break
1:30 pm
Effective Engagement on PFAS Issues
Update on the Tribal PFAS Working Group (TPWG) and lessons from interactions to date with the EPA Council on PFAS
Page Hingst
, Tribal Response Program Coordinator
Santee Sioux Nation of Nebraska / Niobrara, NE
2:00 pm
Culturally Significant Tribal Sites: NRD Remedies and Restoration Projects for Injuries to Traditional Cultural Properties
Cultural resource terminology; how the geographical area for culturally significant sites depends on whether the Tribe is a Treaty Tribe, an Executive Order Tribe, or an Alaska Native entity and the presence or absence of aboriginal territories
David F. Askman, Esq.
The Askman Law Firm / Denver, CO
Case study of cultural resource protection & management in the Coeur d'Alene Lake Basin
Rebecca Stevens
, Program Co-Chair
Coeur d'Alene Tribe / Coeur D Alene, ID
3:30 pm
Evaluations and Adjourn
Faculty Bios
Brian Ferrasci-O'Malley,
Program Co-Chair, is a partner at Nossaman LLP. Prior to joining Nossaman, Brian was an attorney with the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of the Solicitor and he has worked as an environmental consultant directing habitat restoration and community-based conservation projects across Washington State and Montana.
Rebecca Stevens,
Program Co-Chair, is the Restoration Coordinator for the Coeur d'Alene Tribe. In 2009, she was co-author of the Coeur d'Alene Lake Management Plan. She also represents the Tribe in the Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Superfund Site remedial work.
David F. Askman,
The Askman Law Firm, focuses on Native people's law and works on a variety of environmental and natural resource issues. Those issues range from cleanup to regulatory enforcement to restoration of injured natural resources.
Eric Buer
is Principal Hydrogeologist and Washington Operations Manager for Farallon Consulting. His project work includes scoping and managing large site characterization and cleanup projects, regulatory interaction and negotiation, contaminant fate and transport analysis, and litigation support. This includes experience performing characterization of emerging contaminants such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) releases and evaluating potential cleanup actions.
Ashley Campbell
is of counsel to Sher Edling. She represented the states of New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Ohio in litigation against the manufacturers of PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) in addition to hundreds of other similar cases across the country. She currently serves on the plaintiffs' executive committee of the Aqueous Film-Forming Foam Multi-District Litigation (MDL No. 2873).
Robert Craw
is President & CEO of Aqueous Vets. His experience in the water, wastewater, and environmental industries includes positions managing operations, services, and marketing functions at several national firms. He has had direct involvement in equipment design, fabrication, installation, and startups as well as supporting and ensuring compliance with safety and environmental policies within his areas of responsibilities.
Rula A. Deeb, Ph.D.,
is a Senior Principal at Geosyntec Consultants focusing on emerging contaminants. She is an internationally recognized expert on sources, occurrence, fate and transport, and behavior of contaminants, including PFAS, 1,4-dioxane, methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), perchlorate, N- Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs).
Deirdre Donahue is an attorney-advisor with the Department of the Interior's Office of the Solicitor's Division of Parks and Wildlife's Environmental Restoration Branch. She also has served as Senior Legal Counsel at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
David A. Hanson,
founding Principal of HansonRM, has provided consulting services on challenging environmental issues across the U.S. He has been involved in complex water quality, habitat restoration, river system operation, endangered species recovery, protection of old-growth forests, climate resilience and and much more.
Page Hingst
is the128(a) Tribal Response Program Coordinator for the Santee Sioux Nation of Nebraska. She is a member of the Tribal Waste and Response Steering Committee, Tribal Science Council Vice Co-Chair, National Tribal Brownfields Workgroup, and co-lead of the Tribal PFAS Workgroup.
Kathleen Hurley
is a Senior Environmental Program Manager for the Port of Seattle. She manages projects related to urban habitat restoration, ocean acidification, orca recovery, and habitat mitigation banking. This includes planning, stakeholder engagement, facilitation, communications, and evaluation.
Emily Joseph
is the Director or the Office of Restoration & Damage Assessment at the US Department of the Interior and is responsible for overseeing the Department's Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) program. Before becoming Director, her main responsibilities were supervising the annual allocation process for cases working on damage assessments, as well as managing the office's Information Management System which houses information about all of the Department's NRDAR cases.
Frederick E. Kirschner, Jr., Ph.D.,
is President of AESE Inc. he has extensive experience in managing nuclear, hazardous, mine, and municipal solid wastes; conducting baseline surveys and site characterizations; investigating and subsequently predicting contaminant migration at disposal sites; designing landfills and impoundments; and evaluating engineering performance standards.
Jeff B. Kray
is managing partner at Marten Law. His is an accomplished, first-chair environment litigator focusing on water quality, water resources, and complex environmental litigation. He has particular expertise in Clean Water Act permitting and regulatory compliance, CERCLA (Superfund) site remediation, and emerging contaminants, including PFAS.
Mark S. Laska, Ph.D.
is CEO and President of Great Ecology. His technical specialization includes habitat restoration, ecological planning and design, and he is a leading Natural Resource Damage (NRD) practitioner. He is highly experienced in taking projects of all scales and sizes from the conceptual stage through post- construction monitoring.
Megan K. Terrell
is a partner at Plauche & Carr. She previously served as Deputy Director of the Louisiana Governor's Office of Coastal Activities. Prior to joining the Governor's Office, she was the Deputy Director of the Civil Division and Chief of the Environmental Section of the Louisiana Department of Justice, where she served as lead in-house counsel for the Deepwater Horizon response, litigation, and restoration.
Remote Access to the Live Program
The day before the program, we will email you a link to the materials and one to log into the broadcast. Fill out the Zoom "Registration" form by entering your name and email address. That will log you in.