Press Release,Key Government and Private Sector Leaders to Examine Natural Resources at a Crossroads in 2020”

Speaker biographies and photos can be found under Symposium Details.

part 1 Agenda

Thursday, September 17, 2020

12:00 PM

Welcome and overview of the two part symposium program

BARBARA J. GOLDSMITH, Executive Director, Ad-Hoc Industry Natural Resource Management Group; President, Barbara J. Goldsmith & Company LLC

SCOTT FULTON, President, Environmental Law Institute


12:15 PM

opening remarks: Post-COVID Strategies – A New Era for Natural Resource Issues in the US and Worldwide

2020 has been a year of challenge and change. These remarks will identify how and why companies and other stakeholders need to carefully set priorities, consider cost-effectiveness and sustainability imperatives, exhibit transparency and be innovative in the way natural resource matters are approached. In addition, the remarks will focus on why and how both public and private sectors need to do things differently – given that society is in a place and time with many challenges, as well as opportunities for fundamental change. The remarks will be delivered by a nationally recognized figure with broad understanding of natural resources law and policy and allied issues and needs.

ROGER MARTELLA, General Counsel, Environment, Health and Safety, General Electric; Former General Counsel, US Environmental Protection Agency


1:00 PM

Panel Segment: 2020 is the Year of Change – Why We Need a New Way of Doing Things

This segment will examine continuing influences – beyond COVID-19 – on the “shape” of natural resource related policy and practice in the US and globally. Each panelist will begin with brief introductory remarks to lay out the respective issue, followed by a facilitated discussion led by a moderator. Some of the US and international influences to be discussed during this segment will include: climate change effects/initiatives, including the EU Green Deal; the rise in attention to PFAS/PFOS and other chemicals; recent US and other court decisions of note; deregulatory and related efforts in the US and abroad intended to spur post-COVID recovery; emerging and new environmental legislation, including UK post-Brexit developments; and more. Panelists will include key corporate and government decision-makers, as well as university, think tank, and other thought leaders.

Moderator: THOMAS D. BLACKMAN, LM Fellow, Environment, Safety & Health, Ethics and Enterprise Assurance, Lockheed Martin Corporation

Speakers:

SUSAN AVERY, PH.D., President Emerita,Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Climate Change)

JOHN D. GRAHAM,  PH.D., Professor, Paul H. O’Neil School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University; Former Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President (Deregulation)

ALEX BEEHLER, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment, US Department of Defense (Emerging Contaminants)

DEBORAH A. SIVAS, Luke W. Cole Professor of Environmental Law, Director, Environmental Law Clinic, Director, Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program, Senior Fellow, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford Law School (Role of the Judiciary)

BEN STANSFIELD, Partner, Gowling WLG (UK) LLP (Developing Legislation)


2:30 PM

break


2:40 PM

greetings from us department of the interior and national oceanic & atmospheric administration leadership

SCOTT CAMERON, Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget, US Department of the Interior

TIM GALLAUDET, PH.D., Rear Admiral, US Navy (Ret.); Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Deputy NOAA Administrator, US Department of Commerce


3:00 PM

Advancing Common Objectives and Projects -- Continuing the Multi-Stakeholder Discussion

This segment will continue the multi-stakeholder discussions of the Group’s Fall 2018 Natural Resource Symposium and Fall 2019 State of the Practice Meeting to identify how both public and private sector parties can move policies and practices forward jointly in a way that advances shared objectives and needs. This segment will highlight those activities that leverage private and public partnerships to advance common interests. Each speaker will provide brief remarks highlighting current and proposed collaborative public/private activities or projects that have (or could) enhance efficiency, maximize benefits, support innovation and more. The segment will include a facilitated discussion among speakers by a moderator. Panelists will include key corporate and government leadership, as well as representatives from conservation, university and other settings as appropriate.

Moderator: LIN HARMON-WALKER, Interim Director of the Environmental and Energy Law Program and Visiting Associate Professor of Law, The George Washington University Law School

To be replaced by: ACHINTHI VITHANAGE, Professorial Lecturer in Law, The George Washington University Law School; Adjunct Professor, The Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, The George Washington University

Speakers:

STEVEN D. COOK, Deputy Assistant Administrator, US Environmental Protection Agency; Chair, Superfund Task Force

MICHAEL J. ANDERSON, PH.D., Environmental Program Manager, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oil Spill Prevention and Response

LYNN SCARLETT, Chief External Affairs Officer, The Nature Conservancy; Former Deputy Secretary, US Department of the Interior

JOHN J. FORRER, PH.D., Director, Institute for Corporate Responsibility, Associate Research Professor of Strategic Management & Public Policy Associate Faculty, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, The George Washington University; Fellow, One Earth Future Foundation; Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council; Senior Fellow, Canadian Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, University of Toronto


4:30 PM

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION: ACTIVITIES OF THE INDUSTRY/TRUSTEE STANDING COMMITTEE AND CONTINUING THE DISCUSSION IN PART 2 OF THE SYMPOSIUM PROGRAM

This segment will feature a roundtable discussion with some representatives of the Group’s long standing (since 1999) Industry/Trustee NRD Standing Committee. Several core joint activities undertaken to date, reflecting common objectives across the spectrum of interests represented, will be highlighted. The discussion will also share some of the issues currently being explored by the Committee, including opportunities for coordination of remediation and restoration, cooperative natural resource damage assessment “templates”, training of the next generation of practitioners and more. We will also set the stage for the Symposium’s Part 2 to be held in Fall 2021.

Co-Moderators:

BARBARA J. GOLDSMITH

TONY PENN, Chief, Assessment and Restoration Division, US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Speakers:

KAROLIEN DEBUSSCHERE, PH.D., Deputy Coordinator, Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator’s Office, Department of Public Safety & Corrections, Public Safety Services; Chair, States NRD Alliance

STEVE GLOMB, Director, Office of Restoration and Damage Assessment, US Department of the Interior

JEAN MARTIN, Senior Counsel, Litigation & Regulatory, BP

STEVEN MILLER, Deputy Assistant General Counsel, United States Department of Energy

LARRY TIPPIT, Member, Environmental Department, Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma (Tentative)


5:15 PM

closing and next steps

This segment will provide a quick summary of our Part 1 program and what can be expected in the planned in person Part 2 Symposium program to be held at The George Washington University Law School in Fall 2022. 


5:30 PM

adjourn