At the 2009 NRD Symposium, participants heard from top level government and industry speakers about the need to fulfill key practice objectives and approaches that encourage efficient and cost-effective resource restoration. 2009 participants also explored how the use of an overall practice framework could help aid the resolution of NRD claims and negotiate settlements, which in turn, would help parties quickly resolve cases, decrease transaction costs and move more quickly to restoration. The 2011 NRD Symposium will continue the collaborative discussions to build a collective "best practices manual" that could be used by diverse stakeholder groups to advance the fundamental goal of effective and appropriate resource restoration.
The Symposium's agenda is divided into three main parts:
- Today’s Backdrop to Consider Setting and Retooling Expectations;
- Influences that Shape Practice and Opportunities to Consider; and
- Setting Expectations for Performance, Professional Standards and Best Practices.
The first part of the Symposium, "Today's Background to Consider Setting and Retooling Expectations", will examine the current context in which NRD policies and practices are being undertaken and why there may be a need at this to set and/or retool expectations at various sites nationwide. An opening plenary session will present some of the positive government and industry developments and activities that have been undertaken and/or initiated as a result of the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon Incident.
"Influences that Shape Practice and Opportunities to Consider" will include presentations on how federal regulations under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) are used at specific sites; the interrelationship of remediation and restoration; implications of ecosystem service valuation and restoration practices on NRD; and how other countries are addressing biodiversity, environmental liability and resource restoration issues. During these sessions, speakers and participants will be challenged to identify tools, approaches and/or pilot programs that could be brought over to the NRDA and restoration practice arena for use by multiple stakeholder groups to promote resource restoration.
"Setting Expectations for Performance, Professional Standards and Best Practices" will be conducted as a collaborative dialogue focused around the three key areas of exploration -- performance, professional standards and best practices. Opening presentations will identify how performance, professional standards and "best practices" are or are not being used at NRD sites. Presenters will also identify specific best practices for a targeted set of issues, as well as suggested standards to measure performance/success and encourage professional standards. Specifically, participants will work to identify standards and practices that reflect the ways companies approach and manage environmental issues generally -- and how government department and agencies meet legislative responsibilities and fulfill top level initiatives and mandates. Small working group sessions will be asked to consider the proposed standards and practices relative to some various types of sites and cases in order to help to identify specific activities and projects to implement suggested standards and practices at actual sites.
FINAL AGENDA
DAY 1: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011
TODAY'S BACKDROP TO CONSIDER SETTING AND RETOOLING EXPECTATIONS
- WELCOME
9:30 AM
Barbara Goldsmith, Director, Ad-Hoc Industry Natural Resource Damage Group and President, Barbara J. Goldsmith & Company
Greetings on behalf of President Knapp and The George Washington University Community by Susan Dudley, Director, Regulatory Studies Center, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration
- WHY THIS SYMPOSIUM AT THIS TIME
9:40 AM
These remarks will identify some of the key issues and needs that are ripe for discussion at this time in order to help set the context for the two day program and why the building of a "best practices manual" would be beneficial to all parties.
Tom Geier, Manager, Government Affairs, 3M
- KEYNOTE ADDRESS: NATURAL RESOURCE DAMAGES... HOW IT FITS INTO THE SCHEME OF THINGS
10:00 AM
The address will set the stage for the ensuing two-day discussion of a diverse set of issues directly related to and/or intersecting with natural resource damage concepts. The remarks will place natural resource damage liability, assessment and restoration into a broader context, including implications for biodiversity, sustainability and other national and international environmental and natural resource considerations.
Donald Boesch, Ph.D., Professor and President, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and Member, National Commission for the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and the Future of Offshore Drilling
(Introduced by Robert Haddad, Ph.D., Chief, Office of Response and Restoration, US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration)
- PLENARY SESSION: INNOVATIVE OUTCOMES AND DEVELOPMENTS SPURRED BY THE DEEPWATER HORIZON INCIDENT
10:45 AM
The session will highlight some of the government and industry developments and activities undertaken and/or initiated in response to the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon Incident relative to emergency response, NRD assessment/restoration and preventative action.
Introductory Remarks and Facilitator:
Barbara Goldsmith
Speakers:
Robin Bullock, Director of Science and NRD, BP
Rachel Jacobson, Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, US Department of the Interior
Monica Medina, Principal Deputy Undersecretary for Oceans and Atmosphere, US Department of Commerce
- LUNCHEON ADDRESS: SYNERGIES, SCIENTIFIC UNDERPINNINGS AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS RELATED TO NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY
12:15 PM
Allyson Anderson, Professional Staff Member, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, US Senate
(Introduced by Al Collins, Senior Director, Regulatory Affairs, Occidental Petroleum Corporation)
INFLUENCES THAT SHAPE PRACTICE AND OPPORTUNITIES TO CONSIDER
- PANEL: A VIEW FROM REGULATORS, ATTORNEYS, SCIENTISTS AND ECONOMISTS -- HOW THE NRDA REGULATIONS ARE USED TO MEET KEY NRD PROGRAM GOALS
1:30 PM
This panel, involving government and private sector participants, will examine the NRDA regulations under the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), including how they are used to reach key objectives inherent inherent damage assessment and restoration and can be used to facilitate the overall NRDA process.
Introductory Remarks and Moderator:
Susan Dudley, Director, Regulatory Studies Center, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, The George Washington University and Former Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affiars, Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President
Panel:
Frank DeLuise, Senior Policy Advisor, Restoration Program, US Department of the Interior
Ken Jenkins, Ph.D., Technical Director, Environmental and Natural Resource Liability Management Practice, CardnoENTRIX
James Laity, Senior Policy Analyst, Natural Resources & Environment Branch, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President
Tony Penn, Deputy Division Chief of the Assessment and Restoration Division, US Department of Commerce, National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration
- BREAK
2:45 PM
- PANEL DISCUSSION: SITE REMEDIATION, NRDAs AND RESTORATION - CURRENT PRACTICES AND NEW APPROACHES
3:00 PM
The session will explore the interface of remediation, assessment and restoration activities, including how some of the actions undertaken during cleanup can benefit and help scope assessment and restoration activities. Speakers will also identify methodologies and practices from the remediation side that can potentially be brought over to the NRDA process to promote efficient and effective resource restoration.
Moderator:
Jonathan Deason, Ph.D., Lead Professor, Environmental and Energy
Management Program, The George Washington University
Coordinating NRDA and Remediation To Promote Restoration – One Size Does Not Fit All
Matthew Duchesne, Environmental Compliance Specialist, US Department of Energy
Steven Jones, Ph.D., CSE, Senior Ecologist, Conestoga-Rovers & Associates
Identifying Restoration Needs to Help Resolve NRD Liability
Mike Ammann, Staff Environmental Scientist, Chevron Energy Technology Company
Jean Martin, Senior Attorney, Health, Safety, Social and Environment, BP
Robert Unsworth, Principal, Industrial Economics, Inc.
- SUMMARY AND PREVIEW OF DAY 2
4:45 PM
ADJOURN
5:00 PM
RECEPTION
Media and Public Affairs Building, 805 21st NW, Washington, DC (2nd Floor)
DAY 2: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2011:
- WELCOME/OPENING
8:30 AM
Barbara Goldsmith
- NRD AND THE LEGAL WORLD IT FITS IN -- THE VIEW FROM ELI
8:35 AM
John Cruden, President, Environmental Law Institute
(Introduction by Patricia Casano, Counsel, Government Affairs, General Electric Company)
- UPDATES ON KEY US NRDA RESTORATION PROGRAMS
9:00 AM
Steve Glomb, Director, Office of Restoration and Damage Assessment, US Department of the Interior
Robert Haddad, Ph.D., Chief, Office of Response and Restoration, US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (delivered by Tony Penn, Deputy Division Chief of the Assessment and Restoration Division, US Department of Commerce, National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration)
- PLENARY SESSION: LATEST APPROACHES IN ECOSYSTEM SERVICE VALUATION AND RESTORATION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR NRD PRACTICE
9:30 AM
This session will look at the possible influences, applications and implications of ecosystem service valuation and restoration tools and approaches in the NRDA practice arena.
William Desvousges, Ph.D., President, W.H. Desvousges & Associates, Inc.
Timothy Kratz, Ph.D., Ecosystem Science Program Director, Division of Environmental Biology, National Science Foundation
Timm Kroeger, Environmental Economist, The Nature Conservancy
- PANEL DISCUSSION: OTHER COUNTRIES, OTHER CONTINENTS - LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM PREVENTATIVE, REACTIVE AND OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL LIABILITY REGIMES
10:15 AM
This panel will present ways in which natural resource liability is addressed under various environmental liability regimes, including the European Union Environmental Liability Directive and its implementation in the United Kingdom, as well as other regimes around the globe for possible consideration at NRD sites in the US.
Introductory Remarks and Moderator:
Susan Karamanian, Associate Dean for International and Comparative Legal Studies, The George Washington University Law School
Panel:
Lucas Bergkamp, Partner, Hunton & Williams and Professor; Catholic University of Leuven, KUL
Emanuela Gallo, Director, Legal Affairs, ENI S.p.A.
Edward Lockhart-Mummery, Economist - Regulatory Reform and Environmental Liability, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, United Kingdom
Barbara Ruis, Legal Officer, United Nations Environment Programme (delivered by Amy Fraenkel, Director and Regional Representative, United Nations Environment Programme, Regional Office for North America)
SETTING EXPECTATIONS FOR PERFORMANCE, PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS AND BEST PRACTICES
- BUILDING A JOINT "BEST PRACTICES MANUAL": EFFECTING PERFORMANCE, PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS AND BEST PRACTICES: PART 1 -- LEAD PRESENTATIONS
11:15 AM
Speakers will identify how performance, professional standards and best practices are or are not being used at NRD sites. The lead presentations will present proposed best practices for a targeted set of practice issues, as well as identify suggested standards to measure performance/success and specific activities/projects to encourage professional standards. These issues will be discussed by Symposium participants in small group sessions later in the program.
Introductory Presentation and Facilitator:
Barbara Goldsmith
Performance and Professional Standards
Reed Neuman, Partner, Nossaman LLP
Guiding Principles for Conducting Natural Resource Damage Assessments
Dale Young, Former Director, Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Program, Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs
Brian Israel, Partner, Arnold & Porter LLP
Best Practices for Technical and Economic Issues
Timothy Iannuzzi, Principal Ecologist, Senior Vice President and Principal Scientist, Arcadis U.S., Inc.
Theodore Tomasi, Ph.D., Senior Principal, Vice President, CardnoENTRIX
- LUNCH ADDRESS: LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE DEEPWATER HORIZON AND OPPORTUNITIES MOVING FORWARD -- COORDINATING AND INTEGRATING RESPONSE, DAMAGE ASSESSMENT AND EMERGENCY RESTORATION ACTIONS
12:45 PM
Admiral Thad Allen, Distinguished Professor of Practice, The George Washington University Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration and Former Commandant, US Coast Guard
(Introduced by Frank Cilluffo, Director, Homeland Security Policy Institute and Associate Vice President for Homeland Security, The George Washington University)
- BUILDING A JOINT "BEST PRACTICES MANUAL": EFFECTING PERFORMANCE, PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS AND BEST PRACTICES: PART 2-- SMALL GROUP CONVERSATIONS
2:00 PM
Symposium participants will be divided into three small working groups focused around the key areas for exploration - performance, professional standards and best practices. The working groups will be asked to consider the proposed standards and practices relative to some specific types of sites and cases in order to help to identify specific activities and projects to implement suggested standards and practices at actual sites.
Discussion Facilitators:
Timothy Barber, Ph.D., Principal, ENVIRON International
Joan Snyder, Partner, Stoel Rives LLP
Alexis Steen, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering, Exxon Mobil Corporation
Rapporteurs:
Kate Clark, Regional Resource Coordinator, US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
Debbie Duren, Manager, Natural Resource Trustee Program, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
Erik Meyers, Vice President for Sustainable Programs, The Conservation Fund
- CLOSING ADDRESS:THE ROLE AND INFLUENCE OF MEDIA DURING ENVIRONMENTAL INCIDENTS AND ENSUING ACTIVITIES
4:00 PM
Jeffrey Ball, Scholar-in-Residence, Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, Stanford University, and Former Environment Editor, The Wall Street Journal
(Introduced by Michael Freedman, Professor of Media and Public Affairs and Executive Director of GW Global Media Institute, The George Washington University)
- SUMMARY/NEXT STEPS/CLOSING
4:45 PM
ADJOURN
5:00 PM
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