Law Seminars International Presents

New Developments In

Natural Resource Damage Litigation

February 15, 2006
Renaissance Seattle Hotel in Seattle, WA
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Who Should Order Homestudy

Attorneys, consultants and governmental or private practice environmental professionals

Why Order

Natural Resource Damage claims under federal and state environmental laws have moved to center stage in the past few years as first federal and now state and tribal governments have turned to litigation to recover potentially multi-million dollar judgments for decades-long damage to biological and physical resources, including protected species, vegetation and groundwater. These cases--which typically involve multiple parties, complex scientific and economic analysis, and uncharted legal waters--are on the cutting edge of environmental law.  We have brought together a group of distinguished and experienced speakers who are actively involved in both prosecuting and defending these complex claims throughout the United States. They include lawyers, state and federal regulators, and nationally-known scientists and economists who have been and are currently engaged in litigation in states ranging from New Jersey to Washington and Idaho, including the largest Natural Resource Damage claims ever brought. This is a unique opportunity to hear from the experts in this area in an informal setting and you won't want to miss it.   ~ Program Co-Chairs: Bradley M. Marten, Esq. and Elliott Furst, Esq.

What You Will Learn

- Federal Claims Under CERCLA, CWA and OPA - State Claims in Washington and Other States - Tribal Claims Under CERCLA - Conducting a Natural Resource Damage Assessment - New Jersey's Natural Resource Damage Program - Natural Resource Damage Banking - A Solution for Multi-Party Sites - Minimizing Natural Resource Damage Liabilities: Defenses and Strategies - Technical Aspects of Natural Resource Damage Assessments - Economic Valuation of Natural Resource Damages - Protecting Drinking Water - Equitable Remedies for Groundwater Contamination

What Attendees Said

~ Great variety of speakers with different perspectives. ~ Information presented was very useful. ~ Networking here was priceless.

Agenda

Wednesday, February 15, 2006
8:00 am Registration & Continental Breakfast
8:30 am Introduction & Overview
  Elliott Furst, Esq., Program Co-Chair
 Washington State Office of the Attorney General / Olympia, WA
  Bradley M. Marten, Esq., Program Co-Chair
 Marten Law Group PLLC / Seattle, WA
8:45 am Federal Claims Under CERCLA, CWA and OPA
  Case studies: who can seek damages; elements of damages claims; components of restoration; approach to hazardous substances vs. oil; opportunities for cooperative problem solving
  Kurt Zimmerman, Esq., Attorney Advisor for Natural Resources
 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) / Long Beach, CA
  Craig R. O'Connor, Esq., Special Counsel for Natural Resources
 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) / Seattle, WA
9:30 am State Claims in Washington and Other States
  Elliott Furst, Esq., Program Co-Chair
 Washington State Office of the Attorney General / Olympia, WA
10:15 am Break
10:30 am Tribal Claims Under CERCLA
  Tribal CERCLA actions; NRDA elements; damages and defenses
  Raymond C. Givens, Esq.
 Givens Law Firm / Coeur d' Alene, ID
11:00 am Conducting a Natural Resource Damage Assessment
  Lucinda Jacobs, Ph.D., Vice President & Principal Aquatic Scientist
 Integral Consulting, Inc. / Mercer Island, WA
11:45 am The Natural Resource Damage Program in New Jersey
  The resource-to-resource form of compensation developed by the state as a new paradigm for companies to resolve natural resource damage liabilities; examples of innovative in-kind compensation solutions
  Ira M. Gottlieb, Esq.
 McCarter & English LLP / Newark, NJ
12:30 pm Lunch (on your own)
1:45 pm Natural Resource Damage Banking--A Solution for Multi-Party Sites
  James A. Bruen, Esq.
 Farella Braun + Martel LLP / San Francisco, CA
2:30 pm Minimizing Natural Resource Damage Liabilities: Defenses and Strategies
  Bradley M. Marten, Esq., Program Co-Chair
 Marten Law Group PLLC / Seattle, WA
3:15 pm Break
3:30 pm Technical Aspects of Natural Resource Damage Assessments
  Injury and damage determination; quantification approaches
  Valerie Ann Lee, Esq., President
 Environment International Ltd. / Seattle, WA
4:15 pm Economic Valuation of Natural Resource Damages
  Alternative approaches, recent trends, and key issues in assigning a monetary value to natural resource damages
  Theodore Tomasi, Ph.D., Technical Director and Associate
 ENTRIX Inc. / New Castle, DE
  Gretchen Greene, Ph.D., Senior Economist
 ENTRIX / Vancouver, WA
4:45 pm Protecting Drinking Water--Equitable Remedies for Groundwater Contamination
  Department of Defense vs. private sites; CERCLA as a recovery tool; update on current litigation
  Steven Jones, Esq.
 Marten Law Group PLLC / Seattle, WA
5:30 pm Evaluations & Adjourn

Cancellation

There is a $25 cancellation fee for Course Materials orders and $50 for Homestudy orders

Continuing Education Credits

This program qualifies for 7.0 WA CLE and 7.25 CA MCLE credits. Law Seminars International is a State Bar of California approved MCLE provider. Upon request, we will apply for CLE credits in other states and other types of credits.

Cost

Our complete Homestudy Course, consisting of a VHS or DVD recording and the written course materials, is available for $605. The written course materials alone are available for $100. We will ship your homestudy order via UPS ground within two weeks after the seminar or the date we receive payment (whichever is later).
Order Homestudy

Faculty Bios

Elliott Furst, Program Co-Chair, is Senior Counsel in the Ecology Division of the Washington State Office of the Attorney General where he focuses on MTCA/CERCLA cases and rule-makings. For the past year, much of his time has focused on natural resource damage issues at the Hanford site and elsewhere.

Bradley M. Marten, Program Co-Chair, is the founder and managing partner of Marten Law Group PLLC, an environmental law firm. He represented the State of Alaska in the Exxon Valdez oil spill and has represented private parties in NRD litigation in the Northwest, mountain states, and New Jersey. He has consistently been listed in Seattle Magazine as one of the best lawyers in Seattle, Washington Law & Politics Magazine as a Super Lawyer, and The Best Lawyers in America.

James A. Bruen, a partner in Farella Braun + Martel LLP's Environmental Law Department and Product Law Group, is a widely known author and lecturer in environmental and products liability law. He is named in The Best Lawyers in America, Who's Who in America, International Corporate Law's Guide to Environmental Law Experts, The Guide to the World's Leading Environmental Lawyers, The International Who's Who of Environmental Lawyers, and Chambers USA Guide to America's Leading Business Lawyers.

Raymond C. Givens, of the Givens Law Firm, has represented the Coeur d'Alene Tribe in many areas including pollution cleanup, gaming, and taxation. He appeared in the U.S. Supreme Court on the landmark case involving the Coeur d'Alene tribe's claim to ownership of the lower third of Coeur d'Alene Lake.

Ira M. Gottlieb is a partner with McCarter & English LLP. He previously served as an Assistant Regional Counsel for the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region III. He now represents clients in matters including Federal and State cleanup actions and NRD assessments, negotiations and litigation. In 2005 he was appointed Co-Chair of the Committee on Superfund and NRD Litigation of the ABA Section of Environment, Energy and Resources.

Dr. Lucinda Jacobs, Vice President & Principal Aquatic Scientist at Integral Consulting, Inc., is an environmental scientist who specializes in aquatic and sediment geochemistry, processes that mitigate exposure to toxic chemicals, and processes that control chemical transport and fate. She has designed, directed, and contributed to multidisciplinary environmental studies, including NRDAs, and directed the preparation of two data validation guidance manuals.

Steven G. Jones, a partner at Marten Law Group PLLC, has litigated cases involving Section 401 and 404 permits, clean air issues, wastewater, stormwater, wetlands, MTCA and CERCLA, shoreline permits and water rights. He has also defended permits before Washington's Pollution Control Hearings Board.

Valerie Ann Lee, the Founder and President of Environment International Ltd., is both an environmental attorney and engineer. She has supervised scientific teams investigating the basis for liability and cost allocation at Superfund sites. As a trial attorney for the Environmental Enforcement Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, she litigated cases involving natural resource damages obtaining over $35 million in judgments and settlements.

Craig R. O'Connor is Special Counsel for Natural Resources, Office of General Counsel, for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce. In this position, Mr. O'Connor is responsible for providing legal direction to NOAA in the implementation of its natural resource trustee responsibilities under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, the National Marine Sanctuaries Act and the Clean Water Act and for overseeing NOAA litigation under those acts.

Dr. Theodore Tomasi of ENTRIX Inc. is a natural resource economist whose research primarily has been directed to measuring the value of natural resources and environmental change. He is experienced in the development and application of state-of-the-art valuation methods in benefit-cost analysis, natural resource damage assessments, and other settings.

Kurt Zimmerman is an Attorney Advisor for Natural Resources for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce. In this position, he is responsible for providing legal direction to NOAA in the implementation of its natural resource trustee responsibilities under CERCLA, the OPA, the CWA and the National Marine Sanctuaries Act. In addition, Mr. Zimmerman is responsible for overseeing NOAA litigation under those acts.