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Replay available from our video archive

Comprehensive In-Person Seminar on the 35th Anniversary of the

Model Toxics Control Act

New policy guidance, rulemakings, grant programs, chemicals of concern, and other developments for environmental risk and liability management

Presented on December 4, 2025

Seattle, WA

And via Interactive Online Broadcast

Download PDF Brochure
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Program Overview

Who Should Order

Attorneys, land use and environmental professionals, corporate managers, planners, engineers, architects, city and county officials, Tribal leaders, real estate professionals and anyone involved with developing contaminated property

Why You will Benefit from the Replay

This year, the legislature grappled with funding issues, including those affecting programs funded by MTCA. At this year's seminar you will hear about Ecology's strategy for navigating the budget challenges in the short term and for the long term.

On the rulemaking front, the focus is on implementing the recently adopted rules on SHARP assessments, LUST reviews, consideration of EJ impacts, and procedural provisions. You also will hear about recent litigation including Taliesen v. Razore on contribution to cleanup cost recovery and other recent state and federal decisions.

Phi V. Ly will update us on current PLIA issues, including the agency's plan for dealing with the budget shortfall. Following that, you'll hear stakeholder perspectives on how both agencies can best pursue their missions.

We will be covering two topics with tips you can put to work your next day on the job. One is Ecology's new guidance on making cleanups Permanent to the Maximum Extent Practicable (PMEP). The other is an update on PFAS cleanup rules & policy. That will include a discussion of how to integrate PFAS into the hazardous substances addressed at cleanup sites.

Over the course of the program, you will have an opportunity to hear from a faculty with wide-ranging experience in public, private, and non-profit sectors and having expertise in a wide variety of technical, legal, and transactional areas. We hope you will join us and look forward to your participation, either in the room or remotely via an interactive live broadcast.

Register soon to reserve your seat!

~ Ken Lederman, Esq. of McCullough Hill and Josh M. Lipsky, Esq. of Cascadia Law Group, Program Co-Chairs

What You Will Learn

  • ~ Toxics Cleanup Program update
  • ~ MTCA rulemaking updates
  • ~ Pollution Liability Insurance Agency update
  • ~ MTCA/CERCLA Litigation updates:
  • ~ New Guidance on Making Cleanups Permanent to the Maximum Extent Practicable
  • ~ Perspectives on ways to optimize TCP and PLIA operations
  • ~ PFAS cleanup rules & policy

What Participants Said

  • "Great Program!"
  • "Well organized and Informative!"
  • "All speakers were educated/helpful in their area of expertise."
  • "Excellent and very applicable materials and presenters! I'll be using and sharing info with colleagues and clients. Thank you!"

Thursday, December 4, 2025

9:00 am

Introduction & Overview

Ken Lederman, Esq. , Program Co-Chair
McCullough Hill / Seattle, WA

Josh M. Lipsky, Esq. , Program Co-Chair
Cascadia Law Group / Seattle, WA

9:15 am

PFAS Cleanup Rules & Policy

Update on the latest rules/policies on PFAS as well as discussion on integration of PFAS into the hazardous substances addressed at cleanup sites

Ivy Anderson, Esq. , Assistant Attorney General
Washington State Attorney General's Office / Olympia, WA

10:15 am

Break

10:30 am

MTCA/CERCLA Litigation Update

"Ownership" under MTCA, indemnities and "as is" clauses and MTCA/CERCLA liability; Cultural Resource Damages as an NRD claim; Duty to Defend and absolute pollution exclusion clauses

Stephen R. Parkinson, Esq.
Cascadia Law Group / Seattle, WA

11:15 am

Pollution Liability Insurance Agency (PLIA): Update from Program Leadership

Phi V. Ly, Esq. , Legislative & Policy Manager
Pollution Liability Insurance Agency / Olympia, WA

12:00 pm

Lunch Break

1:15 pm

Toxics Cleanup Program (TCP): Update from Program Leadership

Given the state funding shortfall for MTCA, how can we strategically navigate the budget challenges in the short term and for the long term?

Nhi Irwin , Toxics Cleanup Program Manager
Department of Ecology / Olympia, WA

1:45 pm

If I ran TCP and PLIA . . .

Ken Lederman, Esq. , Program Co-Chair, Moderator
McCullough Hill / Seattle, WA

Josh M. Lipsky, Esq. , Program Co-Chair, Moderator
Cascadia Law Group / Seattle, WA

Michael Dunning, Esq.
Perkins Coie / Seattle, WA

Alexandra Kleeman, Esq.
Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson / Seattle, WA

Suzanne Stumpf, P.E. , Managing Principal
Farallon Consulting / Seattle, WA

3:00 pm

Break

3:15 pm

MTCA Rulemaking: How's it Going and What's Next?

Implementing new rules on release reporting, SHARP assessments, LUST reviews, Environmental Justice, Tribal Consultation, and Public Notice; future rulemaking plans

Michael Feldcamp, Esq. , Senior Policy Analyst
Department of Ecology / Lacey, WA

Sarah Wollwage, MA , Policy & Technical Support Unit Manager
Department of Ecology / Lacey, WA

4:00 pm

Ecology's New Guidance on Making Cleanups Permanent to the Maximum Extent Practicable (PMEP)

What is PMEP? When is it necessary? How do you most effectively perform a PMEP evaluation? How do you most effectively use Ecology's guidance and Excel tool?

Mahbub Alam, Ph.D. , Senior Contaminated Sites Engineer
Department of Ecology / Olympia, WA

Miao Zhang , Engineer & Partner
ERM / Seattle, WA

5:00 pm

Evaluations & Adjourn

Faculty Bios

Ken Lederman, Ken Lederman, Program Co-Chair, is a partner at McCullough Hill. He is a contaminated property specialist who provides counseling and litigation support on environmental issues in property ownership, transactions (purchase, sale, or financing) and redevelopment. A former Assistant Attorney General for the Washington State Department of Ecology, he has successfully facilitated the negotiation, remediation, and redevelopment of hundreds of contaminated properties throughout the Northwest.

Josh M. Lipsky, Josh M. Lipsky, Program Co-Chair, is a partner at Cascadia Law Group focusing on hazardous waste cleanup and liability. He represents major industrial clients, commercial and real estate businesses of all sizes, and municipalities involved with Superfund sites, contaminated property transactions, and cost recovery disputes.

Mahbub Alam is an Mahbub Alam is an environmental engineer at the Department of Ecology Toxics Cleanup Program (TCP). He serves as the lead engineer for the program and a subject matter expert for contaminated site cleanup. He also is an adjunct faculty member at Saint Martin's University where he teaches biological wastewater treatment and hazardous waste engineering.

Ivy Anderson is an Assistant Attorney General in the Washington State Attorney General's Office. She is the Section Manager of the Cleanup Section of the Ecology Division and the Lead Attorney for the Pollution Liability Insurance Agency, where she advises on program development, rulemaking, insurance claims, and insurance treaty negotiation.

Michael Dunning Michael Dunning is a partner at Perkins Coie focusing on contaminated sites. He previously served for more than a decade as an assistant attorney general for the state of Washington and acted as lead counsel on some of the state's most challenging and complicated contaminated sites and cases.

Michael N. Feldc Michael N. Feldc amp is a Senior Legal and Policy Analyst for the Toxics Cleanup Program at the Washington State Department of Ecology. He is responsible for implementing the Model Toxics Control Act.

Nhi Irwin Nhi Irwin is the Toxics Cleanup Program Manager for the Department of Ecology. She leads efforts to protect the health of Washington's people and environment by preventing and cleaning up pollution, supporting sustainable communities, and preserving the state's natural resources. She previously managed the Statewide Resources Section in Ecology's Spill Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Program.

Alexandra Kleeman, Alexandra Kleeman, Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson, provides clients with transactional and litigation counsel on real estate, environmental, and regulatory matters. This includes acquisition, disposition, and redevelopment of contaminated sites, development of remedial action strategies, coordination with agencies and environmental consultants, resolution of cleanup liability disputes, permitting issues and regulatory compliance, and insurance recovery for environmental liabilities.

Phi V. Ly Phi V. Ly the Legislative & Policy Manager for the Washington State Pollution Liability Insurance Agency (PLIA). She promotes PLIA's mission to provide an effective and efficient government funding model to support owners and operators of underground storage tanks (USTs) in meeting financial responsibility and environmental cleanup requirements.

Stephen R. Parkinson is of counsel to Cascadia Law Group. He represents clients in complex environmental litigation and regulatory matters, including cleanup and cost recovery actions under state and federal superfund law, contaminated property transactions, natural resource damages claims, stormwater and wetlands issues, and clean water act compliance.

Suzanne Stumpf is a Suzanne Stumpf is a Managing Principal and Principal Engineer at Farallon Consulting. She previously worked as a Senior Engineer at SoundEarth Strategies and as an Environmental Associate at the LandBank Group.

Sarah Wollwage is Sarah Wollwage is the Policy & Technical Support Unit Manager at the Department of Ecology. She previously served as an Environmental Planner at the agency and as an archaeologist at Statistical Research, Inc.

Miao Zhang Miao Zhang is an Engineer & Partner at Environmental Resources Management (ERM) and focuses on sustainability, water resource management, and contaminated site remediation. His technical expertise is in modeling water flow in saturated and unsaturated porous media, soil vapor flow, and subsurface contaminant transport.

Continuing Education Credits

Live credits: This program qualifies for 6.25 WA MCLE, 6.25 ABCEP environmental professional, and 6.25 AICP land use planner credits. Upon request, we will help you apply for CLE credits in other states and other types of credits.

I appreciate LSI's seamless segue from registration, an informative seminar, to end result.

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