Agenda Day 1

9:00 am

Introduction & Overview

Update on the policy changes with agencies responsible for Federal environmental enforcement and the implications for Natural Resource Damage assessment and recovery efforts going forward

Amanda G. Halter, Esq. , Program Co-Chair
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman / Houston, TX

Brian D. Israel, Esq. , Program Co-Chair
Paul Hastings / Los Angeles, CA

9:15 am

Special Opening Address

A discussion of federal enforcement priorities and the Administration's approach to natural resource damages, offering insight into how DOJ is positioning NRD administration, settlements, and litigation in the current policy landscape

Adam R.F. Gustafson, Esq. , Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice / Washington, DC

10:00 am

Federal Trustee Perspectives on NRD

The Second Trump Administration's environmental policy priorities for NRD and contaminated sites: What to expect from the key Federal trustee agencies

John Rudolph, Esq. , Assistant Solicitor
U.S. Department of the Interior / Washington, DC

Chauncey Kelly, Esq. , Chief, Natural Resources Section
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration / Silver Spring, MD

11:00 am

Break

11:15 am

Maximizing Environmental Insurance Recoveries: Coverage Strategies and Lessons from Long-Tail Liability Claims

Current trends in environmental insurance recovery and practical strategies for maximizing coverage in NRD and other long-tail environmental claims: Key policy interpretation issues, allocation disputes, and lessons from recent high-stakes matters

David F. Klein, Esq.
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman / Washington, DC

12:00 pm

Lunch (On Your Own)

1:30 pm

Perspectives from the States

State trustees have become increasingly active in bringing their own NRD cases: State leaders share their perspectives

Shawn M. LaTourette, Esq.
Greenberg Traurig / Florham Park, NJ

Patrick Foster, Esq. , Deputy Commissioner for Sustainable Development
Department of Environmental Conservation / Albany, NY

Katherine Hausrath, Esq. , Assistant Attorney General
Natural Resource Damage Program / Helena, MT

2:45 pm

Break

3:00 pm

Reopeners, Reforms, and Regulations: The Future of NRD

Let's face it, NRD assessment and claims still take too long but it is not too late to innovate; DOI's new Type A rule as a starting point

Amanda G. Halter, Esq. , Program Co-Chair
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman / Houston, TX

Brian D. Israel, Esq. , Program Co-Chair
Paul Hastings / Los Angeles, CA

Eva Vrana , Deputy Assistant Secretary - PEM
Department of the Interior / Washington, DC

Emily Joseph , Director, Office of Restoration & Damage Assessment
Department of the Interior / Washington, DC

4:00 pm

Case Management Strategies: Insights from In-House

Lessons learned and best practices

Tyler L. Burgess, Esq. , General Counsel - HSE
Honeywell Aerospace / Arlington, VA

Jeff Corey, Esq. , Senior Corporate Counsel
Rio Tinto / South Jordan, UT

Molly M. Jones, Esq. , Sr. Assistant General Counsel, Litigation
Bayer / Saint Louis, MO

Jean Martin, Esq. , Senior Counsel - Litigation & Regulatory
BP America / Houston, TX

5:00 pm

Reception for Faculty and Attendees

Sponsored by Paul Hastings and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman

Friday, November 13, 2026

9:00 am

Gold Standard Science: What does Executive Order 14303 and Subsequent Agency Guidance Mean for NRDA?

Among the Trump Administration's early executive orders is EO 14303, reinforcing Gold Standard Science principles across federal programs: How should this and subsequent guidance impact NRD Assessments and practice?

Ashleigh Myers, Esq. , Moderator
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman / Austin, TX

Gregory E. Challenger , Principal Marine Scientist
Polaris Applied Sciences / Kirkland, WA

Theodore Tomasi, Ph.D. , Senior Principal
Integral Consulting / Moorestown, NJ

10:00 am

Ethics & Experts: Professional Responsibility in NRD Cases

Ethical considerations that arise in representing trustees and responsible parties in complex natural resource damages assessments and litigation

James H. Colopy, Esq.
Farella Braun + Martel / San Francisco, CA

Miranda H. Henning, BCES , Managing Principal
Integral Consulting / Portland, ME

Ann Michelle Morrison, Sc.D. , Principal Scientist
Exponent, Inc. / Natick, MA

11:00 am

Break

11:15 am

NRD Litigation: Lessons from the Biggest Cases of 2025

Cases involving PFAS contamination, human use, nonuse, and cultural damages claims, and the emerging use of mobility/cellphone data

Brian D. Israel, Esq. , Program Co-Chair, Moderator
Paul Hastings / Los Angeles, CA

Melissa E. Byroade, Esq.
Kelley Drye & Warren / Washington, DC

Lauren Daniel, Esq.
Arnold & Porter / Washington, DC

Matt Edling, Esq.
Sher Edling / San Francisco, CA

12:30 pm

Evaluations and Adjourn

Faculty Bios

Amanda G. Halter, Program Co-Chair, is the Managing Partner of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman's Houston office and a nationally recognized authority on environmental and natural resources law and policy. She co-leads the firm's multidisciplinary Minerals, Metals and Materials Supply Chains and Canada practice teams and represents domestic and international industrial clients in complex regulatory, natural resource damages, and environmental liability matters. Amanda and her team developed the NRD Map (www.thenrdmap.com), a regularly updated compendium of federal natural resource damages sites and consent decrees under CERCLA and the Oil Pollution Act.

Brian D. Israel, Program Co-Chair, is Co-Chair of the Environmental Litigation practice at Paul Hastings. He served as lead counsel to BP in the Deepwater Horizon NRD claim and as one of the trial attorneys for the Deepwater penalty trial. He is a principal author of 'Natural Resource Damages: A Guide to Litigating and Resolving NRD Cases', the definitive treatise on NRD claims.

Adam R.F. Gustafson, Special Opening Address, is the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. He previously served as Deputy General Counsel in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. At EPA he oversaw both the Air and Radiation Law Office, which works to develop and defend air quality regulations, and the Cross-Cutting Issues Law Office, which provides counseling on administrative law, international, tribal, and other matters.

Shawn M. LaTourette, Moderator, is the immediate past Commissioner for New Jersey's Environmental Protection Office of Natural Resource Restoration (NJDEP) and served as the State's Natural Resource Trustee from 2021-2026. He previously served as NJDEP Chief Counsel. He currently is a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig and serves as a Law Professor at Rutgers Law School.

Ashleigh Myers, Moderator, is a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. Her practice spans key environmental and natural resources laws, with a particular focus on hazardous substance management and remediation, natural resource damages, and environmental impact assessment and mitigation.

Tyler L. Burgess is General Counsel - HSE at Honeywell Aerospace in Washington, DC. In this role, she oversees litigation, regulatory compliance, and enforcement matters across the company's remediation portfolio. She previouslyserved as an Honors Trial Attorney in the Natural Resources Section of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Melissa E. Byroade is Special Counsel at Kelley Drye & Warren. She has served as special counsel to state Attorneys General, including Maryland, Ohio, and North Carolina, seeking natural resource damages and related relief related to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) environmental contamination.

Gregory E. Challenger is Principal Marine Scientist and President of Polaris Applied Sciences. He has been involved in assessing nearly 200 large oil spill, pipeline, railroad, and ship grounding incidents, working with government and industry to study impacts and find restoration-based solutions to environmental casualties.

James H. Colopy is a partner in Farella Braun + Martel's Environmental Law Department. He represents industry and government in complex environmental litigation in federal and state courts across the country. He served as chair of Farella's Environmental Law Department for six years.

Jeff Corey is Senior Corporate Counsel for Environmental and Post-Mining Closure at Rio Tinto, He focuses on environmental law, environmental sustainability, and transitioning former mining sites to beneficial use. He also works on environmental compliance, environmental risk management issues.

Lauren Daniel is a partner at Arnold & Porter. She served as counsel to BP in the Deepwater Horizon NRD case and was one of the trial attorneys for BP in the Clean Water Act penalty phase related to Deepwater Horizon. She is a former co-chair of the American Bar Association's Superfund and Natural Resource Damages Litigation Committee and a principal author of 'Natural Resource Damages: A Guide to Litigating and Resolving NRD Cases', the definitive treatise on NRD claims.

Matt Edling, Sher Edling, currently serves as counsel for several states, counties and cities in litigation related to climate damages, water and land contamination, and natural resources damages involving myriad petrochemical, agrichemical, and other man-made chemicals.

Patrick Foster is Deputy Commissioner for Sustainable Development at the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. He previously served as a Regional Director and ran New York's NRD program for several years.

Katherine Hausrath is the Chief Legal Counsel at the Montana Natural Resource Damage Program, responsible for the legal strategy to recover natural resource damages and to implement restoration actions following settlement. Previously she was at the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, focusing on Superfund cases.

Miranda H. Henning is Ma naging Principal and Business Director for Health and Ecology at Integral Consulting. As a certified senior ecologist and Board Certified Environmental Scientist (BCES - ecotoxicology), she works to characterize and mitigate the effects of releases of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), PCBs, PAHs, petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides, and metals.

Molly M. Jones is Senior Assistant General Counsel for Litigation at Bayer. She previously was the Head of Litigation for Anheuser-Busch and Assistant General Counsel for Litigation at Monsanto Company.

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.

Chauncey Kelly is Section Chief for the Natural Resources Section at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

David F. Klein is a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. He has extensive experience in insurance matters involving general and excess liability, environmental and other long-tail claims, pollution legal liability, first party/business interruption, fidelity/crime, directors and officers, errors and omissions, marine cargo, and aviation coverage.

Jean Martin is Senior Counsel - Litigation & Regulatory at BP America. She was one of BP's leads in the Deepwater Horizon case. She previously served as Corporate Secretary and Senior Counsel at Atlantic Richfield Company.

Ann Michelle Morrison, Sc.D. is a Principal Scientist at Exponent focusing on the relationship between anthropogenic activities and health effects to natural resources and humans. She specializes in natural resource damage assessment, environmental causal analysis, and net environmental benefit analysis.

John Rudolph is Assistant Solicitor for the Restoration Program at the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Theodore Tomasi, Ph.D., is a natural resource economist and Managing Principal at Integral. He specializes in the valuation of natural resources and environmental changes, risk management in the context of use decisions regarding resource use, and benefit-cost analysis.

Eva Vrana is Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Environmental Management at the Department of the Interior. Previously, she served as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and Budget during the first Trump Administration.

Continuing Education Credits

Live credits: This program qualifies for 9.25 (1.00 Ethics included) CA MCLE, 9.00 (1.00 Ethics included) TX MCLE, 9.00 (1.00 Ethics included) WA MCLE and 9.00 ABCEP 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.

In-Person Location

Paul Hastings Conference Center

2050 M St NW in Washington, DC 20036
(202) 551-1700

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