Thursday, May 14, 2026

9:00 am

Introduction & Overview

Connie Sue M. Martin, Esq. , Program Co-Chair
Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt / Seattle, WA

McClure Tosch , Program Co-Chair
Yakama Nation / Toppenish, WA

9:10 am

Invocation

Anthony Smith , ERWM Director
Nez Perce Tribe / Lapwai, ID

9:15 am

Recovery of Human Service Losses Under CERCLA: Update on the Pakootas Case

Update on the Ninth Circuit remand in Pakootas and The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation v. Teck Cominco Metals, Ltd. and potential issues for a SCOTUS appeal

Paul Dayton, Esq.
Ogden Murphy Wallace / Seattle, WA

9:45 am

Impact of Federal Budget and Staffing Cuts on Environmental Enforcement and Damage Recovery

Department of Justice, Department of the Interior, and Environmental Protection Agency: What to expect from federal agencies after staffing losses, budget cuts, and implementation of Trump Administration policy priorities

Mark Nitczynski, Esq. , Former Senior Trial Counsel
U.S. DOJ Environmental Defense Section / Denver, CO

Joseph Edgell, Esq.
Askman Law Firm / Denver, CO

11:00 am

Break

11:15 am

Building Cases

Effective methods for PFAS assessment

Jeff Morris, Ph.D. , Co-Director, NRDA Consulting Group
Biodiversity Research Institute / Arvada, CO

12:00 pm

Lunch Break

1:15 pm

Navigating Current Trump Administration Clean-Up and Restoration Decision Making Processes

Practical tips from recent work in the trenches

Rebecca Stevens
Coeur d'Alene Tribe / Coeur D Alene, ID

What do to after a bad cleanup decision: Records of Decisions and how they make a difference for determining what to do next; pros and cons of appealing to the courts amid the chaos

Thomas A. Zeilman, Esq.
Law Offices of Thomas Zeilman / Yakima, WA

2:15 pm

Litigation Update

Recent decisions and pending cases of particular importance to Tribal officials involved with environmental enforcement, damage recovery efforts, and development of Tribal environmental policies

Rosalyn Dilillo Knock, Esq.
Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt / Seattle, WA

2:45 pm

Break

3:00 pm

Moving Forward in the Absence of Federal Engagement: Tribal-State Collaboration on Natural Resource Damage Claims

Case study of Washington's regulatory structure, resource damage cleanup programs, and the roles Tribes can play to pursue common cleanup goals

Connie Sue M. Martin, Esq. , Program Co-Chair, Moderator
Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt / Seattle, WA

Andrew Fitz, Esq. , Chief, Ecology Division
Office of the Attorney General / Olympia, WA

Susannah Edwards , Habitat Restoration Specialist
Department of Ecology / Olympia, WA

McClure Tosch , Program Co-Chair
Yakama Nation / Toppenish, WA

5:00 pm

Evaluations & Adjourn

Faculty Bios

Connie Sue M. Martin, Program Co-Chair, is a shareholder at Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt and leads the Indian Country and Alaska Native Corporations industry group. She is one of the country's most experienced practitioners of environmental Native American law and helps Indian Tribes and companies address a wide variety of issues including environmental contamination and restororation of injured natural resources.

McClure Tosch, Program Co-Chair, is the Natural Resource Injury Assessment Lead for the Yakama Nation Environmental Restoration / Waste Management (ER/WM) Program. He has worked for the Yakama Nation for over 13 years on priority hazardous waste cleanup sites up and down the Columbia River. In addition, he serves as the technical trustee on the Hanford Natural Resource Trustee Council for the Yakama Nation and has served on several other trustee councils in the Pacific Northwest.

Paul Dayton, a member of Ogden Murphy Wallace, represented the Colville Tribe in Pakootas v. Teck Cominco Metals in which the 9th Circuit found that United States environmental law applies to cross-boundary pollution. In the most recent phase of that litigation, he represented the Colville Tribe at the trial court level on the issue of whether the Tribe is entitled to recover for lost Cultural Resources and continues to represent the Tribe on the appeal to the 9th Circuit.

Rosalyn Dilillo Knock, Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt, helps clients navigate the intricate world of environmental and natural resources law. Her primary focus is on water rights, environmental compliance, and due diligence.

Joseph Edgell, Of Counsel to the Askman Law Firm, previously served as an Indian Law attorney at the United States Environmental Protection agency. Before that, he served as in-house counsel for two Pacific Northwest Tribes. At EPA, he handled nationwide NRDA cases following petroleum and hazardous substance releases.

Susannah Edwards is a Habitat Restoration Specialist at the Department of Ecology. She is part of the Toxics Cleanup Program and works to clean up contaminated land and water throughout the state.

Andrew Fitz is Chief Counsel for the Ecology Division in the Office of the Washington State Attorney General. Much of his work has focused on the Hanford nuclear plant cleanup and cleanups at other contaminated sites around the state.

Jeff Morris Ph.D. is Co-Director of the NRDA Consulting Group at the Biodiversity Research Institute. His expertise is in environmental toxicology, aquatic biology, and contaminant fate and transport. He has been a principal investigator on many applied research projects including unique field and laboratory bioassay methods development for PFAS and other chemicals.

Mark Nitczynski is Former Senior Trial Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice's Environmental Defense Section. He now serves as a Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Colorado Department of Law.

Anthony Smith is Director of ERWM (Environmental Restoration and Waste Management) program for the Nez Perce Tribe. In that capacity, he oversees the Tribe's involvement in the cleanup of the Hanford nuclear site, which contaminated many natural resources in the mid-Columbia River area.

Rebecca Stevens is the Restoration Coordinator for the Coeur d'Alene Tribe. In 2009, she was co-author of the Coeur d'Alene Lake Management Plan. She also represents the Tribe in the Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Superfund Site remedial work.

Thomas A. Zeilman, Law Offices of Thomas Zeilman, has represented the Yakama Nation for 24 years, both as an in-house attorney and in private practice. He has worked in many areas of tribal natural and cultural resources law, including treaty fishing and hunting rights, Columbia River fisheries management and enforcement, environmental cleanup and hazardous waste management, and tribal water rights. He has been a past Chair of both the Portland Harbor and Hanford Natural Resource Trustee Councils and has represented the Yakama Nation in many other federal and state-led remediation sites throughout the Columbia Basin.

Continuing Education Credits

Live credits: This program qualifies for 6.00 WA MCLE, 6.00 OR MCLE and 6.00 ABCEP environmental professional 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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