Haynes and Boone is proud, once again, to be the coordinator and a sponsor of the 28th edition of the annual Texas Environmental Superconference, Texas’s award-winning environmental conference, to be held on Thursday and Friday -- August 4th and 5th, 2015 -- in Austin at the Four Seasons Hotel. Since 1998, the firm has played an instrumental role in the planning, organization, and running of the conference. Jeff Civins, as he has been since its inception, is the conference chair and Mary Mendoza assists as a planning committee member. Suzanne Murray is a conference speaker on the air quality panel.
This year's theme is Yogi Berra quotes and the conference is fittingly entitled "It's like déjà vu all over again"; each topic has an appropriate quote assigned to it. The Wednesday evening session, on August 3rd —"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future"—is an entertaining two-hour program on managing environmental crises.
Co-sponsored by the State Bar of Texas Environmental and Natural Resources Law Section, the Air & Waste Management Association – Southwest Section, the Water Environment Association of Texas, the Texas Association of Environmental Professionals, The Auditing Roundtable, and the American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, this conference routinely draws in excess of 500 attendees from both the public and private sectors.
Speakers include distinguished representatives from the public and private sectors, including, from the federal government, Gary Jonesi, from EPA Headquarters, Office of Civil Enforcement, and from EPA Region 6, Ron Curry, Regional Administrator, James O’Rourke Payne, Jr., Regional Counsel, and Cheryl Seager, Deputy Regional Counsel for enforcement, and, from the state, from TCEQ, Bryan Shaw, Chairman, and Steve Hagle, Deputy Director, Office of Air, Tony Benedict, Assistant Attorney General of Texas, and Texas Supreme Court Justice Jeff Brown.
Topics for this year's conference include:
- Case Law Update – "In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice, but in practice, there is"
- TCEQ Contested Case Hearing Rules – Two Perspectives – "You wouldn't have won if we'd beaten you"
- Air Quality – "If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up someplace else"
- Water Issues – "We have deep depth"
- EPA TCEQ Relations – "Okay you guys, pair up in threes"
- Enforcement – "We made too many wrong mistakes"
- ESA Developments Affecting the Energy Industry – "He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious."
- Insurance Recovery for Environmental Liability – "Take it with a grin of salt"
- Vapor Intrusion – "No one goes there nowadays, it's too crowded"
- Institutional Governance and the Environmental Crisis – "How can you think and hit at the same time?"
- Environmental Audit Policy – "If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be"
- The BP Criminal Litigation – A War Story – "Even Napoleon had his Watergate"
- News from EPA – "The future ain't what it used to be"
- Environmental Appeals – The View from the Bench – "You can observe a lot by just watching"
- Environmental Issues in Distressed Asset Transactions – "Slump? I ain't in no slump . . . I just ain't hitting"
- Ethical Issues Involving Parallel Proceedings – "When you come to a fork in the road, take it"
Because the conference consistently sells out, prospective attendees are encouraged to register early at www.texenrls.org. There will be no walk-in registration. As always, there are steep discounts for governmental attendees. For further information, please contact Superconference@haynesboone.com.
