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Dorinda Shipman, Phil Tringale and Julie Frankel

The Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite® is nationally recognized as the largest and most prestigious gathering in California of leaders in environmental, land use, and natural resources law. For the twelfth consecutive year, Treadwell & Rollo, now part of Langan Engineering, is proud to have been one of the sponsors. T&R Senior Associates Dorinda Shipman and Patrick Hubbard, Director of the Western Region Phil Tringale and Marketing Manager Julie Frankel attended the conference, which was held at Tenaya Lodge in Fish Camp, California on October 20-23^rd.

Being one of the supporters of the nationally-recognized event, which is sponsored annually by the State Bar of California Environmental Law Section, has been a priority for our firm for more than a decade.  This conference has consistently been a great opportunity for our staff to stay current on the latest environmental and regulatory issues affecting the environmental law community, which includes many of our clients as well as other environmental officials, lawyers, and consulting professionals.

There were a variety of sessions to choose from with a wide range of speakers and topics and social activities in the evenings. Select topics of interest included:

• CERCLA and Superfund- Progress, status, and accomplishments in cleanups.  Less future work at multi-party groundwater sites but current mega remediation in mining and river/ bay sediments; vapor intrusion growth and more natural resource damages cases are coming.
• Green Advertising and Claims- Review of Federal Trade Commission Green Guides and California statutes; increased enforcement and lawsuits likely involving certifications and terms such as biodegradable, green, and others.
• Is Brown the New Green?- A discussion of energy and environmental issues in the Brown Administration, views on reaching the Governor’s renewable energy goals, prospects for CEQA revisions, and the Brown Administration’s vision for California.

Keynote speakers included Cliff Rechtshaffen who works on energy, environmental and agricultural issues in the governor’s office; Ken Alex who works on energy and environmental matters for the governor; Nancy Sutley, the Chair of CEQ where she serves as the principal environmental policy advisor to the president; Pete McCloskey who co-chaired the very first earth day in 1970 and co-authored the 1973 Endangered Species Act; and Catherine Sandoval with CPUC.