As part of its 40th Anniversary celebration, ELI sponsored a symposium on challenges for the new team at EPA. The daylong meeting, held at the Carnegie Institute for International Peace in Washington on October 6, convened nationally recognized experts to discuss key issues facing the agency.
The Keynote address was delivered by Judge David S. Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He will speak on the Administrative Process and the Rule of Environmental Law.
Under the heading of Old Business, leading environmental lawyers considered EPA’s next steps on air pollution standards for stationary sources, notably utilities. The challenge of regulating risks from nanomaterials — tiny particles presenting great opportunities in manufacturing, energy production, and pollution control among other applications — qualifies as New Business, as EPA wrestles with how its old laws can effectively address the potential health and environmental impacts of these new materials. A panel of lawyers and scientists discussed what needs to be done.
The afternoon program, Rethinking Risk Assessment, examined important problems and issues in the use of scientific evidence in environmental decision making. Noted scientists and lawyers considered how to deal with issues of ensuring impartiality to build confidence in agency actions. A second panel examined the implications of new methods of detecting chemical impacts at the cellular level and the prospects for developing toxicity test methods that can reduce reliance on animal testing and costs and deliver results that can form a solid basis for regulatory decisions.
Dr. J. Paul Gilman, Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Covanta Energy and Former EPA Assistant Administrator for Research and Development, was the luncheon speaker.
For a copy of the full event agenda Click Here.
ELI is grateful to Malcolm Pirnie, Inc. for a generous grant supporting the Institute