New Jersey’s Environmental Justice Law as a Potential National Model
September 2, 2021 7:00–9:00 AM (PT) | 10:00 AM–12:00 PM (ET)
Speakers Troy Singleton, New Jersey State Senator and Bill Sponsor Shawn LaTourette, New Jersey’s Commissioner of Environmental Protection Matthew Tejada, Director of the EPA Office of Environmental Justice Sara Colangelo, Director of the Environmental Law & Justice Clinic at Georgetown Law
Moderator Chris Whitehead, Air Practice Leader at Enviro-Sciences Inc. (ESI)
About
Environmental Justice (EJ) is hardly a new term. It refers to the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of their socio-economic conditions with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws. While first championed by Dr. Robert Bullard decades ago and furthered by dedicated community leaders around the world over the years, few could argue that this past year has been one of the most transformational periods in the history of EJ. Last fall New Jersey passed the most comprehensive EJ law in history. Since that time, other states have followed suit and made changes to their EJ programs. These recent changes have caused many to have questions.
Our panel discussion gathers some of the national leaders on the topic and addresses fundamental questions: How did we get here? What is currently being proposed by states and the EPA? Where do we see the EJ landscape in five to ten years? Can the New Jersey Model work nationally? What does EJ mean for my business?
Moderator
Chris Whitehead, Air Practice Leader
Enviro-Sciences Inc. (ESI)
Speakers
Troy Singleton New Jersey State Senator and Bill Sponsor
Senator Troy Singleton has devoted his life to public service in government, political, and policy posts at all levels. In 2011, he was elected to his first term in the New Jersey General Assembly, representing the over 220,000 residents of the 7th Legislative District. Senator Singleton was elected to the New Jersey State Senate in November 2017 and currently serves as Chairman of the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee, Vice Chair of the Senate Economic Growth Committee, and as a member of the Senate Budget Committee and Judiciary Committee.
During his time in the legislature, Senator Singleton had a significant number of proposals signed into law and has received numerous awards for his public service and legislative acumen from business, education civic, labor and non-profit organizations.
Senator Singleton is currently employed as the President of Realogy Insurance Agency. Along with this busy career, Senator Singleton is a devoted husband and father of three who has long included personal involvement in his community as an essential component of his life.
Shawn LaTourette, Commissioner NJDEP
Appointed by Governor Philip D. Murphy, Shawn M. LaTourette became New Jersey’s Commissioner of Environmental Protection on June 14, 2021. He had served as Acting Commissioner since January 16, 2021. Commissioner LaTourette is responsible for formulating statewide environmental policy while directing programs that protect public health and ensure the quality of New Jersey’s air, land, water, and natural and historic resources.
A lawyer and policymaker with more than 20 years of experience in environmental protection, Commissioner LaTourette began his career defending victims of toxic exposure, including organizing and advocating for the needs of vulnerable New Jersey communities whose drinking water was contaminated by petrochemicals. Throughout a career shaping environmental law and policy, he has served in executive roles and as a trusted adviser to governments, community and non-profit organizations, and leaders in industry and infrastructure, while also litigating high-stakes lawsuits involving environmental, energy, and public health concerns.
Matthew Tejada, Director EPA Office of EJ
Mathew Tejada is the director of the Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ), where he is responsible for all the aspects of work of the Office of Environmental Justice within EPA and the EJ Program more generally throughout the Agency and across the federal family. OEJ also has external aspects, such as direct community engagement, outreach and communication, and management of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (NEJAC), of which he serves as the Designated Federal Official. OEJ encourages external partnerships with other federal, state, local and tribal agencies in support of community initiatives. OEJ also supports and manages the work of the EJ Inter-Agency Working Group and is instrumental in the planning and implementation of EPA’s environmental justice strategy, the EJ 2020 Action Agenda. In essence, OEJ supports the efforts of communities to address environmental justice challenges across the country through direct support, intervention, partnering, and elevation of the community voice.
Sara Colangelo, Director Environmental Justice Clinic at Georgetown Law Center
Sara Colangelo is the Director of the Environmental Law & Justice Clinic at Georgetown Law where she teaches multiple courses in environmental law. She also served as the Director of the Law Center’s Environmental Law & Policy Program for 6 years prior to her current role. Professor Colangelo’s areas of specialty are environmental litigation and enforcement, including community considerations in the enforcement process: She speaks at conferences, appears in the media, and provides Congressional testimony on these topics.
Before returning to Georgetown Law, her alma matter, Professor Colangelo served as a trial attorney for the Environmental Enforcement Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division at US DOJ for 8 years. She joined the Division through the Attorney General’s Honors Program. At DOJ Professor Colangelo managed complex civil environmental enforcement cases for pollution control and cleanup of hazardous waste sites to negotiated or litigated resolution, appearing on behalf of the United States in trials across the country. xxx
Speakers Doug Bellomo, PE, FEMA Hollie Schmidt, Advance Planning Group - Jacobs Dr. Robert Young, National Park Service
Moderator Nicolas Frederick, NAEP Coastal/ Climate Resiliency Working Group Chair
About
NAEP is pleased to present a panel discussion on topics relating to coastal and climate resiliency, one of the most important emerging topics in the environmental planning industry. Our speakers will discuss project highlights and success stories among multiple client sectors. Topics will include updates to the FEMA flood mapping program, rebuilding after a Category 5 hurricane and lessons learned from the National Park Service.
Moderator
Nic Frederick, Senior Environmental Project Manager
DAWSON
Mr. Frederick has over 11 years of experience managing environmental projects, including NEPA, Natural and Cultural Resources, and public involvement and planning. He is an at-large board member with the National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP) and heads the communications committee. As a member of the board, he has helped spearhead the initiative to broaden the scope of services offered by NAEP. As such, he is the cohost of the newly release NAEP podcast, Environmental Professionals Radio. As a Senior Project Manager at DAWSON, he specializes in environmental policy, environmental justice and water resources, particularly as they relate to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). He has provided general Conservation and Planning services to a wide variety of federal and state clients and has been an important part of the development of these services for DAWSON. Mr. Frederick has demonstrated a consistent ability to prepare written reports and represent his organization to the public in a positive, effective manner. He is a confident public speaker, which has allowed him to handle difficult situations with a variety of concerned interested applicants, agencies, and stakeholders.
Speakers
Doug Bellomo, PE
FEMA
Doug Bellomo is Vice President in the water business line at AECOM focusing in the area of flood risk management and resilience. Previously Doug served as a senior technical advisor for flood risk management at the US Army Corps of Engineers Institute for Water Resources working in the areas of Dam and Levee Safety, the National Flood Risk Management Program, coastal flood risk management efforts, and floodplain management services. Before joining the US Army Corps, Doug was the Director of the Risk Analysis Division within the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. There he oversaw implementation of several National Programs including the Risk Mapping, Assessment, and Planning (Risk MAP) program, the National Dam Safety Program, HAZUS (a federal risk assessment software application), and FEMA’s Mitigation Planning operations. Doug is a professional engineer and holds a B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering. He has been working in the fields of flood hazard identification, risk management, emergency management, and mitigation since 1993.
Hollie Schmidt
Advance Planning Group - Jacobs
Task Lead for the Tyndall Air Force Base Rebuild Program. In her role at Tyndall AFB, Hollie facilitated stakeholder engagement and outreach, served as the on-site coordinator and led a 200+ person, multi-disciplinary technical team while championing resilient and sustainable solutions. She led the infrastructure strategy, updates to the Installation Facilities Standards (IFS), and the integrated land management approach for the reconstruction of Tyndall AFB.
Hollie Schmidt is the Director of the Resilience + Sustainability Business Advisory with the Advance Planning Group at Jacobs. She is a landscape architect with 26 years experience specializing in strategic planning and executive-level decision facilitation for private and public sector clients. She leads large-scale, complex mega-projects facilitating diverse teams of city and community planners, urban designers, landscape architects, and the full spectrum of technical and engineering experts.
Dr. Robert Young
National Park Service
Robert S. Young is the Director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines, a joint Duke University/Western Carolina University venture. He is also a Professor of Geosciences at Western Carolina University and a licensed professional geologist in three states (FL, NC, SC). The Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines (PSDS) is a research and policy outreach center serving the global coastal community.
Dr. Young received a BS degree in Geology (Phi Beta Kappa) from the College of William & Mary, and an MS degree in Quaternary Studies from the University of Maine, and a Ph.D. in Geology from Duke University where he was a James B. Duke Distinguished Doctoral Fellow. Dr. Young serves on Editorial Boards of the Journal of Coastal Research and Environmental Geosciences. He currently oversees more than $5.5 Million in grant-funded research projects related to coastal science and management. He has been awarded Western Carolina University’s highest honor for scholarship (University Scholar Award) and service (Paul A. Reid Distinguished Service Award). He is an elected Fellow of the Geological Society of America. Washington State presented him an award for Excellence in Environmental Education and Diversity in Action for his work with science education in Native American communities. And, he was named a Fulbright Senior Scholar for the 2012-2013 academic year where he worked on the development of coastal management planning along the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. The North Carolina Coastal Federation presented him with the Pelican Award for Coastal Stewardship.
Dr. Young is a frequent contributor to the popular media. He has written numerous articles for outlets like the New York Times, USA Today, Architectural Record, the Houston Chronicle, and the Raleigh News and Observer, among others. He regularly appears on programs like PBS Now, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, National Public Radio, and many others. He is co-author of two books, The Rising Sea and co-editor of Geologic Monitoring, both released in 2009. Finally, Dr. Young has testified before Congress and numerous state legislatures on coastal issues. He currently serves the State of South Carolina as a member of the Governor’s Flood Commission and the State of Virginia on the Technical Advisory Committee for the state’s Coastal Master Plan.
He is leading a major project for the National Park Service to identify the vulnerability of all coastal park assets to coastal storms, erosion, and sea-level rise for the purpose of adaptation planning.
July 27, 2021 8:30–10:00 AM (PT) | 11:30 AM–1:00 PM (ET)
Speakers P.E. Hudson,Esq., Dep't of the Navy, Office of General Counsel Michael Smith, Director of Environmental Process & Policy at WSP USA
Moderator Fred Wagner, Venable LLP
About
This webinar will mirror the Case Law presentation provided during the NAEP 2021 Conference & Training Symposium, with updates as warranted. The webinar is based on a paper that reviews substantive National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) cases issued by United States Courts of Appeals in 2020. The implications of the decisions and relevance to NEPA practitioners will be explained. This presentation will summarize the more detailed paper prepared for the NAEP 2021 Conference & Training Symposium. The paper briefly explains, with an emphasis on the substantive NEPA findings, each opinion issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals. The paper identifies statistics regarding the NEPA appellate opinions, such as a twelve-year record of NEPA cases, organized by circuit, and by year. The paper also identifies the agencies involved in each case and presents statistics relevant to the agencies; the paper further identifies the prevailing ratio of federal agencies that were challenged, including by agency and by document type (categorical exclusion, environmental assessment, environmental impact statement).
The paper analyzes the trends in the court opinions involving NEPA for 2020, with an emphasis on substantive NEPA practice, and by a grouping of the cases. Finally, each court opinion is paraphrased and organized in a manner easy to read for practitioners to find the court's ruling. Appellate opinions are grouped and analyzed by agency. Past trends include challenges to purpose and need, alternatives considered, public comment, scientific impact assessment methodologies, GHG emissions and climate change impact assessment, incomplete or unavailable information, determination of significance, segmentation, duty to supplement, connected actions, federal actions, cumulative impact assessment, mitigation, monitoring, and adaptive management. Suggestions for improving the implementation of the NEPA process and to meeting current challenges are offered, looking ahead to the future with a renewed emphasis on one of the world's oldest and most forward-looking environmental laws.
Moderator
Fred Wagner, Director at Large
Venable LLP
Fred Wagner focuses on environmental and natural-resources issues associated with major infrastructure, mining, and energy project development. Fred manages and defends environmental reviews performed under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or equivalent state statutes. He works with public agencies and private developers to secure permits and approvals from federal and state regulators under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). Fred understands the full range of issues surrounding the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) surface transportation programs, including grant management, procurement, suspension and debarment, and safety regulations. During his career, Fred has handled a wide variety of environmental litigation in federal trial and appellate courts across the country, from citizen suits to government enforcement actions and Administration Procedure Act (APA) challenges.
Speakers
P.E. Hudson, Esq.
Dept of the Navy, OGC
P.E. Hudson, Esq. is the Counsel, Department of the Navy Office of General Counsel in Naval Base Ventura County, California, where she serves as the Counsel for the Center for Seabees and Facilities Engineers and teaches for Civil Engineer Corps Officers School. The focus of her practice is environmental law and planning, and specifically NEPA; she also develops and teaches courses involving NEPA, environmental planning and impact analysis, and environmental law, with a special emphasis on coastal and ocean resources, to federal employees. She has published fourteen federal agency, academic and peer-reviewed articles on environmental planning and impact assessment since 2013. She served on the NAEP Committee for Best Practice Principles for Environmental Assessments, a CEQ Pilot Project, and received the NAEP's President's Service Award in 2014 and 2019.
She formerly served as a litigator at a large firm in private practice, and as a federal clerk. She is a member of the bars of California, Florida, and Georgia and the Supreme Court of the United States. Ms. Hudson retired from the Navy as a Commander (Oceanography). Any views expressed are Ms. Hudson’s personal views and not necessarily those of the Department of Defense, Navy, or Federal Government.
Michael Smith, Ph.D., Director
WSP USA
Dr. Smith has over 28 Years of NEPA experience. He is currently a Director of Environmental Process & Policy at WSP USA, where he focuses his practice on NEPA project and program management, technical analysis, policy development, and training/education for a wide range of public and private sector clients. He is a NAEP Board Member and the California AEP Representative.
He has managed and overseen some of the nation's largest, most complex, and highly controversial projects, including major energy and transportation infrastructure projects, regulation of genetically engineered plants, commercial space transportation operations, and approval of new fuel economy standards for motor vehicles. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental and Natural Resources Sociology, an M.A. in Geography, and a B.A in Environmental Studies.
Belonging: Leadership When Guiding Through Transition
April 29, 2021
Speakers
Asti Davis from Baton Rouge Laticia Hall-Cannon from Syracuse Ali H. Mir from LA
Moderator
Ron Deverman
Have you wanted to expand your professional network? Do you want to become a leader in the environmental professions? NOW is your opportunity. Listen to NAEP’s free informational webinar “Belonging: Leadership When Guiding Through Transition” to learn more about leadership opportunities, to hear three fascinating personal career stories, and to discuss the value of getting involved and staying involved with NAEP, its affiliated Chapters, and other environmental professional associations.
For this month’s webinar our unique career storytellers include Baton Rouge native Asti Davis who works at the intersection of law and environmental justice with a focus on green economies, social justice, urban forestry and policymaking. She believes her work in environmental justice is an integral component of the continuing civil rights movement. Asti also runs a social media platform called Environista to help spread awareness of legal and social justice issues.
Latisia Hall-Cannon from Syracuse is a Program Quality Engineering Manager and Syracuse Site Diversity & Inclusion Lead with Lockheed Martin. She is well versed in listening and communicating to resolve business conflicts. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion and the importance of all people growing in areas of leadership. Latisia also runs a social media platform for social, cultural, and educational events in and around Syracuse. She hosts two series, “WOKE Wednesday” and “The WOKE Lifestyle,” that give exposure to new ideas on how to build up urban communities and celebrate our collective cultures.
Our third career storyteller is Ali H. Mir, Vice President and West Region Planning Director of STV, Inc. Ali has led NEPA/CEQA environmental clearances for community planning projects, residential and retail development projects, educational institution projects, and bus and rail transit projects in California and Oregon. Ali served as the Director of Muslim Student Life at the University of Southern California (USC) for five years and currently serves as American Planning Association-Los Angeles Section’s Equity Director. Ali is currently leading the development of a Gender Action Plan for LA Metro.
This webinar will be moderated by Ron Deverman, NAEP Past President and NAEP Fellow.
Corporate Social Responsibility in Environmental Business
March 2, 2021
Speakers
Michael Hendrix, LSA Rich Walter Preeti Verma
Moderator
Corine de Zeeuw
Sustainability reporting and planning has become more mainstream in recent years. The development of having investors require companies to report on sustainability sends a signal. It is now considered of importance, not only for the environment, employees, and communities, but certainly also from a risk and financial perspective. In this webinar, our expert panel will provide insight into the Corporate Sustainability Plans of their organizations, how these have been developed, and their benefits.
Michael Hendrix will be speaking on the development and implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Plan of LSA Associates. Michael has been involved in the development and will elaborate on how to set a Corporate Sustainability Plan up from the start. Of special interest is the fact that LSA Associates is an employee-owned company and therefore the Plan is customized so that every employee has a part in meeting the company’s sustainability goals.
Rich Walter will present the Corporate Sustainability Plan for ICF, a global advisory and digital services provider with approximately 7,000 employees.
Preeti Verma will discuss the various sustainability reporting protocols including Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
Join us to learn the ins and outs of setting up a Corporate Sustainability Plan. This time not for our clients, but our environmental and engineering consultancies.
Shawn LaTourette, Commissioner
Sara Colangelo, Director 
Nic Frederick, Senior Environmental Project Manager
Doug Bellomo, PE
Dr. Robert Young
Fred Wagner, Director at Large
Michael Smith, Ph.D., Director
