Advanced NEPA Workshops: Meet Our Speakers

• NAEP member since 1981
• Over 35 years experience with environmental compliance
• Served as Acting Chief, Environmental Resources Branch, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• Firm received 2012  California Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award and California Air Resources Board Climate Action Leader Award
• MA, University of California, Los Angeles, Geography
• BA, University of California, Los Angeles, Ecosystems

Back to NEPA Home

• Served as Deputy Associate Director for the National Environmental Policy Act at the Council on Environmental Quality, 2013-2020
• Supported drafting of the the first comprehensive update to CEQ’s NEPA implementing regulations
• Led the development of the first government-wide reports on EIS timelines and page counts
• Trained federal staff across multiple agencies on NEPA policy and compliance
• Provided technical assistance to Congressional committees regarding environmental permitting legislation, including FAST-41   
• J.D. from the University of Washington
• School of Law.
• B.A. from the Evergreen State College 

Back to NEPA Home

• NAEP member since 2012
• Teaches for Civil Engineer Corps Officers School in Port Hueneme
• Served on the 2013 NAEP Committee for Best Practice Principles for Environmental Assessments, a CEQ Pilot Project
• Received the NAEP's President's Service Award in 2014
• Annually serves as an author of the yearly NEPA case law review for NAEP since 2014. 
• Served as a litigator at large firms in private practice (Kilpatrick Townsend & Roetzel Andress)
• Served as a federal clerk (N.D. Fla.)
• JD Florida State University School of Law, where she was the Beverly Stout McLear Environmental and Land Use Scholar.

• NAEP member  for over 10 years
• 41 years of professional experience in the environmental and natural resources fields
• 23 years as a NEPA compliance specialist
• Tennessee Valley Authority
• Extensive experience in the preparation of EIS, EA, and CE documentation for wide range of actions
• PhD, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2004
• MS, Wildlife Management, University of Maine, 1978
• BS, Wildlife and Fisheries, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 1975

Back to NEPA Home

• Chairs Transportation Research Board Legal Resources Section
• Primary focus is major infrastructure and project development, NEPA reviews, and federal resources permitting
• Served as Chief Counsel at Federal Highway Administration
• Drafted NEPA reform measures in MAP-21 and the Fast Act
• Served as a trial attorney at US Department of Justice, Environmental Division
• JD UVA Law School 

Back to NEPA Home

• NAEP member since 2005
• 29 Years NEPA Project and Program Experience
• Managed and oversaw 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
• Extensive experience as a NEPA Trainer
• Ph.D. Sociology (Environment and Natural Resources emphasis), Utah State University
• M.A. Geography, University of Wyoming
• B.A. Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz

Back to NEPA Home

• Rich Walter has 29 years of experience in environmental planning, compliance strategy, permitting, and mitigation development and implementation.
• He serves as project director/environmental lead for environmental planning for large-scale infrastructure projects for public agencies and private clients. He has worked with a wide variety of federal agencies on NEPA compliance including FRA, FTA, FAA, NPS, BLM, USACE, USFWS, and FERC.
• Rich has also led ICF’s California Municipal Climate Action Planning practice since 2006 which has developed climate action plans, greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories for hundreds of communities across the U.S., general plan policies for climate change, cost-benefit analyses of emission reduction strategies, climate adaptation studies (including sea-level rise), as well as numerous California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents addressing GHG emissions and adaptation. 

• Michael Hendrix is one of California's leading climate change and air quality scientists.
• He is the current Chairperson for the AEP Climate Change Committee. In that capacity, he provides leadership within AEP on the issue of climate change and analysis of GHG emissions.
• He has over 24 years of experience involving greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions analysis, climate change analysis, and climate action planning.
• He has done extensive research analyzing specific technical issues of air quality, GHG emissions, and global climate change, as they relate to project compliance with World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines, United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidance and protocols, United States Ambient Air Quality Standards (AAQS), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
• His experience also includes public outreach efforts for project-specific meetings and for informing local and State officials on general air quality and GHG emissions issues. 

Back to NEPA Home

• MA in Anthropology, Northern Arizona State University
• 30 years at working in cultural resources management conducting stand-alone Section 106 Projects and 7 managing NEPA-Section 106
• Worked closely with federal, state and certified local governments on a wide variety undertakings with a NEPA-106 component to guide clients through the regulatory process.
• Business sectors include transportation, renewable and traditional energy, HUD affordable housing, recreation, water resources, and mining

Back to NEPA Home

• PhD in History, Ohio State University, 2002
• 18 years at HRA working on cultural resources management projects, often with a NEPA/SEPA nexus
• Has advised a wide variety of federal, state, and local clients on Section 106/110 undertakings and other regulatory frameworks—often with a NEPA/SEPA component
• Oversaw HRA’s architectural history program from 2007-2015

Back to NEPA Home