Natural Resources Symposium

ADAM AYERS, Principal Scientist, Arcadis

Adam Ayers is a biologist with more than 25 years of research, industrial, and consulting experience.  He is the co-leader of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment Program at Arcadis and the Ecological Risk Assessment Program Area leader.  For 17 years, Mr. Ayers was a senior project manager for the General Electric Company Corporate Environmental Program functioning as the project biologist for the Hudson River PCBs Superfund Site project and project manager for a number of multi-PRP Superfund sites.   His experience includes natural resource damage assessment, ecological and human health risk assessment, wetlands ecology, habitat restoration, and water-quality studies.  Mr. Ayers has worked extensively with federal and state environmental regulatory processes including the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Coastal Management Act, NEPA, CERCLA, RCRA, and associated state statutes throughout the United States. 

MATTHEW BINGHAM, Chief Executive Officer, Founding Partner, Veritas Economics

Matthew Bingham is Chief Executive Officer and Founding Partner of Veritas Economics (Veritas) and has 26 years of experience applying microeconomic theory, econometrics, statistics, and bioeconomic modeling to natural resource damage assessment and restoration evaluation and planning. He specializes in applying economic modeling techniques to natural resource damage assessment and restoration evaluations, property value diminution, regulatory and policy analysis, regulatory compliance, and electricity economics.  He has conducted his work in cooperative and litigious settings and has estimated human-use and ecological damages resulting from hazardous substance releases, oil spills, coal ash releases, and fish takings. He has also modeled and identified the benefits of offsetting compensatory restoration projects including evaluating their environmental justice improvements. Mr. Bingham has also led Veritas’ development of commercial and recreational fishing models for North Atlantic and Mid-Atlantic Coastal, Great Lakes, California Coast, and numerous U.S. inland fisheries.  He has also led Veritas’ efforts to integrate the results of population-based recreation studies with site-specific creel angler surveys to estimate baseline risk fish ingestion for human health risk assessments.   The results of Mr. Bingham’s models and analysis have been used by and/or provided and presented to the US House of Representatives, USEPA, NOAA,  USFWS, USDOI, USACE, EPRI, NERC, BOEM, FERC, and numerous state regulatory agencies.

BARBARA J. GOLDSMITH, Executive Director, Ad-Hoc Industry Natural Resource Management Group; President, Barbara J. Goldsmith & Company LLC

Barbara J. Goldsmith is Executive Director of the Ad-Hoc Industry Natural Resource Management Group and facilitated its founding in 1988 with a group of major multinational corporations. She is also President of Barbara J. Goldsmith & Company LLC, which has provided consulting services to major companies, law firms and others for over 25 years on high-level national and international energy and environmental policy matters and corporate environmental management strategy. In 2005, Ms. Goldsmith was appointed by the Interior Secretary to serve on the Department’s Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) Advisory Committee.  The seminal book, The EU Environmental Liability Directive: A Commentary, of which she was co-editor and a co-author, was published by Oxford University Press. Ms. Goldsmith has had substantial experience with business and industry associations, major companies in all industrial sectors, the US Government, international agencies, EU Member States and other countries worldwide. She is a frequent speaker on environmental, energy, and natural resource topics and collaborates with a wide set of both public and private sector entities. Ms. Goldsmith was a Delegate to the United Nations Rio +20 Corporate Sustainability Forum and participated in the BASD Business Day Rio +20. She has worked for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France, and she is the author of numerous publications on environmental regulatory issues affecting industry. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from The George Washington University and a Master of City Planning in Environmental Analysis from Harvard University, a joint degree program between the Harvard Schools of Public Health and Design and she is also an alumna of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

JOSH HELTZER, Senior Associate, First Environment

Josh Heltzer is a litigation support and sustainability specialist with 30 years of experience in the federal, private sector, civic, and international arenas. He is knowledgeable of federal standards and specifications based on his education and experience, which includes extensive research for complex environmental litigations. He has performed hundreds of company evaluations and site assessments related to transactional due diligence; supervised environmental and social aspects of investment portfolios; and worked on comprehensive town planning. Mr. Heltzer regularly conducts research, administers and uses litigation support databases, and develops expert reports. Many of his cases have involved the use of chlorinated solvents by aircraft industries during the World War II era. Most of his matters require review, culling, and synthesis of information gained from hundreds—if not thousands—of open source publications and case-specific documents. Underpinning our litigation and mediation successes, Josh is centrally involved in the development of case strategy; performance of technical and historical research; data analysis; development of demonstratives; and drafting of expert reports and rebuttals.

MIKE JOHNS, Ph.D., Partner Emeritus, Windward Environmental

Mike Johns, Ph.D., is Partner Emeritus at Windward Environmental. Dr. Johns is an aquatic toxicologist and ecologist specializing in aquatic remedial investigation/feasibility studies (RI/FSs), site assessments, and risk assessments, particularly those associated with contaminated sediment. Experience gained during his 40 years of professional experience has given him a broad knowledge base on issues pertaining to the effects of toxic pollutants on aquatic organisms; on development of risk-based cleanup levels that reflect regulatory policy, site-specific conditions, and background conditions; and on compliance with landmark federal and state regulations. Dr. Johns has held important roles during many large, multitask, multidisciplinary environmental investigations across the nation. In addition, Dr. Johns advises and advocates for clients in support of regulatory reform, pending legislation, and liability management. This role has included serving as an expert witness in litigation involving claims about the health risks, ecological risks, ecological function, and recovery cost allocation for estuarine and riverine environments at mine sites, petrochemical facilities, heavy industrial sites, and ports. He holds a BS, Biology from The Citadel, 1972; a MS, Zoology, from the University of South Carolina, 1974; a PhD, Oceanography from the University of South Carolina, 1980 and a MBA, Management from the University of Rhode Island, 1985.

STEVEN JONES, Ph.D., Senior Ecologist, GHD (Retired)

Steven Jones, Ph.D., is a population and community ecologist with over 30 years experience in the consulting industry. His areas of expertise are natural resource damage assessment; ecological risk assessment; habitat creation, enhancement, and restoration; qualitative and quantitative functional assessments of terrestrial and wetland habitats, and biostatistics. He has extensive experience in designing and implementing ecological studies for a diversity of ecosystems throughout North American. His project experience includes evaluation of impacts of remedial actions on ecological resources and incorporation of compensatory restoration into remedial designs. Prior entering the consulting industry, Dr. Jones was a Guyer Post‑Doctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Zoology at the University Wisconsin‑Madison. He is a member of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) and serves on the ESA Board of Professional Certification. With his retirement in May 2022, achieved the status of Senior Ecologist Emeritus. Dr. Jones received his B.S. in Biology from Tulane University, his M.S. in Environmental Sciences from Texas Christian University, and his Ph.D in Ecology from the University of Nebraska‑Lincoln.

BENJAMIN LIPPARD, J.D., Partner, Vinson & Elkins

Benjamin Lippard is a Partner with Vinson & Elkins in their Washington, DC. He represents clients in complicated environmental disputes, drawing on his more than 20 years of experience to guide companies through civil litigation, civil and criminal enforcement defense, and administrative hearings. He also advises companies regarding complex site remediation issues, internal investigations, responses to catastrophic incidents, and regulatory issues. Mr. Lippard’s practice focuses on matters involving federal environmental statutes CERCLA, RCRA, the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act, as well as state environmental and regulatory programs. He spends a significant amount of time representing clients in the hardrock mining industry and also represents companies in the electric utility and oil and gas industries. He is also a member of the firm’s Climate Change practice, and counsels clients regarding environmental issues associated with corporate transactions. 

STEVEN MILLER, Deputy Assistant General Counsel for Environment, Acting Co-Chair, SOAR ERG, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

Steven Miller is a Deputy Assistant General Counsel for Environment in the Office of the Assistant General Counsel for the Environment, in the Office of General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in Washington, D.C. and is the Acting Co-Chair of the SOAR ERG for persons with disabilities and everyone else. In his GC role, Mr. Miller is responsible for providing advice and counsel to various DOE offices on environmental conflict resolution, uranium mill tailings, remedial action, CERCLA, including natural resource damage issues, long-term stewardship and other environmental matters. He assisted in the drafting of provisions of the 1986 CERCLA amendments and the subsequent executive order delegating the President’s authorities to the various federal agencies and received an award for that effort.  He also has served as a mentor to DOE employees, law students, college and high school students as part of various DOE-sponsored mentoring and internship programs. Mr. Miller has served with the Department of Energy and its predecessor agency, the Energy Research and Development Administration, since 1977.  He holds a J.D. degree from the New York University School of Law, a M.U.P. (Master of Urban Planning) degree from the New York University Graduate School of Public Administration (now Wagner School), a B.A., summa cum laude, phi beta kappa, from New York University’s University College of Arts and Sciences, and is also a graduate of the OPM SES Candidate Development Program. 

WILLIAM SCHEW, PH.D., Senior Environmental Risk Assessor, GHD

Dr. Wililam Schew (Bill) is a court-recognized environmental scientist with more than 30 years of experience in applied consulting in both industry and academic settings. The majority of Dr. Schew’s consulting career has focused on assessing risks from anthropogenic impacts on the natural environment. He has specific expertise in a number of scientific disciplines that include: assessing and quantifying environmental injuries for Natural Resource Damage Assessments, Trustee negotiations, quantification of ecological and human health risks at contaminated sites under numerous domestic and international regulatory programs, assessment of exposure risks from accidental industrial releases, chemical source attribution (allocation), chemical fate and transport, and advanced data analysis using stochastic modeling. He advises clients on site investigation and remedial strategies and uses an interdisciplinary approach to develop defensible Conceptual Site Models to solve his clients’ complex environmental problems. Dr. Schew has been active in litigation support for more than 20 years. He received his B.S. from the University of Connecticut and M.S. from California State University, Long Beach. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and has had academic appointments at Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and West Chester University.

REBECCA STEVENS, Restoration Coordinator/Hazardous Waste Program Manager, Coeur d’Alene Tribe- Idaho

Rebecca Stevens is the Program Manager for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s Hazardous Waste Management Program.  She also serves the role as the Restoration Coordinator with the Restoration Partnership.  Rebecca has been working on water quality related issues for over 20 years and she represents the Tribe in the Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Complex Superfund Site working with EPA while implementing their remedy for the Basin. Ms. Stevens is also the Restoration Coordinator for the Restoration Partnership for which all Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) claims have been settled and on the ground restoration work has been ongoing since 2018. Ms. Stevens continues to work with other Tribes on NRDA issues while coordinating with the United States Department of the Interior. She is a proud member of the Tribal Waste and Response Steering Committee where she also serves on the Tribal Superfund Work Group and Advisory Council.  Ms. Stevens is very honored to work for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and her fellow Restoration Partnership Technical Staff and is proud to be a part of remediating and restoring natural resources that were injured in the Coeur d'Alene Basin.

JEFFREY TALBERT, J.D., Partner, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP

Jeffrey Talbert is a Partner with Arnold & Porter in their Boston, MA office. He is accomplished trial attorney and environmental lawyer who focuses on environmental litigation, permitting, and risk management. Mr. Talbert also serves as a mediator and allocator of costs at Superfund Sites and has significant experience in all major environmental statutes. Prior to joining the firm, he led the environmental group at a Chambers-ranked law firm and was a Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environmental Enforcement Section. At the U.S. DOJ, he led one of the largest Clean Water Act cases in U.S. history, the first Clean Air Act case under EPA’s pulp and paper initiative related to New Source Review, the largest Natural Resource Damages case under the Park Service Resource Protection Act, and numerous CERCLA and RCRA cases. Mr. Talbert received numerous awards for his work, including EPA's Gold Medal for exceptional service.