How the New White House and Congress Will Change the Game and What You Can Do About It

Registration
8:00 - 8:30 am
Program
8:30 - 11:00 am
Complimentary breakfast will be provided.

The Obama Administration and the new Congress are committed to more aggressive environmental policies and more vigorous enforcement activity. Regulated industries – including energy, power generation, refining, cement and chemicals manufacturing – can expect stricter scrutiny beginning in 2009. This program will explain how you can be fully prepared to meet this new business risk.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Preventing, Preparing for and Properly Handling Environmental Enforcement
With its close eye on pending new governmental enforcement and decades of success helping clients in high-stakes environmental matters, Bracewell will present a comprehensive program designed to help you prepare.

SESSION I: THE NEW LOOK OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT
Priorities of a Newly Assertive EPA
As EPA transitions to a new Administration, regulated industry faces heightened environmental compliance and enforcement challenges. A former senior EPA official will discuss the priorities of the new EPA and what you can expect in the coming year.

View from Inside the Beltway: How OECA Will Approach Enforcement
The EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) plays a key role in the enforcement of federal environmental statutes. A former chief enforcer at OECA, and the second-ranking official for Clean Air Act enforcement, will explain how this EPA office views its role and how the transition to a new Administration promises to increase its scrutiny of industry.

Upcoming Criminal Enforcement Trends
The chair of the ABA's Environmental Enforcement & Crimes Committee will update you on the latest criminal enforcement trends, including likely new federal and state criminal enforcement priorities, the Department of Justice's new guidelines on protecting privileged materials generated by cooperating corporations, and the new role of the Crime Victims Act in environmental criminal prosecutions. He will also review sweeping changes in Texas environmental prosecutions resulting from the election of a new Harris County District Attorney, a new Harris County Attorney, and other new key state and local enforcers.

SESSION II: WHAT YOU CAN DO TO PREPARE FOR MORE VIGOROUS ENFORCEMENT
Managing Risk with Compliance Audits and Corporate Governance Strategies
Compliance and corporate governance strategies can help corporations manage and mitigate the risk posed by increased enforcement. Carefully constructed environmental compliance audits are an essential tool within these strategies. This session will emphasize the key role that compliance and corporate governance strategies play and will review the benefits of audits, including identifying potential compliance concerns, proactively addressing existing problems, identifying eligibility for reduction or immunity from potential penalties, and self-evaluating without creating a discoverable documentary road map for enforcers.

Navigating the Enforcement Process
The dynamics of enforcement proceedings often share common themes: gauging the threat of criminal proceedings; reconciling settlement expectations among EPA, DOJ and states; sequencing injunctive and penalty relief discussions; analyzing litigation risk; papering the deal; and more. This session will highlight these dynamics and offer some helpful tools and practices for addressing them.

YOUR PRESENTERS
With decades of experience counseling clients within industry and serving government within federal and state agencies, our speakers have the unique ability to counsel companies with a government insider's perspective. Bracewell & Giuliani's Environmental Strategies Group has long-standing experience with the White House and federal agencies such as EPA, FERC and the Interior Department, as well as the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and other state and local agencies.

The team includes former key EPA officials, including a former assistant administrator for air and radiation, former chief of the stationary source enforcement branch at OECA, a former acting general counsel and a former associate administrator for congressional and intergovernmental relations, as well as a former deputy assistant secretary at the Interior Department.

Alternate Locations
Also available via videoconference in Bracewell's Austin, Dallas and San Antonio offices.

Credit Information
2.50 MCLE participatory hours pending for the State Bar of Texas.

Questions
Please contact Elizabeth Charpiot at elizabeth.charpiot@bgllp.com.