2007 Annual Conference

"The 20th Anniversary of the Environmental Quality Act and ADEQ: Assessing, Protecting and Remediating the State's Water Quality. What Future Challenges?"

The one-day conference was held on June 5, 2007 and featured participants with varied expertise and backgrounds to discuss the past, present and future of the EQA and ADEQ.

Day 1 Conference Program

  7:30–8:10   Registration and light breakfast

  8:10-8:15   Welcome: Sharon Megdal, Director, Water Resources Research Center , The University of Arizona

  8:15-8:30   Opening Remarks: "Environmental Protection in Arizona: How Far Have We Come?”
       Grant Woods, Attorney, Grant Woods PC, former Arizona Attorney General

  8:30-9:00   Keynote:  "Political Dynamics and the Water Quality Act" Jack Pfister,
                         former General Manager, Salt River Project and Professor, Arizona State University, retired

  9:00-10:00  History of the Environmental Quality Act: Past challenges and the beginning of ADEQ

Nancy Wrona (moderator), Director, Air Quality Division, ADEQ                                                     Jim Derouin, Partner, Steptoe & Johnson, LLP                                                                               Roger Ferland, Partner, Quarles & Brady, LLP                                                                         Priscilla Robinson, Southwest Environmental Service, retired

 10:00-10:15  Break

 10:15-10:30  Former ADEQ Director Ed Fox (1991-1994)

 10:30-11:30  WQARF: Past, present and future

Tamara Huddleston (moderator), Section Chief Counsel, Environmental Enforcement Section

     Arizona Office of the Attorney General

Karen Gaylord, Attorney, Salmon, Lewis & Weldon, PLC

Rick Lavis, Executive Vice President, Arizona Cotton Growers Association

Jim Vieregg, Director of Government Relations, Abrams Airborne Mfg., Inc.

11:30-11:45 Former ADEQ Director Russell Rhoades(1995-1998)

 

 12:00-1:15  Lunch

Recognition of Legislative Leaders:
           The Honorable Senator Jake Flake, Arizona Senate District 5
           The Honorable Representative Ray Barnes, Arizona House District 7
Introduction of the Luncheon Keynote:
           Samuel Coppersmith, Partner, Coppersmith Gordon Schermer Owens & Nelson, PLC
Luncheon Keynote: “The State of ADEQ,”
           Stephen Owens, Director, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality

 1:30-2:30   Emerged and Emerging Contaminants: The Past and Future in Water Quality Science

Chuck Graf (moderator), Associate Director, ADEQ Coordinator, Arizona Water Institute
Phil Lagas, Vice President, Brown & Caldwell
Paul Westerhoff, Associate Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Arizona State University
David Quanrud, Research Scientist, Office of Arid Lands Studies, The University of Arizona

 2:30-3:45   Emerging Policy Challenges

Joan Card (moderator), Director, Water Quality Division, ADEQ
Delia Carlyle, Chairman, Ak Chin Indian Community
Deb Hill, Supervisor, Coconino County Board of Supervisors (D-IV)
Trevor Hill, President and CEO, Global Water
David Modeer, Director, Tucson Water
Sandy Bahr, Conservation Outreach Director, Sierra Club

 3:15-4:00    Break

 4:00-5:15    The Future of ADEQ: Where do we go from here?

            (Moderated discussion)
   Patrick Cunningham (moderator), Deputy Director, ADEQ
   The Honorable Senator Carolyn Allen, Arizona Senate, District 8
   The Honorable Senator Tom O’Halleran, Arizona Senate, District 1
   Pat Mariella, Director, American Indian Policy & Leadership Development Center,
             Arizona State University
   Alexis Strauss, Director, Water Division, EPA Region 9
   Karen Peters, Intergovernmental Programs Coordinator, City of Phoenix

 5:30    Reception