Key Environmental Issues in EPA Region 2 June 23-24, 2021 Speaker Biographies Panel One – Climate and Air Pollution Michael B. Gerrard (moderator) Michael B. Gerrard is Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia Law School, where he teaches courses on environmental and energy law and founded and directs the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. He is also a member and former Chair of the Faculty of Columbia’s Earth Institute. Before joining the Columbia faculty in January 2009, he was partner in charge of the New York office of the Arnold & Porter law firm; he is now Senior Counsel to the firm. He practiced environmental law in New York City full time from 1979 to 2008. His practice involved trying numerous cases and arguing many appeals in federal and state courts and administrative tribunals; handling the environmental aspects of numerous transactions and development projects; and providing regulatory compliance advice to a wide variety of clients in the private and public sectors. Gerrard was the 2004-2005 chair of the American Bar Association’s 10,000-member section of environment, energy, and resources. He also chaired the New York City Bar Association’s executive committee and the New York State Bar Association’s environmental law section. He has served on the executive committees of the boards of the Environmental Law Institute and the American College of Environmental Lawyers. Several independent rating services ranked Gerrard as the leading environmental lawyer in New York and one of the leading environmental lawyers in the world. Since 1986, Gerrard has written an environmental law column for the New York Law Journal. He is author or editor of thirteen books, two of which were named Best Law Book of the Year by the Association of American Publishers: Environmental Law Practice Guide (twelve volumes, 1992) and Brownfields Law and Practice (four volumes, 1998). Among his other books are Global Climate Change and U.S. Law (with Jody Freeman) (2d ed. 2014); Law of Clean Energy: Efficiency and Renewables (2011); Climate Engineering and the Law: Regulation and Liability for Solar Radiation Management and Carbon Dioxide Removal (with Tracy Hester 2018); and Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States (with John Dernbach, 2019). He received his B.A. from Columbia University and his J.D. from NYU Law School, where he was a Root Tilden Scholar. Joseph Siegel Joe Siegel has been an attorney in Region 2’s Office of Regional Counsel, Air Branch, for 35 years. He co-chairs the Region 2 Climate Change Workgroup and runs the Region’s Environmental Collaboration and Conflict Resolution program. Joe has also been teaching 1 courses on climate change and air pollution at Haub School of Law at Pace University for 20 years and on Environmental Dispute Resolution at Hofstra Law School for 7 years. He previously taught environmental law and justice at CUNY School of Law for over 10 years. Joe is a former Chair of both the ABA Section on Environment and Energy Resources’ Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Ecosystems Committee and the ADR Committee. His international work outside the office includes serving as Education Chair for the Mediators Beyond Borders International’s Climate Change Team, participation in a transboundary climate change initiative called Adaptation Without Borders, as author on the Urban Climate Change Research Network’s Third Assessment Report on Climate Change and Cities, and is on the Advisory Panel of Better Climate Governance. Joe also co-chairs the Climate Smart Communities Task Force for his Village in New York. Liliana Villatora Liliana Villatora is Chief of the Air Branch for the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2. She joined Region 2’s Office of Regional Counsel New York/Caribbean Superfund branch in 1996, and transferred to the Region’s Air branch in 2007. During her tenure in Region 2, Liliana has managed complex, multi-party judicial enforcement matters both under the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act; as well as administrative enforcement actions arising under the CAA and Clean Water Act; permitting matters related to the Outer Continental Shelf in Region 2, and has served on CAA national regulatory workgroups and national e-discovery workgroups. In her spare time, she is vice president of a software solutions company and negotiates software licensing agreements. Liliana received her B.A. from New York University (1993) and J.D. from Fordham University School of Law (1996) Jared Snyder Jared Snyder is Deputy Commissioner for Climate, Air & Energy at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. In that capacity, he oversees development and implementation of clean air programs and climate change strategies, including programs to build resilience to climate change and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and implementation of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. He represents the Department in multistate climate and air quality initiatives, including the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and the Transportation and Climate Initiative, and in statewide energy planning efforts. He is currently Treasurer of RGGI Inc.; he represents New York on the Ozone Transport Commission and The Climate Registry; and he has served as Co-chair of the International Carbon Action Partnership. Prior to joining DEC in 2007, he managed air and climate litigation in the New York Attorney General’s office, and he worked for the U.S. Department of Justice handling environmental enforcement matters from 1990-95. Mr. Snyder has a B.A. in economics from Cornell University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Paul Baldauf Paul Baldauf serves as Assistant Commissioner for Air Quality, Energy and Sustainability (AQES). In this role, Paul is responsible for the management and oversight of two divisions; Air 2 Quality and Climate, Clean Energy and Radiation Protection. He also serves as New Jersey’s state liaison officer to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and is New Jersey’s Commissioner to the Atlantic Compact Commission for Low Level Radioactive Waste. Prior to becoming the Assistant Commissioner for AQES in 2016, Paul served as the Director of the Division of Energy Security and Sustainability since 2015. That Division was responsible for the oversight and operations of the radiation elements of the NJDEP, including nuclear engineering, environmental radiation and x-ray compliance, as well as the Bureau of Energy and Sustainability, which coordinated with the Board of Public Utilities on all environmental aspects of New Jersey’s energy portfolio and led the Department’s sustainability initiatives. Paul is a career Department employee, joining in 1987 as an engineer in the water quality program, and transitioning into the radiation protection and release prevention element in 2003, where he rose to the level of Director of Environmental Safety and Health in 2010. Paul holds a BS degree in mechanical engineering from Penn State University, a MS in civil and environmental engineering from Rutgers University, and a MA in homeland security from the US Naval Postgraduate School. He is a licensed professional engineer in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. Panel Two: Cross-Cutting Issues Eric Schaaf (moderator) Eric Schaaf is the Regional Counsel for Region 2 of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and oversees the legal aspects of all EPA programs in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Eric first joined EPA’s Office of Regional Counsel as a staff attorney in 1984; he has headed that office, as Regional Counsel, since June 2002. Immediately prior to being appointed Regional Counsel, Eric served for five years as the Deputy Regional Counsel and prior to that, he served for over 10 years as Chief of the New York/Caribbean Superfund Branch. A graduate of Fordham University School of Law, Eric currently teaches the Climate Change Law and Policy course there as a member of the adjunct faculty and has also taught the introductory Environmental Law course. In addition, he has served as a guest lecturer at various schools, including Columbia Law School, the Environmental Law Center of Vermont Law School, Benjamin Cardozo School of Law and New York Law School. Eric is a member of the New York City Bar Association Environmental Law Committee. Before coming to EPA, Eric was an associate at the law firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel in New York where he participated in both general litigation and corporate practice. Paul Simon Paul Simon is the Deputy Regional Counsel of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 2. In that capacity, he works closely with the Regional Counsel in the management and direction of the Office of Regional Counsel (ORC), an office of approximately 80 lawyers who provide legal support for Region 2’s implementation and enforcement of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Solid Waste Disposal Act, the federal Superfund law, and a 3 number of other federal environmental statutes. Paul helps to set priorities, strategies and goals for the office and provides guidance to and oversight of the office’s work units. In 2011-2012, Paul did a stint as EPA Region 2’s senior policy advisor on climate change issues. In 2009, he served on a 4-month detail in EPA Headquarters as the Acting Deputy Director of the Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water. Before becoming Deputy Regional Counsel in 2005, Paul was the Chief of ORC’s New York/Caribbean Superfund Branch, and as such, managed that branch’s judicial and administrative enforcement efforts concerning hundreds of Superfund sites in New York, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Paul joined EPA in 1985 as a staff attorney, and became a first-line supervisor in 1989. Before coming to EPA, Paul was a litigation attorney with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources.