(7c) Legal Liability Issues for Chemical Engineers Facing Extreme Weather Events
AIChE Spring Meeting and Global Congress on Process Safety
2019
2019 Spring Meeting and 15th Global Congress on Process Safety
Global Congress on Process Safety
Extreme Weather and Other External Events
Monday, April 1, 2019 - 11:30am to 12:00pm
This presentation, developed specifically for AIChE members by an AIChE Fellow and senior environmental attorney, will review the following issues relevant to individual, managerial and professional liability: classes of defendants including managers, employees, licensed and unlicensed professionals, independent contractors; types of civil and criminal claims; standing and threshold issues; general defenses and immunities. Ms. Ternes will then review scenarios where litigation risk may arise, and the legal and factual bases upon which a finding of civil or criminal liability may turn, illustrated by case studies including: the Arkema air pollutant releases during Hurricane Harvey, reviewing the State of Texas indictments, and the Chemical Safety Board Arkema Final Investigation Report, âOrganic Peroxide Decomposition, Release, and Fire at Arkema Crosby Following Hurricane Harvey Floodingâ (Aug. 31, 2017); the citizen suit litigation styled Conservation Law Foundation v. Exxon Mobil Corp., Case 1:16-cv-11950-MLW (Mass. D. Ct.); and time permitting, the Gold King Mine event, including a review of the EPAâs After-Action Review (Jan. 13, 2017), and related litigation, New Mexico v. U.S. EPA, 310 F. Supp. 3d 1230 ( Feb. 12, 2018).
Ms. Mary Ellen Ternes, B.E. (ChE), J.D., is a former EPA On-Scene Coordinator for Superfund Emergency Response (HAZWOPER, incident response, mitigation and treatment methods, chemical safety audits, sampling and risk assessment, managing over 15 removal actions and over 5 major emergency responses), EPA hazardous waste incinerator permit writer and permitting/compliance manager for commercial hazardous waste incineration and Superfund on-site incineration projects. Building on her hazardous waste and combustion work, over the past twenty-three years as environmental counsel, Ms. Ternes has advised industry regarding environmental regulation, compliance strategies, remediation, transactions and litigation, particularly regarding chemical plant, air pollutant and hazardous materials regulation, response and remediation. Ms. Ternes is an AIChE Fellow, and a Fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers.
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Individuals
AIChE Pro Members | $150.00 |
Employees of CCPS Member Companies | $150.00 |
AIChE Graduate Student Members | Free |
AIChE Undergraduate Student Members | Free |
AIChE Explorer Members | $225.00 |
Non-Members | $225.00 |