Contributor: Steven C. Kohl

Business Title: Attorney

Contact Information:
Environmental Law Practice Group
Howard & Howard Attorneys, P.C.
Pinehurst Office Center
39400 Woodward Ave.
Bloomfield, MI 48304
Phone: 248 645 1483
Fax: 248 645 1568
E-mail: skohl@howardandhoward.com

Biography: Mr. Kohl is admitted to the Michigan bar, to the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals (Sixth Circuit), and the United States District Courts for the Western and Eastern Districts of Michigan. He received both a BA degrees in economics and a JD degree from Washington University, St. Louis, and Missouri. Mr. Kohl is the author of Structuring a Joint Defense Arrangement, published in the Environmental Corporate Counsel Report, April 1997, and co-authored "Nuisance: Intent Is Necessary Element Of Landowner’s Claim Against Neighbor for Pollution Based on Nuisance And Trespass, The Digest of Environmental Law, December 1996. He is a member of the Michigan bar and its sections on Environmental Law and Negligence. R. Kohl has served on the Superfund Committee of the environmental law Section and has been a member of the State Bar Committee on Professional Liability Insurance. Mr. Kohl has served as a member of the Civil Justice Advisory Committee for the Federal District Court, Western District of Michigan. HE has been a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel and Michigan Association of Defense Counsel. Mr. Kohl has lectured before industry and insurance groups on environmental law. He has served as common counsel for industry at National Priority Lists Sites. He specialized in environmental litigation.  
Title of Presentation: Environmental Regulation and Enforcement: the Clinton Years versus the Bush Years, Where we have been and what we expect.

Author: Steven C. Kohl

Key Words: Environmental, Regulation, Enforcement, Clinton, Bush, Browner, Whitman

Abstract:
The environmental regulatory climate is likely to change dramatically in the next four years based on the transition of the Presidency and EPA Administrator. This presentation will highlight the significant environmental developments from the last eight years of the Clinton Administration and provide insight on what to expect during the Bush Administration.

President Clinton and form EPA Administrator Browner will be remembered for enhanced federal enforcement, especially criminally sanctions for polluters, while at the same time increasing the protections afforded to industry through environmental compliance audits. Regulatory reinvention and innovation projects were also a highlight of the Clinton Administration as were efforts to rewrite and strengthen the Clean air Act’s ozone and particulate standards. The Administration strongly defended EPA against stakeholder and Congressional attacks alike.

It is believed that President Bush and EPA Administrator nominee Whitman will promote state involvement in the regulatory development process, with a strong emphasis on peer reviewed science-based analysis of new regulations. The President has already halted or delayed several rulemakings for publication in the Federal Register pending a more thorough scientific review. A Bush Administration is likely to continue to trend toward market-based incentives and programs that stress voluntary measures to achieve compliance, rather than enforcement of existing regulations. Energy exploration will likely be a focus of the Administration as well as a call for utility and New Source view reform driven by the California electricity crisis and energy shortfalls nationwide.