Consulting Practice of James W. Conrad, Jr.

• Chemical and Marine Facility Security
• Environmental Rulemaking and Compliance
• Science Policy/Information Quality

For a direct link to Mr. Conrad's website, click on: www.conradcounsel.com.

As the American Chemistry Council's first in-house security counsel, Mr. Conrad spent most the six years after 9/11 helping to develop the new and evolving area of homeland security law. He knows, and is respected by, critical Department of Homeland Security staff. He is a national expert in:

• Chemical Facility Security. Mr. Conrad was intimately involved in every step of the creation and implementation of DHS's Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS), including the web-based Chemical Security Assessments Tool and the guidance on risk-based performance standards. He understands the security needs of many leading companies.
• Marine Transportation Security Act. Mr. Conrad was similarly engaged in the development and implementation of the Coast Guard's MTSA rules, including the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC).
• Critical Infrastructure Protection. He has been influential in the establishment of the nation's voluntary, cooperative process to protect critical systems and assets under the National Infrastructure Protection Plan and the Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council, whose creation he drove.
• Management and Protection of Sensitive Information. He understands the tensions between protecting and sharing information about security vulnerabilities and countermeasures. He knows what CVI, SSI, PCII, FOUO, SBU, CBI, and CUI mean, and how they interact with each other and with the Freedom of Information Act and the Federal Advisory Council Act. He is also knowledgeable about the SAFETY Act and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT).

Mr. Conrad has a Secret-level security clearance, sponsored by DHS. His track record includes:

• Helping to position the chemical industry as the leading sector in the development and rollout of DHS' regulatory and voluntary security programs without compromising the industry's interest.
• Working with Congressional staff on the predecessors of, as well as the bills that became, the Homeland Security Act, the Critical Infrastructure Information Act, the MTSA, and Section 550 of the FY07 DHS Appropriations Act (authority for the CFATS rules.) In this regard, he crafted and negotiated legislative language and legislative history.
• Primary responsibility for ACC's comments and other advocacy in connection with DHS's CFATs rules; the Coast Guard's MTSA facility security regulations; TSA's TWIC rule; DHS' Critical Infrastructure Information Rules; and the Chemical Sector Specific Plan.
• Drafting and negotiating the Coast Guard's approval of ACC's Alternative Security Plan.
• Drafting and editing the Homeland Security Advisory Council's Private Sector Information Sharing Task Force report on Homeland Security Information Sharing between Government and the Private Sector (Aug. 2005), which led DHS to (i) creaste CIPAC to exempt critical infrastructure sector coordination councils from the Federal Advisory Committee Act and (ii) improve its Protected Critical Infrastructure Information Rules.

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Jamie Conrad has practiced environmental law his whole career. He has worked extensively under all major federal environmental statutes, with particular emphasis on the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Superfund, and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. He has broad experience supporting valuable EPA programs and improving flawed EPA initiatives. He understands how to create and work with coalitions and ad hoc groups of affected parties to maximize leverage. He has specialized in enforcement and compliance management issues.

While at the American Chemical Council, he:

• Was responsible for much of ACC's RCRA advocacy, as counsel to working groups on hazardous waste combustion, waste identification, RCRA legislation, nonhazardous waste, and interstate waste restrictions. He provided leadership to ACC's successful advocacy of a "comparable fuels" exemption from RCRA regulation.
• Worked closely with the Council on Environmental Quality, EPA, and an industry coalition to draft and enact the Land Disposal Program Flexibility Act (Pub. L. No. 104-119, codified in scattered sections of 42 U.S.C. chapter 82). This law freed formerly hazardous waste sites from treatment for treatment's sake under the RCRA land disposal regulations.
• Played key roles in stopping EPA's "enhanced monitoring" rule and substantially ameliorate its "compliance assurance monitoring" rule; and influencing the development and subsequent amendments to EPA's Audit Policy.
• Co-led numerous EPA/ACC joint projects to understand the causes of noncom-pliance and to generate compliance tools as an alternative to a traditional enforce-ment initiative against the chemical sector.

While in private practice, he:

• Litigated the denial of a Clean Water Act ocean discharge permit denial and a national Priority List listing decision.
• Managed the environmental issues in multiple transactions for both buyers and sellers.
• Oversaw several site cleanups and represented Potentially Responsible Parties at numerous Superfund sites.
• Defended a state air permitting enforcement case.
• Exercised major responsibilities in a RCRA criminal defense, drafting motions that led to the government dropping multiple counts and agreeing to probation; and in insurance coverage litigation, including drafting successful motions to avoid dismissal of insurance companies in receivership.
• Helped draft an ASTM standard on environmental site assessments.

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Mr. Conrad has developed formidable skills in advocating his clients' interests in highly complex scientific and technical areas that underlie environmental, health, and safety regulation. He is conversant in the language of toxicology, epidemiology, exposure assessment, and risk assessment, and understands governmental policies for standard-setting in these areas. He played a crucial role in catalyzing significant changes in the processes used for EPA's IRIS database and the National Toxicology Program's Report on Carcinogens, and in obtaining greater federal funding for IRIS.

At the close of the Twentieth Century, these "use of science in regulation" issues became a special case in the emerging controversy about how federal agencies use information for policy purposes. Mr. Conrad has been centrally involved in these debates throughout that time.

At the core of these disputes is the Information Quality Act (IQA), on which Mr. Conrad is particularly expert. In addition to OMB's and EPA's IQA Guidelines, Mr. Conrad is also deeply familiar with OMB's Peer Review Bulletin, its Bulletin on Good Guidance Practices, and its proposed Risk Assessment Bulletin. He has published and spoken on the questions of conflict of interest and bias in scientific work and scientific review panels. He also understands the issues associated with human subjects research.

In these regards, he:

• Drafted ACC's comments and led ACC's advocacy regarding OMB and EPA's Information Quality Act Guidelines; OMB's Peer Review Bulletin; OMB's Bulletin on Good Guidance Practices; OMB's proposed Risk Assessment Bulletin; and EPA's rules on Human Subjects Research.
• Informally advised several parties in IQA correction requests and subsequent litigation.
• Stopped EPA's "Third-Party Assessment Factors."
• Provided leadership reforming the processes used by EPA's IRIS database; drafted, negotiated earmarks and report language adopted in multiple Congresses regarding IRIS.
• Served as President of the Coalition for Effective Environmental Information.

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