Speakers

Yen Vy Van is the Senior Environmental Investigation & Remediation Manager at DOWL.

Dr. Pautler is an environmental chemist with advanced technical experience in passive sampling, spectroscopy, and analytical chemistry. Throughout his career he has worked with scientist, engineers and consultants applying his chemistry and technology expertise to help them solve their unique problems and meet the required data quality objectives.

John Sohl, CEO and co-founder of COLUMBIA Technologies, brings to the environmental industry several decades of experience directing the development of innovative business solutions fusing science and information to advance the state of technology services. At COLUMBIA, John is responsible for the overall direction of corporate activities, the quality of the company’s field services and business development. John is an industry leader in the application of innovative site characterization approaches and technologies and has played an integral role in providing global clients with real-time decision-making information for complex sites.

Dae Walsh is the founder and President of Vista Clara Inc, where they have spent the past 22 years focusing on the development and commercialization of NMR geophysical instruments. Dae’s contributions to the field include the development of multi-channel surface NMR instrumentation and processing methods for groundwater investigations, the development of small-diameter low-cost borehole NMR logging tools for hydrological investigations, the development of direct push and CPT-based NMR technologies for geotechnical and hydrologic characterization of sediments, and the development of nuclear quadrupole resonance sensors for the detection of buried explosives. Dae earned their Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Arizona, and B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University.

Alan Hughes is a Principal Geologist with Maul Foster & Alongi (MFA) and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from the University of Washington. Over his 28-year career with MFA, Alan has led and managed environmental investigations, remediation projects, and brownfield redevelopment efforts at abandoned mines, wood treating facilities, and other hazardous waste sites throughout the Pacific Northwest. Since 2010, he has worked closely with the Coeur d’Alene Trust on the Bunker Hill Superfund Site, one of the nation’s largest and most complex environmental cleanup programs. As MFA’s current Program Manager for the project, Alan provides strategic leadership, helping the Trust prioritize work, develop long-term cleanup strategies, and plan for the effective implementation of remediation activities across the Site.

Analiese Burns is the Habitat and Restoration Manager for the City of Bellingham with over 25 years of experience in natural resource management. She holds a B.S. in Biology from the University of Washington and a Master of Environmental Studies in Environmental Policy from Western Washington University. Analiese is a certified Professional Wetland Scientist (PWS #1618) and LEED® Accredited Professional. Prior to entering the public sector, she co-owned a consulting firm where she guided staff and assisted clients with development and planning projects throughout Western Washington. In her spare time, she volunteers with local non-profits and spends time with her husband and two kids exploring new trails, and boating the northwest coast.

Amy Kraham is a Senior Assistant City Attorney and Environmental Project Manager for the City of Bellingham with over 25 years of experience in environmental cleanup. She holds a JD and an LLM in international law from Duke University School of Law. Prior to entering the public sector, she was a transactional attorney for the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine and participated in pro bono work for the Downtown Emergency Services Center, Volunteer Attorneys for People with AIDS, the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund (now Earth Justice) and New Beginnings Shelter. Amy also represents the City of Bellingham in legal work related to the construction of affordable housing and tiny home villages, development of the new Waterfront District, Old Town, and the Downtown neighborhood, the WRIA 1 adjudication and other areas as needed. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, running, kayaking, reading and traveling.

Ariel Blanc is a Senior Managing Scientist at Anchor QEA and registered professional biologist (RPBio) with 17 years of experience conducting and supporting human health and ecological risk assessments for complex contaminated sites. She serves in a national role as a risk assessor and leads projects in Washington State and British Columbia. As a project manager, Ariel leverages her extensive experience implementing state lead remediation projects, CERCLA, and Natural Resource Damage Assessment projects across the Pacific Northwest and nationally.

Amelia Oates is a senior geologist at Strata Geosciences, with over 10 years’ experience specializing in environmental remediation, brownfield redevelopment, and solid waste management. Her expertise includes conducting site remedial investigations and feasibility studies, implementing cleanup actions, and advancing complex sites toward regulatory closure under Washington’s Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA). Amelia is looking forward to moderating a panel this year to discuss a case study where collaboration with her colleagues, client, counsel, and the Washington State Department of Ecology was key to developing practical, risk-based cleanup strategies for a long-term stalled cleanup site.

Mary Monahan is a senior scientist in the Toxics Cleanup Program at Ecology. She works with a wide variety of cleanup and Brownfield sites in Central Washington. Mary really likes interacting with the people who live in her region as she navigates cleanup issues unique to small agricultural communities. She also enjoys working on big-picture policy issues around environmental cleanup, walking her dog, and reading books on her front porch in the summertime.

Co-Managing Partner at Cascadia Law Group, with practice focusing on complex environmental, natural resources, land use, and real estate litigation and advice.

Janet is an accomplished technical Environmental Geochemist and project strategist, bringing experience in the investigation and remediation of soil, sediment, surface water, groundwater, and vapor. A recognized leader in regulatory strategy, she has ushered simple and complex projects to closure, helping clients navigate federal, state, and local regulations. She regularly works with large data sets and has developed numerous Data Quality and Data Usage Plans for large and area-wide sites. Janet develops strong working relationships with agencies, focusing on the intent of regulation and identifying valid approaches to achieve that intent. She is innovative, using tools such as cost-benefit analysis, chemical forensics, fingerprinting, background studies, congener statistics, contaminant loading calculations, remediation levels, presumptive remedies, containment, and property-specific No Further Actions. Janet is a responsive, clear communicator and enjoys working with large groups of stakeholders for project success. Janet closely evaluates site history as contamination and transport pathways strongly link to filling, paving, storage, and use. A recognized leader in regulatory strategy, Janet was involved in every revision of the Washington State Model Toxics Control Act. She has extensive experience in Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Superfund, Natural Resource Damage, and allocation, as well as using costing, attribution, statistics, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), sourcing, and fate and transport analyses.

Erin Waibel is an Associate Geologist based in Portland, Oregon, with over 15 years of experience in environmental consulting, site characterization, remediation, regulatory compliance, and environmental investigations. She specializes in groundwater contamination projects, particularly those involving chlorinated volatile organic compounds (cVOCs), in situ bioremediation and thermal remedies, and soil vapor extraction. Her experience includes remedial investigations, monitoring well installation and decommissioning, long-term environmental monitoring, and performance evaluation of remediation systems. Erin regularly evaluates geochemical conditions, assesses natural attenuation processes, supports enhanced bioremediation strategies, and interprets monitoring data to inform remedial decision-making and advance site closure objectives.

Tom is a Portland Oregon-based Ph.D. Scientist at Geosyntec specializing in PFAS fate and transport, chemistry, site history forensics, and litigation support. He brings four years of consulting experience and more than eight years of academic and federal research in soil science, ecosystem restoration, and remediation. His research and remediation experience includes projects funded by the U.S. Departments of Defense, Energy, and Agriculture.

Sarah Van Glubt works for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality in the Cleanup Program, where she works with a range of sites to investigate and remediate contamination. In additional to technical work, she also leads and engages in PFAS strategy and policy efforts within the Cleanup Program and DEQ at large. Sarah received her doctorate degree from the University of Arizona, where she researched the fate and transport of PFAS in soils and groundwater. Prior to that, she received her master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Portland State University in Environmental Engineering.

Mr. Atkins joined the Washington Department of Ecology in 2022 as a Site Manager in the Toxics Cleanup Program. He currently oversees both legacy cleanup sites, as well as number of PFAS sites. He is a Washington-licensed geologist and hydrogeologist. Prior to joining Ecology, Mr. Atkins worked in consulting, with practices in site investigation, remediation, and redevelopment.

Yida is a licensed engineer in Washington and Montana specializing in the fate, transformation, and remediation of PFAS. He has over 12 years of consulting and applied PFAS research experience, focusing on evaluating the leaching and transport of PFAS in the vadose zone and applying technologies for the separation, concentration, and destruction of PFAS in impacted water sources. Yida has a BS in Civil Engineering from Montana State University, an MS in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign, and a PhD in Environmental Engineering from Colorado School of Mines.

Julie Masura is a Teaching Professor of Geoscience in the Department of Sciences and Mathematics, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington Tacoma. Masura’s approach to teaching uses high impact practices that include experiential learning, primary research, peer mentor teaching and learning, and so much more. Julie has the honor to guide undergraduate and graduate students in research as they complete their degree. This valuable experience provides opportunities for students to participate in real-world, hands-on research and often serves as their thesis work. Notably, while working with a cadre of students, Masura has helped to develop laboratory and field methods to collect microplastics, monitored microplastic abundances in the Salish Sea and world’s watersheds, detected polymer fibers in the Puyallup River Watershed, and advised many research groups throughout the world. All of this work is centered on team exploration with local, regional, national, and international partners with similar research agendas.

Dr. John Xiong is a Principal Consultant and Applied Research Leader at Haley & Aldrich. He has over 20 years of experience in environmental engineering, consulting, applied research, and litigation support. He has developed cost-effective and streamlined strategies for final remedies accepted by federal and state regulatory agencies on projects that entail complex technical and policy issues. As a PFAS subject-matter expert, he has led PFAS investigation and remediation projects at various sites across the country. He is currently leading several applied research projects funded by federal agencies to develop and demonstrate innovative technologies for PFAS treatment and assessment. John is a licensed Professional Engineer in California and holds a doctoral degree in Civil Engineering from Auburn University.

Kiersten is a PhD student in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle and the Center for Urban Waters, Tacoma, WA. Her research focuses on the occurrence and dynamics of vehicle and tire rubber derived contaminants in Puget Sound waterways.

Andrew Gardner is a Portland-based Environmental Engineerwith experience leading complex environmental remediation, investigation, and compliance projects from planning through execution. I work at the intersection of engineering, project management, and client service, helping organizations navigate technical and regulatory challenges while delivering practical solutions. Throughout my career, I have helped manage multidisciplinary teams on large-scale remediation programs, including construction activities, operations of groundwater pump and treat systems, and regulatory engagements. My expertise includes project delivery, contractor oversight, budgeting and forecasting, risk management, stakeholder engagement, and environmental compliance.

Nathan is a Senior Hydrogeologist with PIONEER Technologies Corporation (Olympia, WA) with more than 25 years of environmental consulting experience. Over the past few years he has integrated LLM-based tools directly into his project work, including building electronic data deliverables and boring-log databases from legacy PDF records and using AI coding interfaces to develop and calibrate MODFLOW groundwater flow models. He has developed a QC protocol for AI-assisted deliverables so that each work product meets the professional standard of care independent of how it was generated.

Xuehang Song is an Earth scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory specializing in groundwater flow and contaminant transport modeling, uncertainty quantification, data assimilation, and high-performance computing. His research integrates physics-based modeling with machine learning to support decision-making and optimize remediation strategies at complex contaminated sites, including the Hanford Site.

Environmental remediation practitioner with experience managing remediation liabilities across the western US. Focused on developing practical, sustainable solutions, with a particular interest in advancing nature-based solutions that promote long-term resilience.

For 25 years, John McCorkle has provided expert-level due diligence and site assessment and remediation advice and technical services in multiple countries and states well over 300 contaminated sites; including airports, former and current petroleum terminals, bulk plants, refineries, industrial facilities, pipelines, truck and rail spills, and retail (gas station, dry cleaner, fertilizer) sites. This work has been conducted on behalf of both private entities and federal, state, and local governments. His broad experience with many remediation approaches and scenarios enables him to provide innovative approaches to cleanup. He specializes in reviewing contaminated sites for due diligence, claims, litigation, and cost-recovery actions for clients under state and federal law with special expertise on claims and cost recovery under Washington State’s Model Toxics Control Act.

Bharat Chandramouli, Ph. D is a senior scientist with 20+ years of experience in the occurrence, fate and transport of organic contaminants. He has published several peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on atmospheric chemistry, PFAS measurement, emerging contaminants occurrence, semivolatiles fate and transport and more. At SGS, Bharat is the product director for the environmental testing network, manages the development of new products and services in North America and provides technical leadership on PFAS and other emerging contaminant measurement. Bharat completed his Ph. D in environmental science and atmospheric chemistry from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Cyrus Gorman, L.G., MBA, is a Principal in Stantec’s Environmental Services practice with 23 years of environmental consulting experience. He specializes in brownfield redevelopment, including grant strategy and writing, grant administration, environmental site assessment, cleanup planning, and community engagement. Cyrus has helped communities secure competitive EPA Brownfield Assessment and Cleanup Grants and has managed grant-funded programs for municipalities and regional organizations across Washington, Alaska, Utah, and Colorado. His work focuses on helping communities assemble practical funding strategies that move properties from assessment through cleanup and productive reuse.

Ben brings over 20 years of experience in the real estate, construction and development fields to each project. Ben began working in the construction industry at a young age and built his first house while in high school. He went on to develop and construct single-family and multi-family master planned communities, as well as commercial, retail, office, hotel and private utility projects that spanned 4 states and 12 municipalities. He has experience across the spectrum, from managing teams of subcontractors and to negotiating acquisitions, executing contracts and coordinating the build-out of multi million-dollar developments. Ben was “blown away” by Restorical Research’s value proposition to clients and the environment when he first met Jeff and David Valinetz in 2011 and he has never looked back. One of Ben’s favorite parts of insurance archeology is knowing Restorical is making a difference, helping to clean up the environment one polluted property at a time while also changing people’s lives.

Arianne Fernandez is the Brownfields Toxicologist for the Brownfields Program at the Washington State Department of Ecology. She provides technical assistance for projects receiving brownfields funding from Ecology, EPA, and Commerce. She is also responsible for developing use strategies for Brownfields resources through a community need and cumulative health impact assessment lens. Arianne has worked for Ecology for over 20 years and has worn many hats such as leading a source tracking team and a baywide cleanup site manager team, as well as tackling boots on-the-ground outreach. She earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Evolutionary Ecology from the University of California, Davis and a Master’s of Science in Environmental Science from the University of Idaho.

Suzy is a Licensed Engineer with over two decades of experience in the local environmental consulting and engineering fields. She provides clients with strategic and economic solutions to environmental problems encountered during land acquisition and redevelopment of contaminated properties. Suzy manages complex remedial projects at urban redevelopment sites, industrial facilities, and municipal properties that require remedial investigations, vapor intrusion assessment, feasibility pilot testing, cleanup action alternative analysis, preparation of engineering design drawings and permit documents, and implementation of cleanup actions. She works with multiple stakeholders to establish a path to regulatory closure.

Alexandra is a nationally recognized attorney with a sophisticated real estate and environmental practice. She provides clients with transactional and litigation counsel on real estate, environmental, and regulatory matters, including the acquisition, disposition, and redevelopment of contaminated sites. She also coordinates with agencies and environmental consultants to resolve cleanup liability disputes, permitting issues, and regulatory compliance matters arising under CERCLA, MTCA, and the Clean Water Act.

Mike Warfel is a Site Manager in the Voluntary Cleanup Program (VCP), a unit within the Toxics Cleanup Program at the Northwest Region Office of Ecology. He holds a BS in Geology from the University of Illinois and a MS in Geological Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla. After decades of consulting firm work in the Midwest, East, and Pacific Northwest, Mike joined Ecology in 2016. His current focus is providing VCP opinions on characterization and cleanup of Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) sites. He was also a member of Ecology teams that focused on brownfields redevelopment, the MTCA Rule changes, the SHARP site ranking tool, and development of the Expedited VCP option.

Senior Geologist at Farallon Consulting primarily focused on environmental cleanup to support redevelopment.

Allyson Bazan is a former assistant attorney general with extensive experience in transactional, regulatory, and litigation matters related to contaminated property and the application of environmental laws such as the Washington Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). She specializes in representing clients in real estate transactions and developments involving contaminated property, environmental insurance claims, cost recovery litigation, and allocation of environmental liabilities. In addition to practicing environmental and natural resource law, Allyson advises on environmental policy development and problem solving for complex projects and regulatory reform.

Rory Kilkenny, PE, is a Technical Director and Principal Geotechnical Engineer with ENTACT, LLC, specializing in environmental remediation, geotechnical engineering, and design-build delivery. He has more than 16 years of experience developing and implementing remediation solutions for complex soil and sediment projects, with particular expertise in in-situ solidification, sediment remediation, geotechnical design, and construction means and methods.

Ben is a Principal Hydrogeologist with over 20 years of experience leading complex assessments and remediation projects for Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and state-led cleanup programs. He has successfully completed multimillion dollar field investigations and remediation projects for both public and private sector clients with a focus on collaborative processes. In his free time, he enjoys being in nature, strumming the guitar, and finding ways to keep engaged with the local community.

Maia D. Bellon is a Partner at Cascadia Law Group and its consulting affiliate Cascadia Policy Solutions where she advises Tribal government, municipal, and private clients on a wide array of complex environmental matters, including toxics cleanup, water quality, climate and energy policy, air quality, water resources, and Tribal law. Maia was the longest-serving Director of the Washington Department of Ecology in state history (2013-2019) and was the first Indigenous member of the Washington Governor’s Cabinet. As Ecology Director she led Washington’s land, air, and water protection efforts, including intentional integration of Tribal Nation government-to-government consultation, environmental justice, and climate change policy. Maia also served on Ecology’s Executive Leadership Team from 2010-2012 holding positions as the Deputy and Program Manager of the Water Resources Program managing the state’s freshwaters. Prior to working at Ecology, she represented the agency for 15 years as an Assistant Attorney General at the Washington Attorney General’s Office providing client advice and litigation support on a broad range of environmental matters, including Tribal Treaty reserved water rights negotiations. Maia currently serves on The Nature Conservancy Global Indigenous Advisory Council and Washington Board of Trustees. She received her law degree from Arizona State University, College of Law in 1994. Maia is a Mescalero Apache descendant and adopted Yakama.

In 2008, Sam started his PhD study at Utah State University. He studied biogeochemical processes that controls the mobilization of arsenic from soil to groundwater in semi-arid areas. In 2016, Sam became a cleanup site manager at Ecology as an environmental engineer. The site he manages are primarily located in Pierce County, Port Angeles, and along the Columbia River.

Mr. Meyer is a project manager and engineering geologist managing and performing cradle to grave environmental site management, from initial site investigations through decision document development and on to remediation system design, installation, and operation and then 5-year reviews and site delisting. Mr. Meyer has 37 years of experience in environmental and geotechnical investigation and environmental remediation, working on terrestrial, freshwater, and marine sites contaminated with a wide variety of legacy and emerging contaminants. Mr. Meyer leads Battelle’s Remedial Investigation Team.