ADR Coordinating Group Program at the 10th Section Fall Meeting

The program “Resolving Disputes With The Government” was presented at the 10th Section Fall Meeting in Portland, Oregon in October 2002.

Scope of the Program: Within the past five years, both federal and state agencies have expanded the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) procedures to assist in resolving a wide variety of issues in both regulatory and compliance matters. Recently, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for example, each issued its final policy on ADR in accordance with the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act of 1996, which requires that each federal agency adopt a policy that addresses the use of ADR. Many agencies including EPA, FERC, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Interior (DOI) have established offices to oversee and coordinate various ADR initiatives in order to resolve conflicts that arise between the government and the private sector. In addition, EPA has offered the use of ADR in its administrative enforcement disputes.

This program brought together a panel of the key ADR representatives for both energy and environmental related agencies as well as an ADR representative from the state of Oregon. It utilized an interactive format to inform and explore with the audience the potential options for conflict resolution based upon panel responses to the following questions:

• What are the present ADR Policies within their agency?
• What are the reasons that they see for using ADR?
• What are the barriers for the use of ADR?
• What are the kinds of disputes (case examples) that they use ADR in?
• How does one initiate consideration of ADR when it is involved in a dispute with a government agency?

Presentations included an overview of various case studies and an analysis of the factors that are considered in assessing whether to utilize the services of a third party neutral in settlement discussions.

Panel Members: Panel members included William E. Hall, Conflict Resolution Specialist, U.S Environmental Protection Agency; Elena Gonzalez, Director, Office of Collaborative Action and Dispute Resolution, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior; Richard Miles, Director, Dispute Resolution Services, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; and Dale Blanton, Dispute Resolution Coordinator for Natural Resource Agencies, Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development. The moderator was James Kohanek, Esq., TLI Systems, Inc., Washington, D.C.

If you would like information on how to contact individual panel members to further explore opportunities regarding the use of ADR with a government agency, please contact Jim Kohanek at 301/718-2270, Ext 224 or jkohanek@tlisystems.com.