May 19, 1999 Panel Discussion

Linking Disaster Management to Sustainable Development
in the U.S.

SUMMARY

EIIP Virtual Forum Panel Discussion

Linking Disaster Management to Sustainable Development
in the United States

Featured Panelists

Stuart Claggett
President and Chief Operating Officer
Global Environment & Technology Foundation
Co-sponsor of the National Town Meeting

Ken Patterson
President's Council Member on Sustainable Development
Planning Director
National Town Meeting

Priscilla Scruggs
Project Impact Team
FEMA Mitigation Directorate

with a special message from
David Butler
Natural Hazards Center
University of Colorado at Boulder

Two current events contributed to the special timeliness of this discussion. Panelists described the recent National Town Meeting on Sustainable Development, and the broad participation across the country, by those who are concerned about the future that we are leaving to the generations that will come after us. Nearly 250,000 individuals participated in some manner, and a particular highlight was enthusiastic participation by young people.

KENNETH W. PATTERSON

Director, National Town Meeting for a Sustainable America
President's Council on Sustainable Development

Ken Patterson joined the staff of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD) to direct the planning of the National Town Meeting for a Sustainable America in September 1998. Prior to that, Mr. Patterson was the Associate Director of the Policy and Program Evaluation Division of EPA’s Office of Site Remediation Enforcement. In that capacity, he helped manage the staff of attorneys and technical professionals responsible for developing national enforcement policy under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or “Superfund”) and the corrective action provisions of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. His division also provided guidance and training on these issues to EPA’s ten regional offices, and was responsible for developing EPA’s position on liability and enforcement issues as they arose in Congressional reauthorization of the Superfund law. He also represented EPA in CERCLA reauthorization discussions on Capitol Hill.

He has been with U.S. EPA for ten years and has held various positions, all relating to Superfund and RCRA enforcement. He worked as both an acting manager and senior attorney in the Superfund Division of EPA’s Office of Enforcement, the predecessor to OECA. He also served as special assistant to the Director of the Office of Waste Programs Enforcement at EPA, followed by a position as the special assistant for Congressional affairs to the Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER).

Before joining EPA in 1988, Ken was an administrative law judge in North Carolina’s Office of Administrative Hearings, presiding over environmental matters and other administrative proceedings. Prior to this, he spent four years as an assistant district attorney in northeastern North Carolina, prosecuting both felony and misdemeanor dockets. He received his bachelor of arts and law degrees from Wake Forest University, and is a member of the North Carolina and District of Columbia Bars.

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STUART L. CLAGGETT

President
Global Environment & Technology Foundation

Mr. Claggett is President and Chief Operating Officer of the Global Environment & Technology Foundation. He has held senior executive positions in several international engineering and environmental consulting corporations. Mr. Claggett also serves on environmental and technology advisory boards including the Orbimage Market Advisory Board. Through initiatives such as Earth Vision, Mr. Claggett is a proponent of using information systems as a vehicle to transfer the knowledge of sustainable best practices to address environmental challenges.

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PRISCILLA SCRUGGS

Project Impact Team
FEMA Mitigation Directorate

Priscilla Scruggs is one of six national level coordinators on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Project Impact Team. In this capacity, Priscilla has assisted the FEMA Regional offices with the development of Project Impact Communities and the other FEMA directorates with the development of programs for those communities.

She began her career with FEMA in December 1996 as a hydraulic engineer in the Hazard Identification Branch of the Mitigation Directorate. In this capacity she was responsible for coordinating with state and local officials in producing and maintaining flood hazard maps for communities in the southeastern United States.

Prior to coming to FEMA, she worked for nine years at Dewberry & Davis on the National Flood Insurance Program Contract. While at Dewberry & Davis, Priscilla gained experience in several areas. The experience ranges from developing, implementing, and producing maps and map products for FEMA to developing a Public Assistance Inspectors Course for the Response and Recovery Directorate. Priscilla received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the West Virginia University in December 1987.

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