In the past two years, several large, high-profile oil and gas extraction projects have inspired close scrutiny of environmental oversight mechanisms for this type of project. Standard practices for these oil and gas projects include completing environmental impact assessments. Based on these assessments, governments of affected countries and project funders have imposed environmental requirements, but no one method of enforcing these requirements has emerged as the most effective. Solutions to the problems of monitoring and compliance have included the establishment of oversight committees, hiring independent environmental consultants, and creating new government agencies to coordinate oversight.
Please plan to join ELI for a seminar addressing the variety of oversight mechanisms currently used for international oil and gas projects, and the relative efficacy of each approach. Speakers will include Charles Di Leva (Chief Counsel, Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Network and International Law, The World Bank Legal Department), Robert Montgomery (Head, Environment and Social Unit, Inter-American Development Bank), Marcos Orellana (Senior Attorney, Center for International Environmental Law), Clara Poffenberger (Special Counsel, Baker Botts LLP), and Daniel Steinway (Partner, Baker Botts LLP).