EWRI
ASCE
Volume 6, Number 1 • Spring 2004

2004 EWRI Congress Plenary Sessions

MONDAY, JUNE 28, 2004
8:00 AM - 9:30 AM

PLENARY I

Sponsored by Gannett Fleming

MODERATOR: Thomas M. Rachford, Ph,D., P.E., F.ASCE, EWRI President 2003-2004
PRESENTER: US Department of the Interior Secretary Gale Norton (invited)

Gale Norton, who has served as the 48th Secretary of the Interior since January 2001, has made the Four C's the cornerstone of her tenure: Consultation, Communication, and Cooperation, all in the service of Conservation. For the Four C's to succeed, she believes government must involve the people who live and work on the land and reach out to states, tribes, local communities, businesses, conservation organizations, and private citizens in a variety of ways, including:



  • New Landowner Incentive and Private Stewardship Grant programs, providing cost-share grants to states and landowners for wildlife conservation;
  • Cooperative Conservation Initiative, with cost-share grants to empower states and local landowners to engage in conservation projects;
  • Strong support of the bipartisan plan to restore the Florida Everglades;
  • Reduction of long-standing maintenance backlogs by the National Park Service and National Wildlife Refuge System;
  • Support for environmentally sensitive energy production on public lands.
As Colorado's Attorney General from 1991 to 1999, Norton represented virtually every state agency. She argued cases before the US Supreme Court and appellate courts and testified before congressional committees. As a negotiator of the $206 billion national tobacco settlement, she represented Colorado and 45 other states as part of the largest lawsuit settlement in history.

Prior to her election as Attorney General, Norton served as Associate Solicitor of the US Department of the Interior, Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, and Senior Attorney for the Mountain States Legal Foundation. Before becoming Interior Secretary, Norton was Senior Counsel at Brownstein, Hyatt & Farber, PC.

Norton graduated magna cum laude from the University of Denver and earned her law degree with honors from the same university.



WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 2004
8:00 AM - 9:30 AM

PLENARY II

Sponsored by Gannett Fleming

MODERATOR: Steven R. Abt, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, EWRI Vice President 2003-2004
PRESENTER: Jerry W. Webb, P.E., Principal Hydrologic and Hydraulic Engineer, US Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC

An expert in River Mechanics, Sedimentation, and Water Management of Flood Control Structures, Jerry W. Webb has worked in the water resources field for 29+ years. He is currently USACE's Watershed Team Leader in the Water Resources Branch, which encompasses hydraulics, hydrology, and geotechnical engineering. In this position, he is responsible for technical policy regarding the design, construction, and maintenance of dams and appurtenant structures. As a civil engineering officer and squadron commander in the Air National Guard with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, he has had many opportunities to work on engineering construction projects around the world. From September 2003 through March 2004, he was temporarily assigned as Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Water Resources in Baghdad, Iraq. Webb holds a BS in Civil Engineering from Memphis State University and an MS in River Mechanics and Sedimentation from Colorado State University.