Conversation With Susan T. Wildau, Expert in Environmental Mediation and Engagement

Susan T. Wildau is a pioneer in the field of environmental mediation aimed at multistakeholder dialogue. Earlier this week, Ann Vessels, director of the College of Law internship program, and I met with Ms. Wildau to find out more about what she does and the field in which she has become a leader.

Ms. Wildau is a partner in the Boulder, Colorado firm CDR Associates, where she leads the firm's Sustainable Development practice area. Nearly 30 years ago, Ms. Wildau and several colleagues established CDR Associates with the goal of helping clients reach their own solutions on difficult issues. One of the firm's first areas of focus involved environmental disputes.

Over the years, Ms. Wildau has been involved in many environmental and natural resource related projects. Perhaps the most interesting -- at least from the viewpoint of Ann and me -- is the work Ms. Wildau did on a large mining project in Peru. In the early years of this decade, Ms. Wildau led an international team of mediators who developed multistakeholder dialogue and consensus building among civil society, government, and a mining company. The effort involved a project called Minera Yanacocha. As part of this effort, Ms. Wildau traveled to Peru up to six time a year for several years.

Ms. Wildau described the challenges the mediation team faced as well as how the group attempted to address what up to that point had been contentious and, in some cases, violent differences among the respective parties. It was fascinating hearing her describe the kinds of issues that arose and how each was handled.

She has also mediated regulatory negotiations used as the basis for the National Emissions Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants for the wood furniture industry. Moreover, she has worked on projects involving the Ombudsman Office of the International Finance Corporation, the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation, and the World Wildlife Fund among others.

Ann and I were duly impressed by the role that mediation can -- and in the case of Susan Wildau's practice -- does play in resolving seemingly implacable issues. Talking to Ms. Wildau makes one more fully appreciate the "on the ground" issues that confront the developers of large infrastructure projects. It is hardly a matter of making sure that all of the legal documents are in place since, in the words of Ms. Wildau, "the social license to operate -- that is the community's decision to 'permit' a company to operate -- is also imperative."

In early August, Ms. Wildau spoke to a new DU course, "Community Expectations in Natural Resource Development Projects," and explained the role of mediators in environmental and natural resource projects. And her work is hardly finished. Wherever natural resources are extracted there are often local and regional communities who have a major stake in how it is undertaken.

This field of expertise is becoming more important by the year, and Ms. Wildau is on the front lines of developing this new area of environmental and natural resources specialty. Colorado is fortunate to be the home of firms such as CDR Associates (even if most of their work takes them across the entire world). There is much to learn from leaders like Susan Wildau. This week's lunch will not be our last chat with her.

(For those interested in learning more about this fascinating speciality, click here to see CDR Associates' newsletter "Talking Points.")