Events

Dan Byers is vice president for policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute. With a focus on environmental and regulatory issues, Dan develops and implements strategies in support of the Institutes broader education and advocacy efforts. He brings nearly two decades of public policy experience to his work directing the Institute in assessing the impact of existing and emerging federal laws and regulations on the U.S. energy industry.

Before joining the Chamber, Dan was staff director of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee for the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. His work on the subcommittee focused on revitalizing oversight of EPA, including development and execution of strategies to reform and improve the agency’s regulatory science activities.  During the second term of the George W. Bush administration, Dan served as deputy to the associate director for technology at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), where he oversaw policy development and coordination associated with a broad suite of technology issues. From 2007 to 2009, he also worked for the White House National Economic Council, leading the development and coordination of telecommunications policy for the Bush administration. Previously, he held a variety of positions in the House of Representatives, including staff director of the House Science Committee Subcommittee on Research from 2003–2005. He began his career on Capitol Hill in 2000 in the office of Congressman Nick Smith (R-MI).
Dan holds an M.S. in soil science from North Carolina State University and a B.S. in crop and soil environmental sciences from Virginia Tech.

Scott Dismukes is a member of the Pittsburgh Office of the law firm Eckert Seamans, where he  has nearly 30 years of experience in environmental litigation and counseling. As co-chair of the firm’s Energy Group and member of the Environmental Group, he provides litigation compliance and environmental business counseling to industrial, municipal, and manufacturing clients under all federal and numerous state environmental laws. Scott also provides non-utility regulatory counsel and defense for a number of energy and energy-related companies.

Scott helps companies with strategic business planning as it relates to meeting their environmental obligations. He takes pleasure in working on some of the more complex matters in environmental law and the balance between science and law in his practice. He often works with national science and engineering experts to find creative, effective, and practical solutions to compliance and permitting challenges. Scott also has significant experience in oil and gas pipelines and environmental due diligence in support of mergers and acquisitions and has done extensive work on economic benefit and ability to pay issues.
Previously, Scott was an assistant regional counsel for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region V, where he conducted enforcement actions pursuant to numerous federal regulatory agencies. He was the region’s primary liaison for Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) litigation enforcement and redrafted various penalty policies as a member of EPA’s National Workgroup.  He holds his law degree from the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Law.

Kris Shiffer is the Chief, Division of Storage Tanks, for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Prior to his current position, Kris was Section Chief for the UST and AST Technical Section, a Regional Tanks Supervisor for the PA DEP Southcentral Region, and a Field Inspector for the PA DEP Storage Tank Program. He enjoys taking on responsibility and using historical information and the talents that exist from within fellow employees to reach a desired outcome. Kris believes in setting a goal and taking action to achieve it rather than waiting for events to happen. He lives life based on the quote, “Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”