IN THIS ISSUE:

LAW BULLETIN Vermont Law School has selected Carol Browner, former Administrator of the

Environmental Protection Agency, as the Fall

2014 Distinguished Environmental Law Scholar.

As EPA administrator, Browner adopted the

most stringent air pollution standards in the

nation’s history; set a fine particle clean air

standard; and spearheaded the reauthorization

of the Safe Drinking Water Act as well as the

Food Quality Protection Act. She was known

for working with both environmentalists and

industry to set scientific-based public health

protections while providing businesses

important flexibilities in how to meet those

standards.

Browner is now Senior Counselor

at Albright Stonebridge Group and a

Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Center

for American Progress. She served as the

Director of the White House Office of Energy

and Climate Change Policy in the Obama

administration from 2009 to 2011, where she

oversaw the coordination of environmental,

energy, climate, transport, and related policy

across the

federal government.

Browner will

deliver the keynote

address at Vermont

Law School’s Fifth

Annual Colloquium on Environmental Scholarship

on October 3–4,

2014. b

CAROL BROWNER SELECTED AS VLS FALL 2014 DISTINGUISHED ENVIRONMENTAL LAW SCHOLAR

disaster and preserve American prosperity.

He works to promote economic development

and environmental protection in California,

and serves on the board at Stanford

University, where he and his wife, Kat Taylor,

founded two renewable energy research

institutions: the TomKat Center for Sustainable

Energy and the Steyer-Taylor Center for

Energy Policy and Finance. The couple is

among several high-wealth Americans to join

the “Giving Pledge,” a promise to donate the

majority of their wealth to charitable and

nonprofit activities during their lifetimes.

Steyer also established Advanced Energy

Economy, which works with businesses to

make energy secure, clean and affordable,

and Next Generation, which addresses energy

and children’s policy issues.

Investor, philanthropist, and advanced

energy advocate Tom Steyer delivered a

lecture titled “Climate Solutions—Building a

Clean Energy

Future” at VLS

in May. Steyer,

who received

VLS’s 2014

Honorary

Degree for the

Environment

during

Commencement,

is the founder of

NextGen Climate,

an organization

that acts

politically to

avert climate

NEXTGEN CLIMATE FOUNDER TOM STEYER DELIVERS CLIMATE SOLUTIONS LECTURE AT VLS

ww

w.ve

rmon

tlaw.

edu/

elc

Center for Agriculture and Food Systems

Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic

Environmental Tax Policy Institute

Institute for Energy and the Environment

Land Use Institute

U.S.-Asia Partnerships for Environmental Law

Water and Justice Program

❯ From the Associate Dean . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

❯ ENRLC Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2–3

❯ VLS: Bee Friendly Campus . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

❯ CAFS and NOFA Receive USDA Grant . . . . 4

❯ Student in the Spotlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

❯ Expanding into New Food Horizons . . . . . . 5

❯ Energy Clinic Solar Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

❯ Expanded Distance Learning Offerings . . . 6

❯ VLS: Electric Vehicle Charging Leader . . . . . . . .6

❯ VLS/Zhongnan University Partnership . . . . . . . .7

❯ Jessica Scott: New Visiting Professor . . . . . . . .8

❯ U.S.-Asia Partnerships New Name/Focus . . . . .8

❯ Environmental Faculty News . . . . . . . . . . . 9–10

❯ Summer Session By the Numbers . . . . . . . . . . 11

❯ Summer Faculty News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

❯ VLS Environmental Alumni Newsfeed . . . . . . .12

❯ Fall 2014 Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Last year, the Environmental Law Institute

presented Steyer with its Environment

Achievement Award in recognition of his

leadership in clean energy and climate change

policy. He shared the award with George

Schultz, former secretary of the treasury

and secretary of state, with whom he created

a bipartisan coalition to defeat California’s

Proposition 23, an effort by out-of-state

oil companies to dismantle California’s

groundbreaking clean energy law.

“Tom Steyer is a true trailblazer when it

comes to energy and climate,” said Associate

Dean Melissa Scanlan, director of the

Environmental Law Center at VLS. “We were

pleased to welcome him to the Vermont Law

School community, and to recognize his

commitment to a clean energy future with our

honorary degree.” b

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER

Tom Steyer

Carol Browner

GREETINGS FROM VERMONT

As we are in the midst of harvest season, Vermont Law School is excited to unveil the most comprehensive food, agriculture, and environmental law program in the country . We are offering a new LLM in Food and Agriculture Law and a Master of Food and Agriculture Law and Policy (pending ABA acquiescence), along with a new Certificate in Food and Agriculture Law for our JD and master’s students . We have grown our residential and distance learning curriculum and now offer 12 courses in this emerging field . A hallmark of a Vermont Law School education is that it is experiential . This fall we enrolled our first students in a new Food and Agriculture Clinic on campus, which is dedicated to food systems advocacy . We received a generous grant from the U .S . Department of Agriculture to provide legal and technical support to farmers’ markets . We also have students in our Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic helping defend Vermont’s first-in-the-nation GMO labeling law . And some sweet news: The Center for Food Safety has declared VLS the first official “bee-friendly” campus in the nation! I hope you’ll enjoy reading about the many ways Vermont Law School is working to develop the next generation of sustainable food and agriculture law and policy leaders . Bon appétit!

Melissa K . Scanlan

FROM THE ASSOCIATE DEAN

This summer, one of the Environmental

and Natural Resources Law Clinic’s primary

projects entered a new phase after a

significant victory in the spring. For the

past couple of years, the clinic has been

representing the Vermont Public Interest

Research Group (VPIRG) in legal advocacy

toward passage of a labeling bill for genetically

engineered foods (GE) in Vermont. The clinic

provided a comprehensive legal research

memo, testimony, and several binders of

factual materials to the Vermont legislature

during the last biennial session. This gave

student clinicians the opportunity to testify

before House and Senate committees, interact

with state officials, and work closely on a

broad-based legislative campaign with our

client and other partners—Rural Vermont,

Northeast Organic Farming Association

of Vermont, and Cedar Circle Farm. Both

chambers of the Vermont legislature passed

the bill by wide margins and, in May,

Governor Peter Shumlin signed

the bill into law. This made

Vermont the first state in

the nation to require labels

on GE foods, with labels

required by 2016.

However, the fight is not

over. As expected, several

industry groups sued the state

claiming that the law was

unconstitutional. They filed

the suit in June and, in July,

the Clinic filed a Motion to

Intervene in the case. Along

with co-counsel from the

Center for Food Safety (CFS), the

clinic is representing VPIRG and CFS in this

endeavor. In addition to VPIRG’s tireless work

in Vermont, CFS has been a national leader on

GE labeling for many years.

Over the summer, the clinician team of

Marie Horbar ’15, Yahan Liu ’16, and Katherine

Michel ’15 worked to produce the Motion,

Memorandum, and various other documents

associated with the filing, and then filed

the documents at the federal courthouse

in Rutland. Laura Murphy, the ENRLC’s

Associate Director, said, “With this filing, we’re

very proud to take our first step in defending

Vermont’s law. We’ve seen GE labeling this far

and aren’t going to give up now—it’s a strong

law that deserves protection.”

As of this writing, the briefing schedule

was still open and the Judge had

not ruled on the Motion. b

2

CLINIC DEFENDS VERMONT’S NEW GE LABELING LAW

MELISSA SCANLAN Associate Dean, Associate Professor, and Director mscanlan@vermontlaw.edu

ANNE LINEHAN Associate Director alinehan@vermontlaw.edu

COURTNEY COLLINS Assistant Director ccollins@vermontlaw.edu

The mission of the Environmental Law Center is to educate for stewardship, to teach an awareness of underlying environmental issues and values, to provide a solid knowledge of environmental law, and to develop skills to administer and improve environmental policy.

© 2014 Vermont Law School Environmental Law Center Edited by: Anne Linehan | Design: Wetherby Design | 09/14, 1.25K Photographs by: Courtney Collins, Laura Murphy, Anne Linehan, Melissa Scanlan, Austin Cheley, istockphoto.com

Printing: R.C. Brayshaw & Company, Inc., environmentally certified to the Forest Stewardship Council Standard. Printed on 100-lb. Mohawk Options PC 100 text. This paper is manufactured entirely with non-polluting, wind-generated energy, using 100% post-consumer recycled fiber, is Process Chlorine-Free, and is certified by Green Seal and SmartWood to the Forest Stewardship Council Standard.

This is a publication of the Environmental Law Center. We welcome your questions, comments, corrections, article proposals, and updates.

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER Vermont Law School 164 Chelsea Street South Royalton, VT 05068 800-227-1395 802-831-1140 fax www.vermontlaw.edu/elc

P U B L I C A T I O N I N F O R M A T I O N

“ WITH THIS FILING, WE’RE VERY PROUD TO TAKE OUR FIRST STEP IN DEFENDING VERMONT’S LAW. WE’VE SEEN GE LABELING THIS FAR AND AREN’T GOING TO GIVE UP NOW—IT’S A STRONG LAW THAT DESERVES PROTECTION.”

—LAURA MURPHY, Associate Director, ENRLC

Alexis Peters, Amanda Langenheim, and Marissa Meredyth visit impaired streams

This summer, the ENRLC represented

the Vermont Natural Resources Council

(VNRC) in the appeal of three stormwater

discharge permits issued to Jay Peak Resort.

The streams around Jay Peak, a ski resort

in northern Vermont, have been impaired

by sediment for at least a decade. With this

appeal, VNRC hopes to ensure that impaired

streams are adequately remediated before

additional permits for new development and

additional stormwater discharges are issued

at Jay Peak.

Throughout the summer, the clinician

team of Amanda Langenheim ’16, Marissa

Meredyth ’14, Alexis Peters ’16, and Rachel

Stewart ’16 drafted memoranda and pleadings;

participated in client meetings and case

development; and conducted extensive

research on the Clean Water Act, the Vermont

Water Pollution Control Act, and Vermont

stormwater regulations. b

REMEDIATION OF VERMONT’S IMPAIRED WATERS

E N V I R O N M E N T A L L A W B U L L E T I N F A L L 2 0 1 4 W W W . V E R M O N T L A W . E D U / E L C 3

Vermont Law School has partnered with

the Center for Food Safety’s BEE Protective

Campaign, making it the first higher-education

campus in the country to earn official

neonicotinoid pesticide-free designation.

“Honey bees and other pollinators play

a critical role in agricultural systems,” said

Professor Laurie Ristino, director of the

Center for Agriculture and Food Systems

(CAFS). “Protecting their health and safety

is a reflection of Vermont Law School’s

commitment to the environment and CAFS’

mission to support sustainable food and

agricultural systems. We hope more will

follow our lead.”

The law school’s partnership with BEE

Protective follows an Obama administration

directive, announced in June, to create a

“Federal Strategy to Promote the Health

of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators.” The

presidential memorandum reports that

“pollinators contribute substantially to the

economy of the United States and are vital

to keeping fruits, nuts, and vegetables in our

diets. Honey bee pollination alone adds more

than $15 billion in value to agricultural crops

each year in the United States. Over the past

few decades, there has been a significant loss

of pollinators, including honey bees, native

bees, birds, bats, and butterflies, from the

environment.”

BEE Protective is a national campaign

established by the Center for Food Safety

THE BEE’S KNEES: VLS IS THE 1ST OFFICIAL BEE-FRIENDLY CAMPUS IN THE NATION

“ HONEY BEES AND OTHER POLLINATORS PLAY A CRITICAL ROLE IN AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS. PROTECTING THEIR HEALTH AND SAFETY IS A REFLECTION OF VERMONT LAW SCHOOL’S COMMITMENT TO THE ENVIRONMENT AND CAFS’ MISSION TO SUPPORT SUSTAINABLE FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS. WE HOPE MORE WILL FOLLOW OUR LEAD.”

—LAURIE RISTINO, Director, Center for Agriculture and Food Systems

and Beyond Pesticides, and works with

municipalities, campuses, and homeowners to

adopt policies that protect pollinators

from bee-toxic pesticides. For more

information about the campaign,

visit http://bit.ly/1kp3gSV. b

The U.S. Department of

Agriculture has awarded the

Center for Agriculture and

Food Systems (CAFS) at

Vermont Law School and

the Northeast Organic

Farming Association

of Vermont (NOFA-VT)

a $500,000 grant to

strengthen farmers’ market

organizations through legal

education.

Awarded by the USDA’s

National Institute of Food and

Agriculture, the Agriculture and Food

Research Initiative grant enables CAFS and

NOFA-VT to create “Farmers’ Market Legal

Research and Extension.” The integrated

research and extension project is designed

to build stronger market organizations by

developing a legal resources toolkit for market

organizers and educating them on complex

legal issues facing farmers’ markets.

Phases of the project are established

for the next four years and include the

development of toolkit resources in three

USDA AWARDS $500,000 TO VLS FOR FARMERS’ MARKET PROJECTareas: year one, governance; year

two, liabilities related to the use

of Electronic Benefits Transfer

and Supplemental Nutrition

Assistance Program (SNAP)

tokens; and year three,

general risk management.

Year four is dedicated

to toolkit training for

farmers’ market organizers

nationwide. CAFS and NOFA-

VT have partnered with the

Farmers Market Coalition to take

advantage of its national network of

farmers’ market leaders and communications

resources to disseminate the toolkit across the

country.

“We are grateful for this USDA grant, as it

will directly benefit not only farmers’ markets

in our region but also across the country,” said

CAFS Director Laurie Ristino. “We’re eager to

begin our research and stakeholder outreach

to farmers and farmers’ market administrators,

and we look forward to collaborating with the

Northeast Organic Farming Association of

Vermont.”

V E R M O N T L A W S C H O O L4

As part of

the extension

work, NOFA-VT

plans to gather

information

directly from

farmers’ markets,

pilot toolkit

resources at

annual marketing

conferences,

and assist CAFS

in training

farmers’ market

organizers.

“The Northeast Organic Farming

Association of Vermont is very excited to be

a partner in this important work providing

robust legal resources for farmers’ markets

to increase their stability, which in turn has

the potential to improve direct-to-consumer

sales for hundreds of Vermont agricultural

producers,” said Erin Buckwalter, NOFA-VT

market development and community food

security coordinator. b

BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEM: KATIE MICHEL ’15 Katie Michel embodies the mission of the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (CAFS) at Vermont Law School: to develop the next generation of sustainable food and agriculture law and policy leaders . With her background managing farmers’ markets in California, and her hands-on experience and scholarship at VLS, she is on track to make a real difference . “I hope to use the law as a tool to help build an equitable and environmentally-sound food system in the United States,” she says . Katie completed her Master of Environmental Law and Policy degree at VLS before joining the first class of students pursuing an accelerated JD degree . She earned her BA degree in Literature from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 2003 . At VLS, she spent the summer of 2014 as a clinician at the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic . She is also a research associate at CAFS, where she is writing a white paper on legal issues pertaining to farmers’ market governance, and with the Water and Justice Program, where she wrote a research paper on federal programs that provide financial support and technical assistance for trail projects . Professor Laurie Ristino is the director of CAFS . “Katie is a wonderful example of the students that come to VLS and become involved with CAFS,” Ristino says . “She has experience growing organic food for direct marketing and a deep interest in making agriculture sustainable . Students like Katie help make the Center a rich educational experience .” Katie is the staff editor of the Vermont Law Review, and she has two articles forthcoming: “Landless: Legal and Policy Tools for Transferring Vermont Farmland to the Next Generation of Stewards and Food Producers,” in 39 VT. L. REV. (Dec . 2014) and “Carbon Trading in the United States,” in Research Handbook on Climate Change Mitigation Law (Geert Van Calster & WimVandenberghe eds .), which she co-authored with Ristino . For three years before coming to VLS, Katie was the Farmers’ Market Operations Manager at the Ecology Center in Berkeley, CA, where she oversaw operations of four award-winning farmers’ markets . She also worked for the City and County of San Francisco, assisting in the management of the historic Alemany Farmers’ Market and the Alemany Flea Market . Before working for farmers’ markets, she was a field worker and farming apprentice at the Blue Horse Farm, a small-scale organic farm in Pescadero, CA . b

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

“ I HOPE TO USE THE LAW AS A TOOL TO HELP BUILD AN EQUITABLE AND ENVIRONMENTALLY-SOUND FOOD SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES.”

This summer, Assistant Professor

Jamie Renner taught a new class on

Global Food Security to law and master’s

degree students from Brazil, China,

Switzerland, Canada, and the U.S. Nation-

wide, only a handful of law schools

address this multidimensional subject

matter. The course explored how food

security is defined and measured for

policy purposes; its international legal

dimensions; comparative domestic law

and policy matters; the financialization

of food and farming; farming technology,

biotechnology (GMOs) and intellectual

property rights; the right to food; and the

complex impact of climate change on food

and water security worldwide. Guest speakers included a Food Security

Analyst from the United Nations World Food Programme, a former

nine-year South African Member of Parliament and water security

expert, the Director of Public Affairs at the Vermont Foodbank, the

Director of Scientific Engagement at Monsanto, and a Nigerian human

rights attorney who was awarded the European Parliament’s Sakharov

Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2005.

This fall, Renner will spearhead a new Food and Agriculture Clinic for VLS’s Center for Agriculture and Food Systems. It will be one of

the first law school clinics in the country dedicated to food systems

advocacy with a focus on environmental sustainability, public health,

rural economies, food access, and animal welfare. Students in the

clinic will collaborate with local, regional, national, and international

partners to create legal and business tools supporting targeted market

and policy initiatives of farmers, food entrepreneurs, consumers,

healthcare professionals, legislators, and advocates, among others.

Students will also explore incorporating social entrepreneurial

strategies into their advocacy. For its first project, driven by a $500,000

USDA grant, the clinic will partner with the Northeast Organic Farming

Association of Vermont and the national Farmers’ Market Coalition

to produce Farmers’ Market Toolkits—guides that will help farmers’

market leaders nation-wide navigate common but complicated

business and legal choices regarding governance, risk

management, and the use of SNAP/EBT

systems. Other impending clinic

projects include land tenure, food

labeling, Community Supported

Agriculture, and industrial

animal agriculture. b

EXPANDING INTO NEW FOOD HORIZONS

Jamie Renner

E N V I R O N M E N T A L L A W B U L L E T I N F A L L 2 0 1 4 W W W . V E R M O N T L A W . E D U / E L C 5

VLS energy students at the Solarfest event in Vermont

VLS is offering two new degrees and a

new area of study in our online program. We

launched the Master of Energy Regulation and

Law (MERL) and LLM in Energy Law degrees

online in May, 2014. Also in May, we added a

concentration in Agriculture and Food Systems

law and policy to existing online degrees.

The MERL and Energy LLM programs

offer intensive training in the law and

policy governing energy use, production,

and transmission. “We have already seen

the success of these degrees among our

residential students,” said Michael Dworkin, Director of the Institute for Energy and the

Environment. “But we recognize that some

students can’t spend a year studying in South

Royalton. We look forward to students taking

some or all of their degree from a distance,

while continuing their professional lives

around the globe.”

Simultaneously, the law school added a

new concentration in food and agriculture

law and policy for students in the online

LLM in Environmental Law and Master of

Environmental Law and Policy degree programs.

EXPANDED DISTANCE LEARNING OFFERINGS IN ENERGY AND FOOD AND AGRICULTURE LAW

The Center for Agriculture and Food

Systems (CAFS) is adding four new online

courses to a suite of five summer classes and

a list of courses offered during the academic

year as part of a comprehensive curriculum.

“We’re building a strong, innovative

curriculum in food and agriculture law and

policy,” said Laurie Ristino, Director of

CAFS. “The addition of online courses allows

students flexibility to take a comprehensive

course of study in food and agriculture law

and policy online, or mix and match with our

residential offerings. This way we can provide

the best program for individual students.”

“Once again, Vermont Law School is

leading the way in developing unique and

flexible curriculum,” said Rebecca Purdom, Associate Dean of Innovation and New

Programs. “VLS students have always been

out in the field, busy living and doing. Our

distance learning programs, which can

be taken completely online or mixed with

residential experiences, provide those busy,

living, doing students a chance to get the best

education that fits their lives and goals.” b

V E R M O N T L A W S C H O O L6

Vermont Law School is now the Vermont

leader in electric vehicle charging access at

a single commercial location. Recently, with

the support of the VLS Green Revolving Loan

Fund, a new Chargepoint dual EV charging

station was energized on campus. In total, the

law school now has seven publicly available EV

charging ports. The charging infrastructure is

all grouped together in a convenient location

across from the main classroom building. A

AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING LEADERcolorful variety of Chevy Volts, Nissan Leafs,

Toyota Prius, and Ford C-Max belonging to

faculty, staff, and students regularly recharge

on campus. Occasionally, a yellow Tesla

Roadster has even been spotted. Twenty-

three kW of new solar PV was also recently

installed on campus in conjunction with the

charging stations to further green our campus

footprint. b

NEW ENERGY CLINIC FOCUSES ON COMMUNITY SOLARIn the fall 2014 semester, VLS’s Institute for Energy and the Environment launched what is believed to be the first energy clinic at a law school in the U .S . The new Energy Clinic provides opportunities for JD, LLM, and masters students to develop the knowledge, skills, and values integral to the practice of energy law and policy while helping our clients meet local energy needs with reliable, clean, and affordable resources . Energy Clinicians will undertake projects to resolve energy policy challenges in a sustainable and socially equitable manner for both the local community and the world . The Energy Clinic’s focus for its first year will be to work with clients to develop and promote improved models for community solar that maximize the environmental and economic benefits available for the local community . Student clinicians will develop model group net metering and purchase power agreements that will be openly available for community use . Clinicians will also utilize these agreements to collaborate with solar installers and community based organizations to advance one or more community solar projects . Professor Kevin Jones, a former Director of Energy Policy for New York City, who teaches in the clinic, notes that “The Energy Clinic will allow us to expand upon classroom theory and give students the opportunity to develop the actual legal structures for community solar, as well as implement real projects, including spending a day on site installing the solar PV arrays .” Future energy clinic projects will likely be focused on policies to promote both climate change mitigation and adaptation . Future clinicians can expect to work on client projects to support building energy efficiency, electric vehicle infrastructure, and local energy system resiliency . b

A Tesla Roadster was spotted charging up at VLS this summer

E N V I R O N M E N T A L L A W B U L L E T I N F A L L 2 0 1 4 W W W . V E R M O N T L A W . E D U / E L C 7

Zhongnan University of Economics

and Law (ZUEL) in China and Vermont

Law School have signed an agreement to

collaborate on programs that will expand

educational opportunities for students

from both schools and promote exchange

between faculty members. The agreement

includes collaboration on student and faculty

exchanges and training programs, degree

and certificate programs, joint legal research

projects, and publications on environmental

and energy law research and policy

development.

“This partnership reflects our commitment

to developing global leaders,” said Marc Mihaly, president and dean of Vermont

Law School. “We are proud to partner with

Zhongnan University and look forward

to watching as students and faculty from

both institutions work toward influencing

environmental law and policy, both in China

and elsewhere in the world.”

The Zhongnan University delegation was

comprised of Professors Liu Maolin, vice

president; Han Long; Zhang Hong, vice dean

of ZUEL law school; and Jiang He, assistant

dean of ZUEL law school.

VLS, with the support of the U.S. Agency

for International Development, launched the

U.S.-China Partnership in 2006 to advance

environmental governance and rule of

law in China. Now known as the U.S.-Asia

Partnerships for Environmental Law, the

program also administers three environmental

advocacy programs in China funded by

the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of

Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL)

in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Kunming. b

VLS PARTNERS WITH ZHONGNAN UNIVERSITY IN CHINA

Marc Mihaly and Liu Maolin

“ THIS PARTNERSHIP REFLECTS OUR COMMITMENT TO DEVELOPING GLOBAL LEADERS. WE ARE PROUD TO PARTNER WITH ZHONGNAN UNIVERSITY AND LOOK FORWARD TO WATCHING AS STUDENTS AND FACULTY FROM BOTH INSTITUTIONS WORK TOWARD INFLUENCING ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND POLICY, BOTH IN CHINA AND ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD.”

—MARC MIHALY, President and Dean

Officials from VLS and Zhongnan at the signing ceremony

V E R M O N T L A W S C H O O L8

NEW NAME, BROADER FOCUS FOR U.S.-ASIA PARTNERSHIPS

The U.S.-China Partnership for

Environmental Law at Vermont Law School is

pleased to announce it is changing its name to

the U.S.-Asia Partnerships for Environmental

Law (PEL). This change comes at a time when

the program is broadening

its geographical focus and

incorporating new partners,

projects, and opportunities.

This expansion of

geographical focus was

demonstrated in July

2014, when PEL began a

series of five multi-day

Environmental Impact

Assessment trainings for

Myanmar’s Ministry of

Environmental Conservation

and Forestry (MOECAF),

and hosted a workshop on

civil society engagement in the EIA process.

Myanmar is finalizing its EIA procedures

and legal framework. In addition, the influx

of investment and development projects in

Myanmar has increased the need to thoroughly

assess the environmental and social impacts

of projects. The EIA trainings are scheduled

to occur monthly through November 2014.

Financial support for the EIA trainings comes

from the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

PEL’s commitment to strengthening

environmental governance in China was

highlighted at Beijing’s Environmental Public

Interest Litigation Roundtable in July. PEL

sponsored the event to launch a project to help

environmental NGOs in China use legal tools,

including the standing provision permitting

NGOs to sue on behalf of the public interest

under the recently revised Environmental

Protection Law, to improve and strengthen

environmental governance and rule of law in

China. At the event, environmental lawyers

and representatives from various NGOs,

such as Friends of Nature and Green Anhui,

and international NGOs, such as Greenpeace

and the Natural Resources Defense Council,

convened to discuss how they would go forth

with public interest litigation in 2015, when the

Environmental Protection

Law will go into force.

Avi Garbow, General

Counsel of the U.S.

Environmental Protection

Agency, spoke at the event

about the role of citizen

suits in environmental

enforcement in the U.S.

and how they supported

and complemented the

government’s enforcement

efforts. “Citizen enforcement

represents the much

needed opportunity for

engagement,” he said. He also praised

the NGOs in the room for their work

and emphasized the importance of such

organizations, particularly in collaboration, to

enforce environmental regulations. The launch

event is the first step in bringing together

environmental NGOs to help improve China’s

environmental situation and lead the way for a

cleaner future. b

After a national search, Vermont Law

School has hired Jessica Scott ’10 for a two-

year Visiting Assistant Professor position. From

2010–14, she was an attorney in the Office of

General Counsel at U.S. EPA, where she focused

on the Clean Air Act; human rights and the

environment; capacity building in China and

Burkina Faso; and environmental justice.

Scott’s time at EPA included awards and

international exchanges. She received the 2013

Distinguished Environmental Advocates Award

from the American Bar Association Section of

Environment, Energy, and Resources, and the

2012 Trudy Speciner National Honor Award

from EPA, for “exceptional legal analysis,

creativity and leadership to protect human

health and the environment in communities

across the nation and around the world.”

In 2011, she spent two months in Beijing as a

fellow of the American Bar Association’s Rule of

Law Initiative, where she gave presentations on

American environmental laws to China’s Ministry

of Environmental Protection, participated in

academic conferences, and researched and

wrote a report on a groundbreaking Chinese

environmental law case.

She also participated in a two-way exchange

for environmental law professionals in

China and the U.S.,

cosponsored by the

National Committee

on United States-

China Relations,

and the Center for

Legal Assistance to

Pollution Victims at

China University of

Political Science and

Law. The program is

a capacity-building

opportunity for

young environmental

lawyers, government

officials, NGO

representatives, and

other environmental

law professionals.

Her article,

“Cleaning Up the

Dragon’s Fountain: Lessons from the First

Public Interest Lawsuit Brought by a Grassroots

NGO in China” appeared in the George Washington

International Law Review in 2013. Her article, “Move,

or Wait for the Flood and Die: Protection of

Environmentally Displaced Populations through

a New Relocation Law,” is forthcoming in the

JESSICA SCOTT ’10 IS NEW VISITING ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

Florida A&M University Law Review in 2014.

Scott received her JD degree, magna cum

laude, from VLS in 2010. She received her

BS, cum laude, in International Politics from

Georgetown University. She will teach Air

Pollution Law this spring. b

Jessica Scott

E N V I R O N M E N T A L L A W B U L L E T I N F A L L 2 0 1 4 W W W . V E R M O N T L A W . E D U / E L C 9

Tracy Bach will lead the VLS Observer

Delegation to the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change COP20/CMP10,

to be held in Lima, Peru, in December. The ten

students on the delegation, selected from over

50 applicants, will represent the law school

at the international climate change meeting.

Students enroll in a course consisting of a

weekly class for the full semester and one

week on-site at the Conference of the Parties

(COP). At the COP, our students will support

the Myanmar State Party Delegation. Students

will come away from this course with a deeper

understanding of international environmental

lawmaking informed by first-hand experience.

Betsy Baker has been named to the

National Academy of Sciences Polar Bear

Research Board. She is one of the few legal

academics to have served on the board in

its 56-year history. The appointment in part

recognizes her cutting-edge work linking

law and natural sciences in Arctic research.

She presented “Shaping Arctic Policy from

DC to Alaska: The U.S. Continental Shelf and

Offshore Oil and Gas Regulation in America’s

High North,” as part of the Spring 2014 Faculty

Speaker Series at VLS in April. She served on

the panel “Comparison of Current Regulatory

and Liability Regimes in Arctic Coastal

States” in the research workshop, “Arctic

Oil/Gas Drilling: Lessons from the Past and

Implications for the Future,” in recognition of

the 4th anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon

Oil Spill, at Duke University Nicholas School of

the Environment, in April.

Laurie Beyranevand ’03 was appointed

to serve on the Food and Drug Law Institute’s

Academic Programs Committee for a three

year term beginning in April 2014. The

Academic Programs Committee advises FDLI

staff in formulating and implementing policies

and strategies consistent with FDLI's mission,

relating to programs and publications of

interest to the academic legal community. She

gave a presentation entitled “Food Labeling

for Health Care Professionals” at the Vermont

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ Annual

Meeting in April. She was a faculty member at

the Summer Academy in Global Food Law and

Policy in Bilbao, Spain, where she discussed

the impacts of the Food Safety Modernization Act on the global food supply.

Richard Brooks and Melissa Scanlan

co-authored the book review of Environmental

Protection in Multi-Layered Systems: Comparative

Lessons from the Water Sector, edited by

Mariachiara Alberton and Francesco Palermo,

in Publius: The Journal of Federalism, April 2014.

John Echeverria co-presented (with

Roger Marzulla and Nancie Marzulla) “The

Intersection of Water Rights and Takings

Doctrine” at the 60th Annual Rocky Mountain

Mineral Law Institute in July. He has

established the Takings Litigation Blog at

takingslitigation.com. He served as a panelist

on “What’s New with Constitutional Takings

and Water?” at the 32nd Annual Water Law

Conference, sponsored by the ABA Section of

Environment, Energy, and Resources, in Las

Vegas in June. His conference paper, “Water

and Takings,” was awarded Best Paper. His

article, “Making Sense of Penn Central,” is cited

in a Second Circuit opinion on Sherman v. Town of

Chester, May 16, 2014.

Jackie Gardina presented on

“Environmental Obligation and Enforcement”

at the National Association of Environmental

Professionals 39th Annual Conference,

Changing Tides and Shifting Sands, in April.

Hillary Hoffmann was appointed to the

national Sierra Club Litigation Committee

for a three year term beginning in July 2014.

The committee reviews and approves all

proposed settlements and lawsuits filed by

local chapters and the national organization.

Her article, “Demand Management and Climate

Change in the Great Basin: An Integrated

Approach to Resource Management in an Era

of Armed Conflict Over Grazing on Federal

Lands,” will be published in the George

Washington University Law School’s Journal of

Energy and Environmental Law this fall. In May,

she wrote “The End of the Road for R.S. 2477

Claimants in Canyonlands National Park,” for

the Environmental Law Profs Blog. She presented

“The Real Public Lands Standoff in Nevada:

Unsustainable Livestock Grazing and Climate

Change” at the New England Political Science

Association Annual Meeting in Woodstock,

VT, in April. In July, she began consulting

for the Grand Canyon Trust on constitutional

issues surrounding Utah’s HB 148, the Transfer

of Public Lands Act. She will direct VLS’s

Fifth Annual Colloquium on Environmental

Scholarship on October 4, 2014.

Kevin Jones and Jonathan Blansfield ’14

contributed to a new book edited by Fereidoon

Sioshansi that explores the policy implications

of continued growth of distributed energy

resources. The book, Distributed Generation and

its Implications for the Utility Industry, is published

by Academic Press. Jones and Blansfield’s

chapter, “Industry Response to Revenue

Erosion from Solar PVs,” explores case study

examples from California, Arizona, and

Vermont.

Yanmei Lin published “China’s New

National Rules on Wetland Protection” in IUCN

Academy of Environmental Law E-Journal, Issue

5: 2014, 117 (with Chen Yue); “Toxic Release

Inventory: US Lessons and Experiences for

China” in Journal of Ocean University of China

(Social Sciences Edition), Issue 1: 2014, 86

(with Hou Jiaru); “Environmental Public

Interest Litigation Back to the Beginning

in 2013” in the Annual Report on Environment

Development of China (2014), Social Science

Academic Press, May, 2014, 146 (with Wang

Xiaoxi); and “Improve and Perfect China’s

Government Environmental Information

Disclosure System” in Administration Reform,

Issue 6: 2014 (with Wang Canfa).

Reed Loder published an article, “Toward

Reconciling Environmental and Animal Ethics:

Northeast Wolf Reintroduction,” in 10 Journal of

Animal & Natural Resource Law 95–164 (2014).

Janet Milne co-authored (with Jack Miller)

“Taxation’s Troubling Toxicity,” in the Onãti

Socio-Legal Series, Summer 2014. Her article,

“The Disclosure Debates: Setting the Scene,”

has been accepted for publication in Vermont

Law Review 38, forthcoming in 2014. Her letter

to the editor, “A Carbon Tax and Climate

Change,” appeared in The New York Times on

June 22, 2014.

( continued on page 10 )

ENVIRONMENTAL FACULTY NEWS

Melissa Scanlan, Bob Percival, John Echeverria, Huiyu Zhao, Kevin Begos, and Michael Blumm

Adam Moser LLM’13, Assistant Director

of the U.S.-Asia Partnerships for

Environmental Law, published “The Laws,

Politics, and Policies of Regulating Lead

Pollution in China,” in 9 Frontiers of Law in China

186 (June 2014).

Sean Nolon presented “Managing Land-

Use Disputes” at the American Planning

Association meeting in Atlanta in April. His

article, “Bargaining for Development Post-

Koontz: How the Supreme Court Invaded Local

Government,” was recently accepted by the

Florida Law Review.

Patrick Parenteau testified before the U.S.

House of Representatives Water Resources and

Environment Subcommittee Hearing on “EPA’s

Expanded Interpretation of its Permit Veto

Authority Under the Clean Water Act,” in July.

He worked with students in the Environmental

and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC)

to prepare an amicus brief on behalf of

climate scientists in a case involving use of

the Clean Water Act to address the problem

of ocean acidification. He also worked with

ENRLC students to prepare a petition to the

Federal Trade Commission regarding deceptive

advertising in the use of Renewable Energy

Credits by Vermont utilities.

Rebecca Purdom was granted the 2014

East Africa Environmental Fellowship.

She will be working on anticorruption and

environmental justice issues in East Africa in

October and throughout the 2014–15 academic

year. She was also invited to present at the

International Environmental Law Course in

Sao Paulo, Brazil, in November.

Laurie Ristino moderated the panel

“Geopolitical Context” at the University

of Vermont’s Food Systems Summit, The

Necessary [r]Evolution for Sustainable Food

Systems, in June. VLS’s Center for Agriculture

and Food Systems was a cosponsor of

the event. She presented “The Law and

Building the Infrastructure of the New Food

Movement” at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

event, Harvesting Change: The 2014 Food &

Community Gathering, in Detroit in May. Her

article co-authored with Katie Hannon Michel

’15, “Carbon Trading in the United States,” in

Research Handbook on Climate Change Mitigation Law,

was listed on multiple SSRN Top 10 downloads

in May.

Melissa Scanlan presented “Turning

Urban Sewage into Renewable Energy” on the

Waste and Energy Sources Panel at the 12th

annual Colloquium of the IUCN Academy of

Environmental Law in Tarragona, Spain, in

July. She taught a course on the Wisconsin

Public Trust Doctrine for the University

of Wisconsin-Extension Local Land Use

V E R M O N T L A W S C H O O L

C Ja

y Mai

ln

Planning and Zoning series in April. Her

article, “Adaptive Trading: Experimenting with

Unlikely Partners,” appears in 62 Kansas Law

Review 971 (2014). Her article co-authored by

Jenny Kehl, “Food and Virtual Water in the

Great Lakes States,” appears in 63 DePaul Law

Review 771 (Spring 2014). Both articles are listed

on multiple SSRN Top 10 downloads lists.

Gus Speth presented “40 Years of the

Environmental Movement in 20 Minutes” at

the Coker College Earth Day Festival in April.

His letter to the editor in response to the

front page article, “Scientists Warn of Rising

Oceans from Polar Melt,” was published in the

The New York Times on May 13, 2014. In July, he

presented to the first group of students in

the Middlebury College Environment School

and gave a public lecture in Middlebury, VT,

on the future of the American environmental

movement. His memoir, Angels by the River, will

be published by Chelsea Green Publishers

in October. An excerpt appeared in the

Environmental Law Institute’s 31 Environmental

Forum 40 (September/October).

Jack Tuholske served as a speaker on

“Implementing Constitutional Environmental

Rights in North America,” at the Global

Environmental Constitutionalism event at

Widener University School of Law in April.

His article, “Solving Transboundary Pollution

Disputes Locally: Success in the Crown of the

Continent,” appeared in 92 Oregon Law Review

649 (2014). He was lead counsel in a case just

settled in federal court in Oregon requiring

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to publish a

draft and final Recovery Plan under the ESA

for bull trout (the largest freshwater salmonid)

by September, 2015. In July, he led students in

his Public Lands Management: Montana Field

Study class on numerous treks through the

northern Rockies. b

10

ENVIRONMENTAL FACULTY NEWS ( continued from page 9 )

Patrick Parenteau

Rebecca Purdom

E N V I R O N M E N T A L L A W B U L L E T I N F A L L 2 0 1 4 W W W . V E R M O N T L A W . E D U / E L C 11

SUMMER SESSION FACULTY NEWS Don Baur has been elected to the Board of Directors of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and the Shenandoah National Park Trust . In May, he spoke at the annual meeting of the U .S . Marine Mammal Commission in Washington, DC . He spoke at a conference on Tribal Environmental Quality in Morongo, California, to discuss the application of the Endangered Species Act in Indian Country . The American Bar Association will publish the second edition of Ocean and Coastal Law and Policy, authored by Baur, Tim Eichenberg, and Michael Sutton. Baur is a partner at Perkins Coie . Eichenberg is Chief Counsel at the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission . Sutton is Executive Director of Audubon California . They co-teach Ocean and Coastal Law at VLS . Tom Lautzenheiser was the lead author of Mass Audubon’s report, “Losing Ground: Planning for Resilience,” released in June, which documents land use change in Massachusetts from 2005–2013 . The report is the fifth edition in the Losing Ground series that has tracked Massachusetts’ development and land conservation trends for over 30 years . The report features an analysis of land use planning regulations in the I-495 corridor, among the regions of the state facing the highest development pressures . Lautzenheiser is the Central/Western Regional Scientist at Massachusetts Audubon Society . He co-teaches Ecology . Catherine MacKenzie is an editor of Law, Tropical Forests and Carbon: The Case of REDD+, along with Rosemary Lyster of the University of Sydney and Constance McDermott of the University of Oxford . The book is published by Cambridge University Press . MacKenzie is a University Lecturer in Environmental Law at Cambridge . She teaches Peace, War, and the Environment at VLS . Thomas McHenry took his VLS students on a field trip to the Elizabeth Mine Superfund site in nearby Strafford, VT .

The class toured the abandoned copper mine as part of his Environmental Aspects of Business Transactions course . McHenry is a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher . Benjamin Sovacool has published numerous articles recently, including “Cornucopia or Curse? Reviewing the Costs and Benefits of Shale Gas Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking),” in Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews (September, 2014); “Energy Studies Need Social Science,” in Nature (July 31, 2014); “Exposing the Paradoxes of Climate and Energy Governance,” in International Studies Review (June, 2014); and “Construction Cost Overruns and Electricity Infrastructure: An Unavoidable Risk?” in Electricity Journal (May, 2014) (with VLS students D . Nugent and A . Gilbert) . Sovacool is Director of the Danish Center for Energy Technology at Aarhus University in Denmark . He teaches Global Energy Justice at VLS . Jacqueline Weaver taught a one-week course in May at the Fordham Law School summer program in

Accra, Ghana, on International Petroleum Transactions . She lectured at the International Law Institute’s seminar on “International Oil and Gas Development: Upstream” in Washington, DC, in May . She presented a talk on “Reflections on Best Practices in International Petroleum Practices” at the opening congress of the new LLM program in Energy and Sustainability Law at the University of Nuevo Leon in Monterey, Mexico, in August . She is the A .A . White Professor of Law at the University of Houston Law Center, and teaches Oil and Gas Production and the Environment at VLS . Steven Weissman is co-author, with Romany Webb, of a new report on “Addressing Climate Change without Legislation” issued jointly by Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment and the Berkeley Energy and Climate Institute . Weissman is a lecturer-in-residence at Berkeley . He teaches Renewable Energy Law and Policy at VLS . David Wirth’s paper, “The World Trade Organization Dispute over Genetically Modified Organisms: The Precautionary Principle Meets International Trade Law,” was listed on numerous SSRN Top Ten download lists . Wirth is a Professor of Law at Boston College Law School . He teaches International Trade and the Environment at VLS . Steven Wise appeared on The Colbert Report on July 17, where Steven Colbert asked about his arguments for legal “personhood” for chimpanzees and other animals . His work was also featured in a cover story in The New York Times Magazine on April 23 . Wise is the President of the Nonhuman Rights Project . He teaches Animal Rights Jurisprudence . Huiyu Zhao’s translation of “US Environmental Law for the Supreme Court,” co-written with Robert Percival, is forthcoming from China Law Press . Her article, “Controlling Air Pollution and Carbon Emissions by Regulations on Mobile Sources in China and the U .S .” is forthcoming in China’s Journal. Her article, “The Role of Civil Society in Environmental Governance in the United States and China,” co-authored with Percival, appeared in Duke Environmental Law & Policy. Zhao is an Associate Professor of Law at Shanghai Jiaotong University . Percival is a Professor of Law and Director of the Environmental Law Program at the University of Maryland . They co-teach Comparative U .S .-China Environmental Law at VLS . b

Students at the Elizabeth Mine

C A

ustin

Che

ley

37 short, intense classes on topics ranging

from Ecosystem Management to Global Energy

Justice to The Modern Farm Bill

Over 200 students taking classes,

including JD, master’s, and LLM candidates at

VLS; JD students from other law schools; and

visitors from around the world

3 Distinguished Summer Scholars: John

Knox of Wake Forest University and the UN

Human Rights Council; Benjamin Sovacool of

Aarhus University in Denmark; and Sandra

Zellmer of University of Nebraska

SUMMER SESSION: BY THE NUMBERS

44 summer faculty from as far away as

Shanghai and the University of Cambridge,

and from right across campus at Vermont Law

School

17 lectures in the Hot Topics in

Environmental Law brown bag series, covering

electric cars, unnatural disasters, fracking, and

urban agriculture

4 Welcome Receptions—a chance for

students, faculty, and special guests to mingle

and enjoy Vermont microbrews

3 Environmental Law Media Fellows: Kevin

Begos of The Associated Press, Osha Gray

Davidson, author and freelance writer, and

Tom Henry of The Toledo Blade

Jack Tuholske’s Montana Field Study class

11 students trekking through the northern

Rockies in Montana with Jack Tuholske’s

Public Lands Management field study class

1 Tesla Roadster recharging in the VLS

parking lot

many afternoons spent hiking up

Kent’s Ledge, tubing down the White River,

and sampling the wares at Vermont’s farmers’

markets

JOHN BASHAW ’87 has joined Reid and Riege, PC’s Hartford office as a stockholder in the Environmental and Litigation practice areas…

KATE BROWN JD/MSL ’95, Project Manager for the Trust for Public Land, negotiated the purchase of a 1,000 acre forest in Connecticut, the last unprotected coastal forest of its size between New York City and Boston… ALLISON BUCKLEY MELP ’10, Natural Resources Planner with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, created a management plan for 90,000 acres of land purchased by the State of New York in Adirondack Park… ALLISON DENNIS MSEL ’05 is a public affairs specialist with the U.S. EPA… KEITH DENNIS MSEL ’05 is senior principal with National Rural Electric Cooperative Association… GREGORY FRIEND ’01 was named a partner in the Austin law firm of Stahl, Bernal, Davies, Sewell & Chavarria…

CHRIS HALL ’04 was elected as a shareholder of Babst Calland, PC, specializing in energy and natural resources law… REGGIE HALL JD/MSEL ’02, Director of the Land Conservation Loan Program with The Conservation Fund, facilitated the acquisition and creation of the new 4,000-acre Cheat Canyon Wildlife Management Area in West Virginia…

MEGAN HOOKER MSEL ’05, Associate Stewardship Director with American Whitewater, was part of the lead organization behind the removal of the Condit Dam on the White Salmon River in Washington State… THERESA LABRIOLA MSEL ’99 is West Coast Fisheries Project Director with Wild Oceans...

VERONIQUE JARREL-KING JD/MELP ’12 was promoted to Assistant Attorney General in the Utah office of the Attorney General’s Environment Division…

CARLOS SORIA RODRIGUEZ LLM ’12 has joined the Environment and Sustainable Development cluster at the Institute for European Studies as a doctoral researcher… LINDSAY WALTON JD/MELP ’12 was appointed to the Urban Forestry Commission by the Mayor of Richmond, Virginia… VERONIKA WARNOCK MSEL ’99, Conservation Director with Hell’s Canyon Preservation Council, got an injunction from the Ninth Circuit to stop logging on a 29,000-acre project area in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. b

VLS ENVIRONMENTAL NEWSFEED

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER

Vermont Law School 164 Chelsea Street South Royalton, VT 05068

800-227-1395 802-831-1140 fax

www.vermontlaw.edu/elc

TAKINGS CONFERENCE 2014 The 17th Annual Conference on Litigating Takings Challenges to Land Use

and Environmental Regulations will take place on September 19, 2014, at the

University of California Davis School of Law. In addition to offering a basic

education in modern takings law, the conference brings together a diverse

group of leading scholars and experienced practitioners to discuss cutting-

edge issues raised by recent decisions and pending court cases. Some of the

topics to be discussed include the practical implications of the Supreme Court's

5 to 4 decision in Koontz v. St. Johns Water Management District for state and local

government land use standards and procedures. Other major topics will include

the potential takings issues associated with water management and possible

takings claims that may arise from efforts to adapt to climate change. The

conference will feature a keynote address in honor of Joseph Sax, “Joe Sax: An

Appreciation,” presented by Holly Doremus of UC Berkeley School of Law.b

15TH GLOBAL CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL TAXATION The Environmental Tax Policy Institute at VLS is a cosponsor of the

15th Global Conference on Environmental Taxation. This year’s conference,

“Environmental Taxation and Emissions Trading in an Era of Climate Change,”

will be hosted by Aarhus University in Copenhagen, Denmark, on September

24–26, 2014. The conference is a unique forum for people to share analyses

of the theory and practice of environmental taxation and other market-based

instruments. If you would like to be added to the mailing list for the conference

series, please send an email to Professor Janet Milne, the institute’s director, at

jmilne@vermontlaw.edu, with the caption “mailing list.” b

COLLOQUIUM ON ENVIRONMENTAL SCHOLARSHIP Vermont Law School’s

Fifth Annual Colloquium on

Environmental Scholarship will take

place on October 3-4, 2014. This

year’s colloquium has almost doubled

in size compared to previous years,

and is the largest colloquium dedicated to environmental law in the country.

Professor Hillary Hoffmann is coordinating the event. “The colloquium provides

a unique forum for environmental law scholars from around the world to meet

and discuss current environmental issues over a three-day period,” she says.

“It is a proving ground of sorts, where scholars can receive structured feedback

on their ideas, prior to publication. This year, we are particularly excited about

hosting a larger number of international scholars, who will be presenting on

issues such as groundwater management in urban Africa, ecological impacts of

the Naxal conflict in India, and climate change litigation in Australia. We are also

thrilled to have Carol Browner give our keynote address.” b

ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNAL ANNOUNCES WRITING COMPETITION The Vermont Journal of Environmental

Law has announced the first annual

White River Environmental Law Writing

Competition. The winning essay will

receive a $1000 cash prize and an offer

of publication in the Vermont Journal

of Environmental Law. All students at

accredited United States law schools are

invited to submit original articles that

address a relevant topic in environmental

law. Additional submission requirements and deadlines can be found on

the journal’s website, http://vjel.vermontlaw.edu. The winning entry will be

announced in January 2015. b

The 2014–15 VJEL Editorial Board: Jack Hornickel, Thea Graybill, Libby Bowker, Andy Minikowski, Crystal Abbey, Megan Backsen, Scott Lake

FALL 2014 EVENTS