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Brown '12 Profiled in CLEO Newsletter

Vermont Law School — 09 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST

Vermont Law School student Kendra Brown '12 recently was profiled in the CLEO (Council on Legal Education Opportunity) Newsletter.

She serves as regional chair of the Northeast Region of the National Black Law Students and has had numerous honors while at VLS, including a Vermont Law School Merit Scholarship, the NBLSA Sandy Brown Memorial Scholarship, the VLS Merit Scholarship and the VLS David Firestone Scholarship for Campus Involvement.

Read the profile.

Weeks of Jan. 9-Jan. 16

Vermont Law School — 08 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST

Bloomberg News, whose story was picked by the Financial Post, Yahoo! Finance and other media, spoke with Professor Pat Parenteau on Jan. 20 about about Congressional Republicans' effort to take control over approval of the Keystone XL pipeline proposal.

The Associated Press (whose story was picked up by The Washington Post, ABC News and other media around the world), Vermont Public Radio (here and here) and WCAX spoke with professors Pat Parenteau and Cheryl Hanna on Jan. 20 about a federal judge's decision in the state of Vermont's effort to shut down the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.

Vermont Public Radio aired a commentary about "corporate personhood" by Assistant Professor Don Kreis on Jan. 20.

Vermont Public Radio talked to Professor Oliver Goodenough on Jan. 19 about the U.S. government's effort to crack down on Internet piracy and counterfeit goods.

Seven Days spoke with James Maroney '12 on Jan. 19 about the "Working Lands Enterprise Investment Bill" under review by the Vermont Legislature.

The National Law Journal and Associated Press, whose story was carried by WCAX, Vermont Public Radio, the Burlington Free Press and other media, reported Jan. 19-20 on VLS's new Center for Agriculture and Food Systems receiving a $1.25 million grant.

The Huffington Post carried a commentary by Professor Oliver Goodenough on Jan. 18 titled "Teaching Real Law for the 99 Percent."

Bloomberg Businessweek, Hearst Newspapers and the Boston Globe spoke with Professor Pat Parenteau on Jan. 18-19 about President Obama's denial of a permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline project.

Vermont Public Radio talked to Kevin Jones, smart grid project leader, on Jan. 16 about the Shumlin administration's and legislative leaders' proposal for a major overhaul in how Vermont encourages renewable energy.

WCAX spoke with Professor Cheryl Hanna on Jan. 11 about the two-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case, when the court struck down a federal law banning political campaign contributions by corporations and labor unions.

Reuters, whose story was picked by CNN, the China Post, Huffington Post, Yahoo! News and other media around the world, talked to Professor Pat Parenteau on Jan. 12 about Congressional Republicans' efforts to take control over approval of the Keystone XL pipeline proposal.

The Burlington Free Press spoke with Associate Professor Michele Martinez Campbell on Jan. 9 about the line between self-defense and reasonable force in connection with a fatal convenience store robbery.

Marketplace talked to Professor Pat Parenteau on Jan. 9 about a U.S. Supreme Court case in which an Idaho couple challenged the EPA's regulatory power.

EPA Awards Vermont Coalition $34 Million Contract To Advise on ENERGY STAR Program

Vermont Law School — 07 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- The EPA has awarded three Vermont groups, including Vermont Law School's Institute for Energy and the Environment (IEE), a $34 million contract to provide technical, analytical and outreach assistance to the national ENERGY STAR program in the commercial, institutional, and industrial sectors.

"This blanket purchase agreement is great for the global environment and also good news for the economy," said Professor Michael Dworkin, director of the IEE. "Projects that improve energy efficiency will save money and help put people back to work."

Partnering with the IEE in the contract are The Clark Group, a national environmental consulting and government affairs firm in Montpelier and Washington, D.C., and the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC), which is known for its management of Efficiency Vermont, the nation's first energy efficiency utility.

"All three groups have unparalleled experience in energy efficiency program design, analytics, and implementation," said Lisa Mahoney, a partner in The Clark Group's Vermont office.

The ENERGY STAR program seeks to improve energy efficiency in homes and businesses throughout the United States. In 2010, ENERGY STAR programs reduced greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 33 million vehicles and saved Americans nearly $18 billion in utility payments.

Christine Donovan, a managing consultant at VEIC, said: "One of the great benefits of this project is that it combines energy solutions with profitability-it's been proven time and again that capitalizing on energy efficiency is good for a company's environmental performance as well as its bottom line."

Under the contract, the EPA may acquire up to $34 million in services from The Clark Group, VEIC and IEE over five years. The maximum of $34 million represents the cap that the EPA can spend in retaining services from the Vermont coalition. Actual fees will depend upon the specific tasks ordered by the EPA.

More information is available from: Michael Dworkin at 802-831-1319 (IEE), Lisa Mahoney at 802-225-5945 (The Clark Group), Kelly O'Brien Lucci at 802-540-7630 (VEIC).

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations, Vermont Law School
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Prof. Wroth Proposes Solutions for Solving Lake Champlain's Environmental Problems

Vermont Law School — 02 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST

In a recent paper in the Journal of Great Lakes Research, Vermont Law School Professor Kinvin Wroth summarizes the legal provisions that apply to Lake Champlain's environment to provide a starting point for comparative analysis that will facilitate coordinated transboundary solutions to the environmental problems of the Lake Champlain Basin and that may be applicable to other shared international and interstate/provincial waters.

Lake Champlain is governed by six legal regimes with historic differences, and the United States and Canada allocate power differently between governmental levels and branches. As a result, environmental regulation differs between the countries. Bi-national efforts against phosphorus pollution have been impeded by the differences, so comparative legal analysis is a basis for a cooperative approach to such problems, Wroth wrote.

Read the paper.

From Burmese Pythons to Zebra Mussels: New Study Proposes Federal Law to Limit Nonnative Animal Species

Vermont Law School — 02 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- A new study by a Vermont Law School alumnus proposes a detailed comprehensive federal law to curtail invasive and exotic animal species that are causing environmental, economic and public health risks across the American landscape.

"Forget the war on drugs. What the United States needs is a war on invasive animal species," writes Jane Graham, author of the study, titled "Snakes on a Plain, or in a Wetland: Fighting Back Invasive Nonnative Animals-Proposing a Federal Comprehensive Invasive Nonnative Animal Species Statute." The article is published in Volume 25, Issue 1 of the Tulane Environmental Law Journal.

The proposed law addresses creatures great and small-from Burmese pythons that are devouring native wildlife in the Everglades (according to a study by the U.S. Geological Study released Monday) to the lions, tigers and bears released from a private compound in Ohio in October.

Scholars and regulators have advised the federal government to create a comprehensive scheme, but no such statute or proposed statute exists.

"U.S. laws dealing with the critical problem of invasive species are lacking central pieces and are uncoordinated," writes Graham, who received an LL.M. in environmental law from Vermont Law School in 2011. "A new comprehensive statute could improve mechanisms for prevention, punishment, cost recovery and incentives."

The United States' current menagerie of federal, state and local laws are ineffective in controlling Burmese pythons, Asian carp, zebra mussels, exotic pets and other invaders that are causing a growing amount of environmental degradation, economic waste, public health risks, human injuries and wildlife trafficking, according to the study.

Graham argues that current federal statutes and frameworks-including the Lacey Act, Executive Order 13112, National Invasive Species Act and laws that deal with single species-are either too broad or too narrow; lack cost recovery and incentive tools; are reactive; do not have the force of law; are too vague; or lack significant penalties.

Other laws-such as the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act and Animal Health Protection Act as well as state laws, public nuisance laws, free market solutions and exotic pet restrictions-also are insufficient, according to the article.

The article proposes a model federal law that calls for:

• A "clean" list of species that are allowed into the country instead of the current "dirty" list that prohibits specific species.
• A process that explains exactly how risk assessment decisions will be determined.
• Uniform restrictions on exotic-and potentially all-animal ownership.
• Increased public awareness of invasive animal laws.
• Higher and uniform fines and criminal penalties for violations.
• Methods to fund restoration of ecosystems damaged by invasive species
• Entrepreneurship and partnerships between government and private businesses.

Graham is available to comment at janecynthiagraham@gmail.com or 561.271.5766. Her article was written with guidance from her master's thesis advisor VLS Assistant Professor Pamela Vesilind. Graham is currently Everglades Policy Associate for Audubon of Florida in Miami.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

New Vermont Law School Course To Show Legal Ropes to Utility Executives

Vermont Law School — 01 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School will offer a unique new course this summer designed to help senior electric utility executives gain a better understanding of the legal basics critical to operating an effective utility company.

The rigorous two-week class will give executives the legal foundation to more fully understand the utility regulatory framework, the role of federal and state energy regulatory commissions and how to operate more effectively within these structures.

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) supported VLS's Institute for Energy and the Environment (IEE) development of the course, which is modeled after similar utility executive training courses at MIT and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

"We expect 12 to 15 high-potential, forward-thinking electric utility executives to attend this special course," said Professor Michael Dworkin, director of the IEE.

Beginning with the basic functions of government and building on the interplay among state, federal and regional oversight when planning new energy infrastructure, the VLS course will offer a broad overview of the legal framework governing the utility.

"Many utility executives work their way through the utility ranks from business and engineering backgrounds and don't have a strong understanding of the law as it relates to running a utility business," Dworkin said. "EPRI recognized this gap in the executive training ranks and asked VLS to fill it."

Mike Howard, EPRI's president and CEO, said VLS's course, titled "Legal Essentials for Utility Executives," will be of great value to its attendees. "This is a must-attend program for utility executives interested in building their credentials and gaining a better understanding of the laws and lawyers they will have to effectively deal with throughout their career," he said.

EPRI, an independent, nonprofit organization, conducts research and development relating to the generation, delivery and use of electricity for the benefit of the public.

The VLS course will be June 17-30 at the Vermont State House in Montpelier. Registration deadline is March 15. More information is available at www.vermontlaw.edu/legalessentials

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations, Vermont Law School
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Christensen '12 Examines Detroit Urban Agriculture

Vermont Law School — 01 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST

In a recent article in the Drake Journal of Agricultural Law, Vermont Law School student Dana Christensen '12 explores urban agriculture, focusing on Detroit as an example of a grassroots movement that shifts how the community thinks about food.

The article is titled "Securing the Momentum: Could a Homestead Act Help Sustain Detroit Urban Agriculture?"

"Food security, employment opportunities, answers to urban blight, and health problems -- urban agriculture has many reasons to deserve the buzz it has lately received," Christensen wrote. "Long before 'going green' entered the larger societal and business consciousness, many American cities enacted zoning provisions for agriculture before the current industrial agricultural system took hold. Indeed, the rise of urban agriculture coincides with economic depressions in modern history, when state and local governments promoted community gardens to counteract poverty and its attendant social unrest.

"But the most recent manifestation of urban agriculture is unique; it is a movement driven by social justice as well as necessity, incorporating an ethic of environmental sustainability and community building to address the problems of the postindustrial city, including unemployment, food access, and vacant land issues. Detroit exhibits a prime example of urban agriculture as a grassroots movement that shifts how the community thinks about food, where it comes from, and who controls it. Most importantly, Detroit's urban agriculture movement has stimulated the idea of access to healthful affordable food as a human right. With the recovery from the auto industry's deterioration -- where economic decisions affecting the lives of millions of people were decided by a privileged few -- decades of white flight, and other detrimental factors, it is no surprise that urban agriculture in Detroit transcends the middle-class values of environmental sensitivity in favor of the economic justice of empowering those who stayed and persevered in Detroit when others left."

Professor Gardina Elected Co-President of SALT

Vermont Law School — 31 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST

Vermont Law School Professor Jackie Gardina recently took the helm as co-president of the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) along with Professor Ngai Pindell of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Boyd School of Law.

SALT, a group of progressive law teachers working for justice, diversity and academic excellence for more than 35 years, is governed by a 30-member board of governors elected by the membership in three-year terms. SALT's committees examine critical issues facing the legal academy and profession: academic freedom, equal opportunity, issues in legal education, judicial and government nominations, LGBT issues and human rights.

Gardina specializes in four main areas: civil procedure, administrative law, bankruptcy with a special emphasis on environmental obligations in bankruptcy, and sexual orientation and gender identity issues. In addition to her teaching duties, she has spoken and written on a variety of topics, including learning disabilities in higher education, bankruptcy, the Solomon Amendment and the "don't ask, don't tell" law. She is a governing board member of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

Land Use Expert to Explore New York City’s Rezoning

Vermont Law School — 31 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- A New York University School of Law expert will discuss New York City's massive rezoning effort at Vermont Law School's eighth annual Norman Williams Distinguished Lecture in Land Use Planning and the Law at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 2 at the Chase Community Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Professor Vicki Been, director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at the NYU School of Law, will deliver a lecture titled "Explaining the Motivations Behind Land Use Regulation: New York City's Rezonings of Almost One Quarter of Its Land."

Since 2002, New York City has enacted more than 100 neighborhood-sized zoning changes throughout the city. Been will explore the city's motivations for making these changes, their implications for the future of the nation's most important urban area and the lessons policymakers and courts can draw from a comprehensive analysis of a city's rezoning decisions.

The Williams Lecture is hosted by Vermont Law School's Land Use Institute and Environmental Law Center.

About the Williams Lecture
Norman Williams came to VLS in 1975 after a distinguished career in public service and teaching, particularly in land use planning. He played a key role in founding VLS's Environmental Law Center. The Norman Williams Distinguished Lecture in Land Use Planning and the Law series is a gift of Frances Yates, trustee of VLS, in memory of Norman Williams and Anya '90 and Charles Yates '90.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations, Vermont Law School
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

U.S.-China Partnership Receives Grant to Promote Environmental, Public Health

Vermont Law School — 27 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST

Vermont Law School's U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law, in collaboration with Sweden's Faculty of Law at Uppsala University, recently received a $40,000 grant to fund a joint conference with Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, in September.

The grant from the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research will support a two-day workshop titled "Comparative Environmental and Public Health Law, Regulations, and Remedies."

The workshop will identify crucial research topics in the field of environmental and health protection law and foster academic discussion on the relationship between environmental law and the quality of public health, said Professor Jason Czarnezki, faculty director of the U.S.-China Partnership.

The workshop is designed to expand Swedish higher learning institutions' connections with Chinese universities by facilitating scholarly discourse among legal experts in environmental and public health fields from Sweden, the United States and China. The workshop also will enhance long-term cooperation in research, innovation and education with Chinese counterparts.

The workshop will bring together 20 to 30 international and Chinese professors whose primary research areas are environmental and public health policy. The workshop also will offer a space in which to exchange ideas and develop future collaborate research projects. Papers resulting from this collaboration may be published in the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law, Nordic Environmental Law Journal and the environmental law journal of Sun Yat-sen University.

National Media Discuss Vermont Yankee Court Ruling With VT Law School Experts

Vermont Law School — 27 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST

The New York Times and other media nationwide sought out Vermont Law School faculty experts for insight into a federal court's recent ruling on the fate of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.

U.S. District Judge J. Garvan Murtha ruled that Vermont's only nuclear plant can remain open beyond its originally scheduled shutdown date of March 21. Vermont Yankee''s owner, Entergy Corp., argued during a three-day trial in September that the state's efforts to close the plant were pre-empted by federal law. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted a 20-year extension on Vermont Yankee's license in March 2011.

See the coverage in: The New York Times, Washington Post, Vermont Public Radio, Burlington Free Press, WCAX.

Vermont Law School Raises Record $15.3 Million in Capital Campaign

Vermont Law School — 26 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School has surpassed its goal of $15 million for the Campaign for Vermont Law School, with total gifts and commitments currently totaling $15.3 million.

The funds will support student financial aid, a new Center for Legal Services, programs that improve national environmental and energy policies, and educational initiatives that produce highly skilled lawyers at home and abroad.

VLS hopes to raise another $1 million to $2 million before closing the campaign when Dean and President Jeff Shields retires at the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

It has been VLS's most successful capital fund drive in its nearly 40-year history, surpassing the $11.3 million raised in 2005 for the renovation of historic Debevoise Hall, the main administration building, and the $6 million raised in 1998 for the construction of Oakes Hall, the main classroom building.

The campaign was launched silently in September 2008 with a gift from trustee Fran Yates that went toward the purchase of the former Freck's department store, a historic building and landmark in downtown South Royalton. The building, which is being renovated according to VLS's standards for stewardship of the environment, will house the law school's clinical programs and become the new Center for Legal Services.

"This project represents the best of what a Vermont Law School education provides with a focus on the importance of clinical opportunities for students," said Shields. "The Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC) and the South Royalton Legal Clinic (SRLC) have a long history of community service, and this building provides them with a new state-of-the-art home and room to grow."

Building on the generous gift that helped launch the Center for Legal Services project, Dean Shields, Chairman of the Board of Trustees Ed Mattes ‘83 and campaign committee chair and trustee Jimmy Hanson '83 pushed forward with a plan to create robust financial support for core environmental programs and scholarships for VLS students.

"Vermont Law School has some of our country's leading experts in energy policy and environmental law," Dean Shields said. "Our faculty have been asked by President Obama to serve in senior government positions and by our state's leadership to draft legislation that affects the way in which Vermont utilities construct their business models. It's rewarding to see philanthropic support for this work and the students who can carry forward this legacy of leadership.".

Fundraising highlights of the Campaign for Vermont Law School include:

• $9.5 million for VLS's Institute for Energy and the Environment, U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law, ENRLC and SRLC
• $1.3 million for student scholarships and loan repayment assistance programs
• $2 million for the Center for Legal Services
• $1.25 million to launch a new Center for Agriculture and Food Systems

Vermont Law School's alumni include about 6,000 individuals, many of whom work in fields relating to environmental law and energy policy. Founded in 1972, VLS is a private, independent law school that has focused on foundation and government grants in its fundraising efforts to date. At the same time, the Campaign for Vermont Law School has seen more than 2,000 VLS alumni contribute to the effort since 2008, with annual giving totaling more than $1.3 million during this period, which is also a record.

"VLS alumni have committed to this effort in a way they never have before," said Shields. "The law school's programs are in a position of strength today due in large part to their generosity."

Dean Shields and Chairman Mattes will launch the public phase of the campaign at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 26 at the Vermont State House in Montpelier. The media are invited to attend.

VLS officials will discuss the evolving state of legal education and the legal profession. They also will discuss how VLS is adapting to that changing landscape, in part, by emphasizing clinical and experiential programs that prepare its graduates to be skilled litigators, policy analysts, public interest advocates, entrepreneurs and leaders in other areas.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations, Vermont Law School
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

VT Law School to Host “After Irene” Symposium

Vermont Law School — 24 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School will explore environmental issues arising out of Tropical Storm Irene at a symposium on Friday, April 20.

The symposium, titled "After Irene: Law and Policy Lessons for the Future," will start at 8:15 a.m. in the Chase Community Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Among the issues to be discussed are the environmental effects of using heavy equipment to restore stream banks and channels; river corridor management; emergency relief mitigation and planning; natural disaster policy; and the federal flood insurance program.

The symposium will be hosted by VLS's Vermont Journal of Environmental Law, Environmental Law Society and Freshwater Working Group.

There will be a range of national and state guest speakers, including David Mears, a former VLS professor who is commissioner of Vermont's Department of Environmental Conservation.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations, Vermont Law School
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

VT Law School Launches Energy Security & Justice Project

Vermont Law School — 24 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School has launched the Energy Security & Justice Project to expand global access to sustainable energy and craft national energy policies that adapt to climate change without worsening socioeconomic inequality.

The Project, which is overseen by Associate Professor Benjamin Sovacool, expands the international law and policy focus of VLS's Institute for Energy and the Environment.

The Project's researchers investigate how to provide ethical access to energy services and minimize the injustices and human impacts of current energy production and use. The researchers explore how to equitably provide available, affordable, reliable, efficient, environmentally benign, proactively governed and socially acceptable energy services to households and consumers. One track of the program focuses on a lack of access to electricity and reliance on traditional biomass fuels for cooking in the developing world. Another track analyzes the moral implications of existing energy policies and proposals in the United States.

"Too often, national and international energy policies have focused on protecting adequate supplies of conventional fuels with little or no regard for the long-term consequences to the people and cultures the policies are intended to benefit," said Sovacool, an internationally recognized energy security expert. "The Energy Security & Justice Project is a rare effort to broaden the scope of energy security research and examine the human factors responsible for the ultimate success or failure of these policies."

The Project, in cooperation with the MacArthur Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Asia Research Institute, and the National University of Singapore, has published a series of case studies examining energy security in Asia. The case studies include China's Renewable Energy Development Project, Malaysia's massive expansion of hydroelectric dams in Sarawak and Bangladesh's effort to install two million solar home systems.

In addition, Sovacool's team has partnered with Morgan Bazilian, special advisor to the Director-General of the United Nation's program on international energy and climate policy, to explore new approaches to energy governance in Energy Policy, the world's leading journal on energy supply, demand and utilization (Read the Energy Policy article).

"Global energy policymakers are experiencing an ‘a-ha' moment that questions everything we ever thought about energy security, climate change and adaptation" said Christopher Cooper, the Project's senior research fellow. "Just as global development policy underwent a radical transformation after efforts that looked good on paper failed in the field, energy policymakers are reexamining just what it means to be energy secure."

Available to comment are:
• Associate Professor Benjamin Sovacool: 802.831.1053 or bsovacool@vermontlaw.edu
• Senior Research Fellow Christopher Cooper: 202.251.7166 or ccooper@vermontlaw.edu

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations, Vermont Law School
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

VT Law School Receives $1.25 Million Grant for Agriculture Center

Vermont Law School — 19 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School has received a $1.25 million grant to support its new Center for Agriculture and Food Systems, which advocates for community-based agriculture across the United States.

The anonymous grant, which will be distributed over four years, will allow the center to hire a director with national experience and to expand its agricultural law and policy curriculum and training, research and support programs.

"This generous grant recognizes Vermont Law School's growing strength in agricultural law and policy," said Professor John Echeverria, acting director of the Environmental Law Center.

The agriculture center builds on Vermont's reputation for small-scale agricultural innovation and ethos of environmental and social sustainability. It will provide support for community-based agricultural systems, sustainable agriculture advocates, agencies, food hubs, incubators and farmers.

"This center is unique in its focus on sustainable food, food safety and the regulatory, tax and governance systems that support agricultural policy," said Dean Jeff Shields.

VLS is launching a national search for a director to work with VLS's environmental faculty, Food and Agricultural Law Society students, alumni who work in organizations such as the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the Center for Food Safety, and the Vermont Department of Agriculture, and a network of national and international advisors.

The VLS agriculture center is:
• Expanding the law school's curriculum to create a comprehensive academic program in agriculture and food policy.
• Continuing research and education projects, such as The Farmer's Handbook for Energy Self-Reliance. The handbook is distributed to more than 4,000 farmers and taken to more than a dozen farmers' forums and conferences nationally.
• Organizing conferences for agricultural leaders such as the 2010 Food, Fuel, and the Future of Farming, which brought together more than 200 scholars, activists, policy leaders and farmers.

The center focuses on legal and policy issues related to community-based agriculture, including the regulation of food, the Farm Bill and agricultural subsidies, energy-efficient food production, energy independence for farmers and other issues that are key to retaining a successful working landscape for rural communities.

Current projects range from agriculture policy to individual faculty and student research in a variety of areas. Recent projects include a study of the regulatory barriers to grain production in Vermont, the Open Space Vermont blog, and a survey of property tax incentives for U.S. agricultural lands.

The center also is supporting the research of key scholars in sustainable agriculture and food issues by hosting a Sustainable Food Systems Summer Scholar during VLS's summer session. Last year's inaugural Summer Scholar was Mary Jane Angelo, a professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and a former senior attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency. This year's Summer Scholar will be Stephanie Tai, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School and an expert on the role of environmental and health sciences in developing regulatory safeguards.

More information about the VLS agriculture center is available at http://www.vermontlaw.edu/x12888.xml

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Failure Isn’t An Option, MLK Day Speaker Tells VT Law School

Vermont Law School — 18 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST

Some of America's founding fathers owned slaves, but their pursuit of equality, justice and a "more perfect union" remains relevant today, Vermont Law School's Martin Luther King, Jr., Day speaker said Tuesday.

In his keynote address, Colmon Elridge III, 30, the youngest gubernatorial executive assistant in the nation, said America's failure to create a perfect union shouldn't discourage people of all races from continuing to pursue that goal.

Shirley Jefferson, associate dean for Student Affairs and Diversity, and Dean Jeff Shields told the audience that King's courage and non-violent tactics have prompted many improvements in society, but that much work remains to be done.

Elridge became executive assistant to Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear in 2007 when he was 26. He also is the first African-American executive vice president of Young Democrats of America. In 2007, he introduced then-presidential candidate Barack Obama when he visited Lexington.

During his MLK Day talk, Elridge discussed the inconsistencies between some of the founding father's words and their actions, but he said they set the nation on a never ending struggle for justice for all its residents.

The founding fathers had "aspirational strength humbled by human weakness," which King understood to be part of humankind's "self-inflicted imperfections," he said.

But America's inability to achieve perfection "isn't an excuse not to try," he said. "Our nation's collective dream of commonality is stronger than that which separates us."

Elridge said the United States was at a critical moment in its history. He urged Americans to reject political divisiveness "for a common purpose of betterment of all people, not for what's politically expedient."

Educating Digital Lawyers: Prof. Goodenough Op-Ed in Huffington Post

Vermont Law School — 17 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST

In a recent op-ed titled "Educating Digital Lawyers" in The Huffington Post, Vermont Law School Professor Oliver Goodenough discussed how law schools may adapt to the changing needs of the legal profession.

"The information, communication and processing innovations that we bundle under the 'digital' label are, like cheap printing before it, creating a wealth of new possibilities for how we can define, deliver and teach that set of rules and enforcement mechanisms we call law," Goodenough wrote. "While specific prediction about what the new world will look like is hard, the general prediction that we are entering into a period of extensive change seems trivially obvious. What is less obvious is whether the members of the AALS will lead the charge or get dragged, moaning and pontificating, into a new age of legal education. As workers across many fields of our evolving economy know, restructuring is painful. Creative destruction often comes at the expense of those most competent in the old system."

Read the article.

Board Strikes Down Previous Local Approval for Power Plant in Pennsylvania

Vermont Law School — 12 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- A 2006 local conditional use permit granted to Robinson Power Company, LLC (RPC) for the proposed construction of a 272-megawatt waste coal power plant was unanimously struck down Monday by the Robinson Township Board of Supervisors of Washington County, Penn.

The board approved a new conditional use permit that reflects the concerns of local residents and environmental groups over the impacts to air and water quality associated with power plants. Instead of the original waste coal power plant proposed, RPC is instead seeking to build one 150-MW natural gas plant and one 150-MW waste coal plant. Neither has received final approval from the board.

The new conditional use permit includes 55 conditions and the board retained the authority to revoke the permit if RPC violates any of a number of the conditions. For the first time, the board is requiring quarterly monitoring for six dangerous air pollutants at the fence line of the property and additional groundwater sampling of potentially impacted areas.

The decision comes after months of hearings on RPC's application to modify the 2006 permit to add natural gas as a fuel source for the power plant. The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), local community group Residents Against the Power Plant (RAPP) and the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC) from the Vermont Law School challenged RPC's application. They argued RPC was proposing an entirely new project that required the board to take a fresh look. The 2006 decision, they argued, was based on facts that are no longer valid, including a state air quality permit that had been revoked in 2010 and no longer applied to RPC's new plans.

The groups also presented the board with documents showing decades of violations at the 600-acre waste coal site where RPC proposed burying coal ash from the power plant, including a recent release of contaminated sediment that fouled a creek more than half a mile downstream from where the facility is permitted to discharge treated wastewater.

Instead of modifying just one of the conditions, as sought by the RPC, the board voted instead to nullify the 2006 permit and issue a new permit with provisions for local accountability and more protections for public health.

Cathy Lodge and other members of RAPP have long argued that the plant would cause harm to their families' health, land, water and animals. "We moved to the country so our children could grow up on land free from pollution, not across the street from a power plant. I see the new conditional use permit as an important first step in providing more protections for my family and community."

Lisa Widawsky Hallowell, an attorney with EIP, said: "This is how the process is supposed to work. The citizens showed up and presented their health and environmental concerns to the board and those concerns were taken seriously enough that the Board took back RPC's prior approval. We will continue to fight to keep dirty new pollution sources out of this community and all of western Pennsylvania and to hold polluters accountable to environmental laws."

For years, the proposed Beech Hollow waste coal power plant has been a contentious issue for residents near the proposed site. The project has been rife with permitting problems, ongoing pollution concerns and a ack of transparency of exactly what would be constructed and operated. Lisa Graves-Marcucci, PA outreach coordinator for EIP, said: "It's always been about health protections. Since 2005, the citizens and I have been working for more accountability to protect the people of the neighboring communities. This board has taken important steps to include health as a major priority."

In the previous 2006 permit fight, the board blocked some citizens from participating in the public hearing, but this time the board included all who wanted to speak and all facts presented.

Ken Rumelt, staff attorney with the ENRLC, said: "The board heard all the evidence and decided they couldn't simply rubber stamp this project. The board has put everyone on notice that this community takes its health and welfare very seriously and is not going to allow anyone to come in and put their well-being at risk."

More information is available from:
• Lisa Hallowell, attorney, EIP: lhallowell@environmentalintegrity.org, (202) 294-3282
• Ken Rumelt, staff attorney, ENRLC: krumelt@vermontlaw.edu, (802) 831-1630
• Lisa Graves-Marcucci, coordinator of PA community organizing, EIP: lgmarcucci@environmentalintegrity.org, (412) 897-0569

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations, Vermont Law School
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Prof. Porto's New Book Argues for More Due Process in College Sports

Vermont Law School — 09 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST

Vermont Law School Associate Professor Brian Porto's new book, "The Supreme Court and the NCAA: The Case for Less Commercialism and More Due Process in College Sports," was recently published.

Two U.S. Supreme Court decisions, NCAA v. Board of Regents (1984) and NCAA v. Tarkanian (1988), have shaped college sports by permitting the emergence of a supercharged commercial enterprise with high financial stakes for institutions and individuals, while failing to guarantee adequate procedural protections for persons charged with wrongdoing within that enterprise.

Porto examines the conditions that led to the cases, the reasoning behind the justices' rulings and the consequences of those rulings.

Arguing that commercialized college sports should be compatible with the goals of higher education and fair to all participants, Porto suggests that the remedy is a federal statute. His proposed College Sports Legal Reform Act would grant the NCAA a limited "educational exemption" from the antitrust laws, enabling it to enhance academic opportunities for athletes. The Act would also afford greater procedural protections to accused parties in NCAA disciplinary proceedings.

Porto's prescription for reform in college sports makes a significant contribution to the debate about how best to address perennial problems in college sports such as cost containment, access to a meaningful education for athletes and fairness in rule enforcement.

Political Advisor Colmon Elridge III to Mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Vermont Law School

Vermont Law School — 09 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Colmon Elridge III, the youngest gubernatorial executive assistant in the nation, will be the keynote speaker Tuesday, Jan. 17 at Vermont Law School's observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The event, which is from 12:45 p.m. in the Chase Community Center, is free and open to the public.

Elridge's talk, titled "Building the More Perfect Union," will discuss King's contention that America's failure to ensure civil rights violates the mandate of the founding fathers, who realized that the union would never be perfect but that Americans should still pursue a more perfect union.

Elridge became executive assistant to Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear in 2009 when he was 27. He is executive vice president of Young Democrats of America and served as the first black National Committeeman for the Kentucky Young Democrats. In 2007, he introduced then-presidential candidate Barack Obama when he visited Lexington.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations, Vermont Law School
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Week of Jan. 2

Vermont Law School — 09 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST

NPR, whose story was picked up by NPR affiliates nationwide, and Inside Climate News spoke with Professor Pat Parenteau on Jan. 4-5 about the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Greenwire talked to Professor Pat Parenteau on Jan. 3 about the potential environmental impacts of a proposed 130-mile railroad project that would transport coal through Montana.

Japan Today, Orange County Register, Epoch Times, Green Faction and other media quoted Mark Cooper and Adjunct Professor Peter Bradford on Jan. 2 about Cooper's new study predicting that regulatory fallout from Japan's nuclear disaster will hamper nuclear power plant construction in the U.S. Cooper is is a senior research fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment.

Scripps News, Puerto Rico Daily Sun and other media ran a Salt Lake Tribune story Jan. 2 quoting Professor Michael McCann on a potential antitrust lawsuit against the Bowl Championship Series.

Weeks of Dec. 12, 19, 26

Vermont Law School — 02 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST

The Salt Lake Tribune talked to Professor Michael McCann on Jan. 1 about a potential antitrust lawsuit against the Bowl Championship Series.

The Burlington Free Press spoke with Professor Cheryl Hanna on Dec. 30 about a proposed rule to authorize Vermont law enforcement officials to break into residences, businesses and other premises to place tracking devices.

The New York Times talked to Adjunct Professor Peter Bradford on Dec. 28 about a dispute within the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The Los Angeles Times, McClatchy News Service, Daily Kos, SNL Financial, Reuters, Yahoo! News, Platts and other media talked to Mark Cooper and Adjunct Professor Peter Bradford on Dec. 28-29 about Cooper's new study finding that regulatory fallout from Japan's nuclear disaster will hamper nuclear power plant construction in the U.S. Cooper is is a senior research fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment.

Hearst Newspapers, whose story ran in the Houston Chronicle and other news outlets nationwide, spoke with Associate Professor Teresa Clemmer on Dec. 28 about the EPA's new air pollution regulations that require power plants in 28 states to cut smog- and soot-forming emissions that cross state lines.

NPR mentioned Professor Michael McCann in a Dec. 27 story about a lawsuit against the NFL by former players who have had concussions.

ClimateWire talked to Professor Pat Parenteau on Dec. 23 about the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Reuters, whose Dec. 22 story was carried by Scientific American and other media, spoke with Adjunct Professor Peter Bradford about the prospects for nuclear power.

Reuters carried an Inside Climate News story on Dec. 22 talking to Professor Pat Parenteau about the political fallout from the Keystone XL pipeline controversy.

In his Sports Illustrated column Dec. 22, Professor Michael McCann discussed the sentencing of boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. for domestic violence.

The Huffington Post, Moms Clean Air Force and Daily Kos quoted Associate Professor Teresa Clemmer on Dec. 21-23 about the EPA's new rules to limit mercury and other toxic air pollutants.

Platts spoke with Professor Pat Parenteau on Dec. 19 about the EPA's legal position in defense of its challenged greenhouse gas tailoring rule.

The Burlington Free Press reported Dec. 19 on volunteers, including VLS students, who helped South Royalton residents hurt by Tropical Storm Irene.

CBS The Early Show spoke with Professor Michael McCann on Dec. 17 about the arrest of NFL player Sam Hurd on drug charges and the possible implications for the league and other players.

WAMC Northeast Public Radio talked to Professor Michael Dworkin on Dec. 16 about Vermont's Comprehensive Energy Plan.

In his two Sports Illustrated columns Dec. 16, Professor Michael McCann discussed the sentencing of former baseball star Barry Bonds for obstruction of justice and the arrest of NFL player Sam Hurd on drug charges.

CBS News talked to Associate Professor Jennifer Taub on Dec. 15 about the salaries and other benefits given to the top-paid CEOs in the U.S.

Greenwire spoke with Professor Pat Parenteau on Dec. 15 about a new survey that found federal agencies are inconsistent in their analysis of how climate change would affect large projects.

Miller-McCune online magazine spoke with Professor Gus Speth on Dec. 15 about "degrowth" economics.

NPR, Bloomberg Businessweek, Gannett News Service, whose stories were picked up by affiliates nationwide, and other media talked to Adjunct Professor Peter Bradford on Dec. 14 about a dispute within the the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Professor Michael McCann talked to several radio stations Dec. 14-16 about the Penn State sexual abuse scandal, Barry Bonds' sentencing and other issues: Jim Rome Show, Yahoo! Sports Radio, Knoxville WNML, Toronto 590, ESPN Burlington, Portland (Oregon) 750 AM and KCBS Los Angeles.

The Huffington Post ran an op-ed on Dec. 13 about adapting to climate change by Associate Professor Benjamin Sovacool.

In his Sports Illustrated column Dec. 13, which was cited by The New York Times, Professor Michael McCann discussed the tactics being used by the lawyer for the former Penn State football coach accused of sexually assaulting children.

In a Vermont Public Radio commentary Dec. 12, Professor Cheryl Hanna discussed whether government holiday displays to commemorate the season are legal.

Renew Grid and other media reported Dec. 12 on the Institute for Energy and the Environment's partnership with Sandia National Laboratory to establish a joint Center for Energy Transformation and Innovation.

Greenwire ran a Tampa Tribune story Dec. 12 talking to Mark Cooper about a failed repair project at a nuclear plant in Florida. Cooper is a senior research fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment.

The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic Daily News, Huffington Post, High Country News, National Law Journal, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Yahoo! News, Digg, NPR Seattle affiliate KUOW, Vermont Public Radio, WCAX, EcoWatch, Burlington Free Press and other media reported Dec. 12-22 on VLS's Top 10 Environmental Watch List, which examined the most important environmental law and policy issues of 2011-12 as chosen by VLS faculty and students.

National Media Report on VT Law School's Top 10 Environmental Watch List

Vermont Law School — 16 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST

The New York Times was among the many media nationwide that reported on the Dec. 12 launch of Vermont Law School's second annual Top 10 Environmental Watch List.

The Watch List spotlights the nation's most critical environmental law and policy issues of 2011 and how they may play out in 2012.

"There are only a few weeks till 2012, which means you are probably trying to shovel your way through the flurries of 'year-in-review' summaries that tend to accumulate around this time," the High Country News said. "One that stands out is Vermont Law School's Top 10 Environmental Watch List, the venerated law school's yearly synthesis of the country's most pressing and topical environmental issues and developments."

Read the coverage: Los Angeles Times, National Law Journal, High Country News, New York Times, National Geographic Daily News, Huffington Post and Vermont Public Radio.

Is the Durban Platform a Suicide Pact?

Vermont Law School — 16 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST

Vermont Law School Professor Pat Parenteau, whose expertise includes climate change, wrote the following commentary on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban, South Africa, which concluded Dec. 11, 2011:

Measured against the goal of saving the Kyoto protocol and avoiding the complete collapse of the U.N. framework for addressing climate change, Durban was a qualified success. Measured against the goal of acting in time to avoid the catastrophic consequences of climate change, however, Durban was a bust.

Thanks to an 11th hour deal brokered by the European Union and India, the delegates from 194 nations adopted the Durban Platform, which breaches the controversial "firewall" between developed and developing nations and calls for negotiating a comprehensive emissions reduction "instrument" by 2015 that would enter into force by 2020. Not necessarily a mandate to achieve specific limits, but an instrument with "legal force."

Unfortunately, even with a binding agreement by 2020 it will be too late to hold average global temperatures below the 2° C target agreed to in the Copenhagen Accord. That's the target leading climate scientist James Hansen says is too high and will likely result in the loss of the Greenland ice sheet, leading to a 20-foot sea level rise over several centuries. According to the 2011 World Energy Outlook published by the International Energy Agency, the world has less than five years to avoid a "carbon lock-in" caused by a multi-trillion dollar investment in fossil fuel sources. That would boost global temperatures by at least 3.5 °C by 2100, with catastrophic effects in many parts of the world from flooding, drought, famine, heat waves and disease. In fact, the increase could well be closer to 4° C, given nasty feedbacks like the accelerated melting of Arctic permafrost that is well underway.

What would a 4° C world be like? Here's how Kevin Anderson, director of the prestigious Tyndall Energy Program describes it: "A 4 degrees C future is incompatible with an organized global community, is likely to be beyond 'adaptation', is devastating to the majority of ecosystems and has a high probability of not being stable." Translation: a planet you would not want to bequeath to your grandchildren.

Delaying action until 2020 also means that the costs of carbon reduction would be four times greater than they would be today, according to IEA. On a more positive note, Durban did produce a management framework, the Green Climate Fund, which will eventually gather and disburse some $100 billion per year by 2020 to help poor countries develop cleanly and adapt to climate impacts. The proposed fund can help draw private capital into international climate finance. Some progress was also made on addressing deforestation, which is responsible for 15 percent of the emissions -- more than the combined emissions of all of the motor vehicles on the planet.

Sadly, the Obama administration was essentially a no-show in Durban, electing to send a low level delegation and keeping a low profile with an eye toward the 2012 elections. Overtures from the Chinese were rebuffed; expectations were constantly lowered; no substantive proposals were forthcoming. This may be good negotiating strategy for a trade agreement but not when the stakes are the future of civilization on earth.

While some may argue that any agreement is better than no agreement, Durban could turn out to be a suicide pact unless the major greenhouse gas emitters come to their senses, stop posturing and immediately commit to de-carbonizing the global economy. Last year saw a record increase in CO2 emissions of nearly six percent despite a weak economy. By 2020, we'd better have turned that around. Another "instrument" won't cut it.

EPA’s Mercury Rules: VT Law School Expert Available to Comment

Vermont Law School — 16 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School Associate Professor Teresa Clemmer is available to comment on the EPA's new rules to limit mercury and other toxic air pollution from power plants. The rules are to be announced Friday.

Clemmer, a nationally known expert on air pollution, can be reached at 802.831.1136 or tclemmer@vermontlaw.edu

The EPA's new rules would require power plants that burn coal to cut more than 90 percent of the mercury from their exhaust within three years. The plants also would have to cut arsenic, acid gases and other pollutants that cause premature deaths, respiratory and heart disease and cancer.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations, Vermont Law School
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Today’s House Vote on Keystone Pipeline: VT Law School Experts Available to Comment

Vermont Law School — 16 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School has experts available to comment on the House's expected vote today to fast-track approval of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline proposal.

Professor Pat Parenteau, whose expertise includes climate change and environmental policy and litigation, can be reached at 802.831.1305 or pparenteau@vermontlaw.edu

Professor John Echeverria, whose expertise includes climate change and land use regulation, can be reached at 802.831.1386 or jecheverria@vermontlaw.edu

Professor Gus Speth, whose expertise includes climate change, can be reached at 802.831.1192 or gspeth@vermontlaw.edu

The House is expected to pass a bill today to extend the payroll tax cut and speed the approval process of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The State Department has delayed a decision on the pipeline until 2013 to further study's its environmental impacts, and President Obama has said he will reject any effort to link the pipeline to extending the payroll tax cut.

The Keystone provision directs the president to grant a permit for the pipeline within 60 days, but not if he determines the pipeline "would not serve the national interest." He would then have 15 days to explain his decision to Congress, but the timeframe would require a decision by the spring if the bill passes before the end of the year.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations, Vermont Law School
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Weeks of Nov. 28-Dec. 5

Vermont Law School — 15 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST

The Tampa Tribune spoke with Mark Cooper on Dec. 11 about a failed $2.5 billion repair project at a nuclear plant in Florida. Cooper is a senior research fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment.

The Burlington Free Press talked to James Maroney '12 on Dec. 11 about his effort to reduce farm pollution from washing into Lake Champlain.

The Valley News spoke to Assistant Professor Siu Tip Lam on Dec. 11 about U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's talk at the Vermont Women's Economic Opportunity Conference.

WCAX talked to Professor Cheryl Hanna on Dec. 9 about efforts to make public the police records involved in an incident in which police responding to a burglary report handcuffed and pepper-sprayed a Vermont man in his home.

The Caledonian Record and VTDigger quoted Assistant Professor Don Kries in a Dec. 9 story about a local journalist's arrest for trespassing while covering a controversial wind turbine project.

Vermont Public Radio spoke with Associate Professor Michele Martinez Campbell and Windsor County State's Attorney Robert Sand, a VLS visiting professor, about efforts to encourage the federal government to reclassify marijuana as a drug in the same category as many prescription drugs.

The Puerto Rico Daily Sun reported Dec. 7 on the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic's work to stop a controversial natural gas pipeline proposal.

Vermont Public Radio talked to Professor Cheryl Hanna on Dec. 7 about the U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming review of the constitutionality of President Obama's health care plan, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's talk at an upcoming conference in Vermont.

Bloomberg News spoke with Professor Michael McCann on Dec. 6 about the NBA labor settlement.

The South Florida Business Journal mentioned Professor Michael McCann in a Dec. 6 story about a lawsuit invovling the New York Mets owners and convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff.

CNN Radio's "Wall Street Shuffle" talked to Professor Michael McCann on Dec. 5 about the NBA labor settlement, the Penn State sexual abuse scandal and other issues.

WWL Radio New Orleans spoke with Professor Michael McCann on Dec. 5 about high-priced contracts for college football coaches.

The Ventura County Star talked to Professor John Echeverria on Dec. 5 about a California municipal water district's lawsuit against the federal government seeking reimbursement for water it had to provide for endangered species.

Vermont Public Radio talked to Professor Oliver Goodenough on Dec. 2 about a trademark dispute between a Vermont folk artist promoting local agriculture and the nation's second-largest chicken restaurant chain.

PBS's FRONTLINE spoke with Professor Michael McCann on Dec. 2 about a class-action lawsuit by college athletes who accuse the NCAA of negligence and inaction regarding head injuries.

PolicyMic ran an op-ed by Joseph Kaifala '13 on Dec. 2 titled "The Problems With Sending African Leaders To The Hague."

Bloomberg News, whose story was picked by Yahoo! Finance, talked to Professor John Echeverria on Dec. 1 about efforts to to break new ground in lawsuits challenging the U.S. takeover of AIG in a bailout that reached $182 billion.

WCAX spoke to Professor Cheryl Hanna on Dec. 1 about standards of evidence in trial of a man accused of killing a baby.

Vermont Public Radio talked to Professor Cheryl Hanna on Nov. 30 about the madness of the holiday season.

Vermont Public Radio spoke with Professor Cheryl Hanna on Nov. 29 about Sen. Patrick Leahy's bill that would allow TV cameras inside the U.S. Supreme Court.

Vermont Public Radio and Equal Time Radio spoke with Associate Professor Jennifer Taub on Nov. 28 about about a constitutional amendment to ban corporate personhood.

The Huffington Post, MSNBC, CBS News, ABC News, Yahoo! Finance, Seattle Times, Denver Post, Christian Science Monitor and nearly 200 other media outlets around the world ran an Associated Press story on Nov. 28 in which Professor Oliver Goodenough discussed a trademark dispute between a Vermont folk artist promoting local agriculture and the nation's second-largest chicken restaurant chain.

Sports Illustrated/CNN Video and Voice of Russia spoke with Professor Michael McCann on Nov. 28 about a Syracuse Univesity basketball coach accused of child molestation.

NPR and NBA TV included Professor Michael McCann in their Nov. 28 coverage of the NBA labor settlement.

Weeks of Nov. 14-21

Vermont Law School — 14 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST

In his Sports Illustrated column Nov. 26, Professor Michael McCann discussed the tentative labor agreement between NBA owners and players.

The Mark Johnson Show WDEV FM 96.1 and WGDR's Gathering Peace spoke to Associate Professor Jennifer Taub on Nov. 21-22 about a constitutional amendment to ban corporate personhood.

The Rutland Herald talked to Associate Professor Michele Martinez Campbell on Nov. 20 about a self-defense claim in an attempted burglary.

ESPN's Radio's Miami affiliate spoke to Professor Michael McCann on Nov. 18 about child abuse allegations against a Syracuse University basketball coach.

SNL Financial, Smart Grid News, Smart Meters, Public Power Daily, Renew Grid, Power Engineering and other media reported Nov. 17 on an Institute for Energy and the Environment study's early findings that smart grid projects can not reach their potential without unprecedented collaboration between government, industry and academia.

VTDigger ran an op-ed Nov. 17 by Assistant Professor Don Kreis on the dispute over wind turbines planned for a Vermont mountaintop.

WCAX spoke to Professor Cheryl Hanna on Nov. 16 about the Occupy Burlington protesters and the constitutionality of Christmas decorations in public places.

Seven Days profiled Professor Gus Speth on Nov. 16, including his role in protesting the Keystone XL oil pipeline proposal.

In his Sports Illustrated column, the Japanese TV show "Tokudane!" (Fuji Television Network), CBS News' Pittsburgh affiliate, Toronto 590 AM, Dallas 1310 AM, WNIO 1390 AM (Youngstown, Ohio) and other media on Nov. 15-19, Professor Michael McCann discussed how the Penn State sexual abuse scandal could be affected by a TV news interview with the accused child molester.

The International Business Times (United Kingdom) reported Nov. 14 on an Institute for Energy and Environment study that found the United States' energy security won't improve if the nation switches from oil to coal for most of its electricity and transportation needs.

NBA TV (here, here and here), Sports Illustrated/CNN Video, NBA News, Boston Globe, (Boston Globe again) Los Angeles Times, Salt Lake City Tribune, Cleveland Plain Dealer, National Review and SB Nation spoke with Professor Michael McCann on Nov. 14-21 about the NBA labor negotiations.

The Cutting Edge talked to Professor Michael McCann on Nov. 14 about Congressional involvement in sports.

Conservation Groups Petition for Emergency Federal Listing of Rare Tree Frog Threatened by Pipeline Project

Vermont Law School — 12 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- A coalition of conservation groups and scientists petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today to immediately list a tiny tree frog endemic to Puerto Rico under the Endangered Species Act.

Read the petition for an emergency listing, which was filed by Vermont Law School's Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC).

The coquí llanero, which is known to live only within a small wetland complex, is threatened with imminent extinction from the proposed construction of the Vía Verde natural gas pipeline project, which would damage lands and waters critical to the frog's only known habitat.

The Fish and Wildlife Service proposed ESA protection for the dime-sized frog in October, but a proposed listing carries no legal protection. ESA protection will require the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to consult on the project and ensure no harm to the frog or its critical habitat.

The Corps issued a draft environmental assessment for the pipeline on Nov. 30, signaling its intent to approve the project as proposed. Construction could begin early next year, prompting the need for immediate protection under the ESA.

"This tiny tree frog depends on wetland vegetation that only occurs within a 600-acre parcel that is threatened by the construction of the pipeline," said amphibian expert Neftalí Ríos, who discovered the species in 2005.

"It is evident that Via Verde threatens to destroy this extraordinary frog's last remaining habitat, so we urge the Fish and Wildlife Service to take swift action," said Jaclyn Lopez, a staff attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.

Professor Pat Parenteau, senior counsel to the ENRLC, said: "Unless the Fish and Wildlife Service moves quickly to list this species, its fate may be decided before there is a chance to save it."

According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, in addition to development, the coquí llanero is threatened by other factors, including habitat degradation for flood control projects and competition from invasive wetland plant species. It also is challenged by its highly specialized ecological requirements and limited population distribution, low reproductive capacity, water and soil pollution, use of herbicides, brush fires, and inadequate regulations for its protection.

In October, the coalition of conservation groups filed a notice of intent to sue the Army Corps of Engineers under the ESA pending approval of the proposed pipeline through ecologically sensitive areas in Puerto Rico. Under the ESA, the Corps must consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service to ensure that the project will not threaten the survival of any of the 44 species that will be affected.

The Corps' analysis has been sharply criticized by scientists who are most familiar with the 44 species. The 92-mile pipeline, which has provoked widespread opposition over environmental and safety concerns, would traverse the island of Puerto Rico. It would run through heavily populated areas as well as mountains, rainforests, natural reserves, karst regions, coastal areas and other sensitive areas inhabited by endangered wildlife and plants, including manatees, hawks and snakes. The project's sponsor maintains that the pipeline will reduce electric rates, but opponents maintain there are more cost effective and less damaging alternatives.

The coalition seeking an emergency listing of the coquí llanero includes the Ciudadanos del Karso (Citizens of Karst), Federación Espeleológica de Puerto Rico (Speleological Federation of Puerto Rico), the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club.

Available to talk to the media are:
• Professor Pat Parenteau: 802.831.1305, pparenteau@vermontlaw.edu
• Attorney Jaclyn Lopez: 415.436.9682 ext. 305, jlopez@biologicaldiversity.org

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations, Vermont Law School
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Nation’s Premier Environmental Law School Unveils Top 10 Environmental Watch List for 2012

Vermont Law School — 12 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School today released its second annual Top 10 Environmental Watch List, spotlighting the nation's most critical environmental law and policy issues of 2011 and how they may play out in 2012.

The Watch List is available at http://watchlist.vermontlaw.edu/

This year's report contains 10 essays, plus a Special Mention essay and three additional issues to watch in 2012. The issues were chosen based on their significance to the environment and public well being and whether a key development is expected in the coming year.

"This year's Watch List is especially important given the continuing fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan," Dean Jeff Shields said. "We also saw unprecedented attacks on the EPA as well as the Obama administration's mixed messages on environmental issues, which have been confusing to the public, conservationists and industry alike. Our Watch List helps to clarify these issues and others that are so critical in the coming election year."

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations, Vermont Law School
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

VT Law School to Unveil Top 10 Environmental Watch List for 2011-12

Vermont Law School — 05 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School will release its second annual Top 10 Environmental Watch List at 9 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 12, 2011, to spotlight the nation's most critical environmental law and policy issues of 2011 and how they may play out in 2012.

The report, which is produced by the top-ranked U.S. environmental law school, will be available at http://watchlist.vermontlaw.edu/

Advance embargoed copies are now available upon request, along with advance interview arrangements, by contacting John Cramer at 802-831-1106 or jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

The Watch List is written by VLS's Environmental Law Center faculty and Vermont Journal of Environmental Law students, who provide common-sense insight into current and upcoming judicial, regulatory, legislative and other issues.

The report's goal is promote public understanding of environmental issues that affect our everyday lives and the natural world.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations, Vermont Law School
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Justice for All: VT Law School Supports Poverty Law Coalition, Fellowships

Vermont Law School — 02 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST

Continuing its tradition of supporting access to justice for all, Vermont Law School and VLS's South Royalton Legal Clinic recently helped host a reception for the Vermont Poverty Law Fellowships program and Vermont Access to Justice Coalition.

The Nov. 28 event in Montpelier included U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, who said the Vermont legal community's ongoing support for the Fellowships has enabled the program to attract candidates nationally to fill a position that contributes to the well being of Vermont's residents, legal community and courts.

Vermont Poverty Law Fellows Grace Pazdan (2008-2010) and Jessica Radbord (2010-2012) told moving stories about clients they have helped--Pazdan as foreclosure crisis fellow and Radbord as safe housing fellow.

Representing VLS at the event were Professor James May, director of the SRLC, and Professor Kinvin Wroth.

The Vermont Access to Justice Coalition includes the Vermont Supreme Court, Vermont Bar Association, Vermont Bar Foundation, Vermont Law School, South Royalton Legal Clinic, Law Line of Vermont, and Vermont Legal Aid. Coalitions similar to Vermont's exist in most states and all are focused on increasing access to justice.

The Vermont Access to Justice Coalition meets monthly at the Vermont Supreme Court. Members share their expertise to craft solutions designed to improve legal representation for low-income Vermonters in civil cases. Two major current efforts are the Access to Justice Campaign, which funds the Vermont Poverty Law Fellow, and a new civil legal needs canvassing effort being conducted in counties across the state. The coalition also works to create new pro bono and low bono (moderate fee for service) opportunities for legal representation of Vermont's indigent citizens.

ENRLC Weighs In On Nitric Acid Rulemaking

Vermont Law School — 30 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST

Vermont Law School's Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC) recently submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency on the agency's proposed revision of its outdated air pollution standards for nitric acid plants. The ENRLC submitted the comments on behalf of the Environmental Integrity Project, Sierra Club, and Natural Resources Defense Council.

The EPA has proposed strengthening the standard for nitrogen oxides (NOx) from new, modified, and reconstructed nitric acid plants to limit ozone, particulate matter, visibility, acid rain and other end results of NOx pollution. But the agency has failed to propose any standard for nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. N2O is a powerful greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 310 times that of carbon dioxide, and the nitric acid industry is the largest industrial source of such emissions. Most nitric acid is used to produce fertilizer.

The ENRLC's comments express support for the stronger NOx standard but emphasize that the EPA's failure to include a nitrous oxide standard is unlawful. The agency's final rule is due by March 30, 2012.

There are an estimated 40 nitric acid plants in the United States. The proposed rule would only apply to those facilities if they modified their production facilities. The EPA estimates that six new facilities will come on line over the next five years and be subject to these requirements. The agency estimates the total annual costs to comply with this proposed rule would be negligible for the industry and consumers. These technologies have the ability to eliminate well over 90 percent of nitrous oxide emissions.

The ENRLC's Chris Ahlers and Ken Rumelt, both LLM Fellows, and Monica Litzelman, a litigation paralegal, prepared the clinic's comments and assembled scientific studies and other supporting materials for inclusion in the administrative record.

Read the comments.

Read the EPA's fact sheet.

The EPA is also developing greenhouse gas standards for power plants, petroleum refineries, and other industrial categories, but it has not issued standards for any of these industrial categories.

Professor Teresa Clemmer

"Over the past two years, EPA has taken remarkable steps to begin regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act," said Associate Professor Teresa Clemmer, acting director of the ENRLC. "Its initial rules have focused on mobile sources and facility-by-facility permitting under the Prevention of Significant Deterioration permitting program. Many environmental groups believe one of the most important next steps is sector-by-sector regulation of stationary sources under the New Source Performance Standards program. Through petitions and litigation, environmental groups are pressuring EPA to begin regulating power plants, petroleum refineries, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, and other industrial sectors. As part of this effort, the ENRLC has been representing the Sierra Club and Environmental Integrity Project in a deadline suit against EPA relating to its overdue review of the NSPS for nitric acid plants."

Grizzly Bears: Professors Tuholske, Pease Help Restore Protected Status for Top Predator

Vermont Law School — 30 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST

Vermont Law School professors Jack Tuholske and Craig Pease played a major role in a federal appellate court's recent decision to restore Endangered Species Act protection for grizzly bears in the Yellowstone region.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service maintains that grizzlies and their habitat in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem have recovered enough to be placed under state management. But the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Nov. 22 struck down federal wildlife managers' 2007 decision to remove the bears from the endangered species list.

The court said the federal agency had not fully considered the decline of whitebark pines, whose seeds are a major food source for grizzlies. The court cited climate change's role in the destruction of whitebark pine forests.

Tuholske handled the case successfully in U.S. District Court, while Earthjustice handled the case before the appellate court. Pease consulted extensively with Tuholske and was one of the scientists relied upon to help restore the grizzlies' federal protection.

Professor Jack Tuholske

"Grizzly bears face a potentially tragic future because their habitat is one of the first to feel the effects of climate disruption," Tuholske said. "This decision provides continued protection for these bears and sets the bar high for the government in terms of scientific integrity in the face of impacts from climate change."

Grizzly bears, one of the American West's most iconic wild animals, have tripled in population to about 600 under federal protection in the greater Yellowstone region over the last 35 years. The court's ruling makes them only the second wildlife species, after the polar bear, to earn protection from harm caused by global warming.

Tuholske, who specializes in public interest environmental litigation throughout the West, has been involved in seminal decisions in environmental, land use, and constitutional law.

Professor Craig Pease

Pease, a research scientist, has expertise in demographic and population models, particularly of plants, songbirds, and bears. He is a leading expert on the Yellowstone grizzlies.

Nearly Tip Off Time: Prof. McCann Examines Tentative NBA Labor Settlement

Vermont Law School — 30 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST

Vermont Law School Professor Michael McCann, one of America's leading sports law experts, has been busy lately providing the nation's media with legal analysis of the tentative labor agreement between NBA owners and players.

Read McCann's Sports Illustrated column.

Watch NBA TV.

"If all goes as planned, the free agency period will begin on Dec. 9, the regular season will begin on Christmas Day and the players' and owners' agreement will last 10 years, with each side able to opt-out after six," McCann writes in SI.com. "All may not go as planned, however, as the league and its players -- some of whom are playing overseas -- still have a number of pressing obstacles to overcome in what are shaping up as frantic days ahead."

McCann, who is director of VLS's Sports Law Institute, is the legal analyst for Sports Illustrated and NBA TV. He also is co-founder of The Project on Law and Mind Sciences at Harvard Law School and teaches a sports law and analytics reading group at Yale Law School.

You Want Kale with That Chicken? Prof. Goodenough Examines Trademark Dispute Between Vermont Artist and Fast Food Chain

Vermont Law School — 30 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST

In a food fight not over nutrition but brand protection, Professor Oliver Goodenough recently spoke to the Associated Press about the trademark dispute between a Vermont folk artist promoting local agriculture and the nation's second-largest chicken restaurant chain.

AP's story was picked up worldwide by more than 150 media outlets, including ABC News, the Huffington Post, MSNBC and Yahoo! Finance.

Lawyers for Chick-fil-A, whose advertising uses the trademarked phrase "eat mor chikin," sent the Vermont artist a letter demanding he stop producing T-shirts and sweatshirts with the slogan "Eat More Kale."

Goodenough's expertise includes intellectual property and copyright law. His research and writing at the intersection of law, economics, finance, media, technology, neuroscience and behavioral biology make him a national authority in several emerging areas of law.

Draft Environmental Assessment Released On Controversial Pipeline Project in Puerto Rico

Vermont Law School — 30 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School has experts available to discuss the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' release today of its draft environmental assessment for the permit application for the controversial Via Verde natural gas pipeline project in Puerto Rico.

The Corps announced Tuesday that the document is available for a 30-day public comment period beginning today, after which the Corps will finalize the document and determine future actions.

Journalists must notify the Corps' Nancy Sticht via e-mail (Nancy.J.Sticht@usace.army.mil) by noon today to participate in a media roundtable on Thursday, Dec. 1, at 10 a.m. EST. Members of the media can call in to the roundtable by dialing 888.622.5357 and entering participant code 286290. Read the Corps' news release.

Vermont Law School's Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC) has filed a notice of intent to sue the Corps based on numerous violations of the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws. The ENRLC is serving as co-counsel for a coalition of community and conservation groups. Read the VLS news release.

Available to talk to the media are:
• Professor Pat Parenteau: 802.831.1305, pparenteau@vermontlaw.edu
• Associate Professor Teresa Clemmer, acting director of the ENRLC: 802.831.1136, tclemmer@vermontlaw.edu

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations, Vermont Law School
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Bam, Pow, Crash! Professor Goodenough Examines Comic Books Dispute

Vermont Law School — 16 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST

Vermont Law School Professor Oliver Goodenough -- a legal superhero in his own right -- and Stephen Bissette of the the Center for Cartoon Studies recently discussed the legal and ethical aspects of the copyright dispute between Marvel Comics and comic book legend Jack Kirby, who created such iconic characters as the X-Men, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Fantastic Four and others.

Listen to the discussion posted on The Comics Journal.

Read coverage in The Hollywood Reporter.

Goodenough's research and writing at the intersection of law, economics, finance, media, technology, neuroscience and behavioral biology make him an authority in several emerging areas of law. He is a Professor of Law and the Director of Scholarship at VLS and a Faculty Fellow at The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, where he is co-director of the Law Lab project.

Bissette is a founding faculty member at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vt., and has been a champion for creator rights for decades.

Rights on Land and Water: Takings Law Conference to Explore Environmental Regulations

Vermont Law School — 15 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School and Georgetown University Law Center will co-host the 14th annual Conference on Litigating Takings Challenges to Land Use and Environmental Regulations on Friday, Nov. 18, in Washington, D.C.

The conference will bring together some of the nation's leading scholars and practitioners to discuss cutting edge issues raised by recent and pending court cases and new initiatives involving land use and environmental regulation.

Key questions to be asked:
• Is the government liable for a taking for causing or contributing to the flooding of private lands?
• Does a lack of "reasonable investment-backed expectations" bar a takings claim?
• Can courts and litigators make sense of the notoriously muddy Penn Central analysis?
• What novel and difficult takings problems is climate change likely to produce?
• How do private rights in land and water differ, and what are the implications of these differences for takings litigation?

Professor John Echeverria, one of the nation's top experts on takings law, is available to comment at 802.831.1386 or jecheverria@vermontlaw.edu

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations, Vermont Law School
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Smart Grid Collaboration Needed to Repower U.S., VT Law School Study Suggests

Vermont Law School — 15 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- The United States needs unprecedented collaboration among electric utilities, government, industry and academia to create a smart grid with clear policies, empowered customers, demonstrated cost savings and a greener environment, according to early results in Vermont Law School's national smart grid research project.

Researchers at VLS's Institute for Energy and the Environment are studying the legal, policy and regulatory hurdles to upgrading the U.S. electric system with smart grid technology. The federal government has awarded $3.4 billion in stimulus funds to utilities and other entities, making the smart grid a key part of the U.S. clean energy agenda.

Vermont, California, Texas and a handful of other states have taken the lead in finding a well-balanced approach to demonstrating and implementing a smart grid system.

VLS is conducting case studies of seven diverse utilities across the country in order to recommend best practices that can be replicated nationwide: Commonwealth Edison, Central Vermont Public Service Company, Long Island Power Authority, Pecan Street Project, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Salt River Project and San Diego Gas and Electric.

VLS's final report isn't due until 2012, but the study's early results suggest:

Kevin Jones

• Clear state policies will speed smart grid results: California and other states that have set clear policies are moving steadily toward their goals rather than getting bogged down in debate over what the goals should be.
• Statewide collaboration can spur progress and innovation: Unprecedented collaboration among Vermont's utilities, government, industry and academia has secured federal stimulus money for the rollout out of a statewide smart grid and broadband system. The unique linking of broadband for underserved areas and a smart grid communications network is achieving state policy objectives with noteworthy efficiency.
• Delivering smarter rates: The Salt River Project's success with time-of-use rates and customer pre-pay service offers clear promise for voluntary dynamic pricing. The project's pre-pay program experience-giving customers timely information about their electric usage and letting them control their consumption-has resulted in satisfied customers and a 12 percent drop in power use.
• Demonstrating the smart grid's future: The Pecan Street Project's focus on how a smart grid can provide value to customers and the environment demonstrates the new technology's end-use potential.
• Uncertainty will impede the smart grid: Without clear cost recovery policies for utilities, the smart's grid's reliability and environmental benefits won't be fully realized.

VLS's final report will address legal, regulatory, structural and other barriers, including privacy concerns; policy requirements; energy efficiency and demand response; distributed generation and storage; electric vehicle integration; and distribution automation.

Read more about VLS's Smart Grid Research Project.

Kevin Jones, the project's leader, is available to comment at 802.831.1054 or kbjones@vermontlaw.edu

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations, Vermont Law School
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Week of Nov. 7

Vermont Law School — 14 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST

ABC News and Bloomberg News quoted Professor Cathryn Nunlist on Nov. 13 and Nov. 11 about the easiest and hardest states in which to get divorced.
The Burlington Free Press spoke with Associate Professor Michele Martinez Campbell on Nov. 13 about the need for greater oversight of Vermont's search warrants.
The Hill talked to Professor Michael McCann on Nov. 13 about Congress delving into sports issues.
VTDigger spoke with Professor Peter Teachout on Nov. 13 about a First Amendment claim over a proposed wind farm in Vermont.
Assistant Professor Don Kreis weighed in on Nov. 13 in the Concord Monitor about the ouster of of New Hampshire's consumer advocate in utility regulation.
OpEdNews carried an article Nov. 13 by William McMullin '12, a Distance Learning master's degree student, about a federal bill to ban wild animals from performing in circuses.
VTDigger ran an op-ed by Professor Jason Czarnezki on Nov. 11 on whether food imports from China are safe.
Vermont Public Radio spoke with Professor Cheryl Hanna on Nov. 11 about a U.S. Supreme Court case on whether corporations can be held liable for human rights abuses.
In his Sports Illustrated columns on Nov. 9 and Nov. 11, Professor Michael McCann analyzed the legal implications of the Penn State sexual abuse scandal. He was also quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Tampa Tribune, FAN 590 Sports Radio Network (Toronto), WEEI Radio (Boston) and other media.
Greenwire spoke with Professor Pat Parenteau on Nov. 8 about environmental groups challenging Congress' decision to remove the gray wolf from Endangered Species Act protection.
The Wall Street Journal on Nov. 8 mentioned the Dispute Resolution Program's 30th anniversary conference.
The Comics Journal carried an audio podcast on Nov. 7 of Professor Oliver Goodenough discussing the legal dispute between Marvel Comics and the family of the late comic book artist Jack Kirby.

Prof. McCann Analyzes Penn State Sex Abuse Scandal for Sports Illustrated

Vermont Law School — 11 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST

Professor Michael McCann, one of the nation's top sports law experts, analyzed the Penn State sexual abuse scandal in his Sports Illustrated column on Nov. 9 and Nov. 11.

Read: Did Joe Paterno break the law? Nov. 9

Read: Sandusky grand jury presentment doesn't tell the whole story Nov. 11

The scandal involves the school's handling of allegations against Jerry Sandusky, 67, a former assistant football coach under head coach Joe Paterno. Sandusky was arrested Nov. 5 on charges of sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year period.

Penn State officials have been criticized for a failure to act adequately after learning that Sandusky might have been abusing children. No one at the university alerted the police.

Empowering Electric Customers: VT Law School Unveils Innovative National Smart Grid Privacy Policy

Vermont Law School — 08 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Putting power customers first, Vermont Law School's Institute for Energy and the Environment today presented a draft smart grid privacy policy designed to serve as a model for utility companies nationwide.

The policy, which was presented at the American Public Power Association's Legal Seminar in Memphis, Tenn., is available at: www.VermontLaw.edu/smartgrid

Under the policy, which is intended to protect consumers while supporting a national roll out of a smart electric grid, utility companies would ensure customer information is not disclosed to third parties except when the customer consents, disclosure is required to provide reliable electric service, or disclosure is required by law, such as warrants or "sunshine" laws.

The policy is intended to regulate the information practices of electric utilities that are implementing new wireless technology in an effort to improve energy reliability, increase efficiency and reduce costs. But the technology also raises privacy concerns because smart meters provide real-time data on electricity use that may indicate how many people are in the house, what they are doing, what appliances are being used and other data that is valuable to advertisers and other companies.

Kevin Jones, VLS's smart grid project leader, said the privacy policy provides clarity on data privacy concerns and protects customer information from unauthorized disclosure, while granting customers access to their own information.

"This policy can be used in the existing form or can be altered to fit each utility's needs and local, state, and federal laws," he said. "Our goal is to help develop a national model for consumer protection, while enabling broad adoption of smart grid technology. We welcome broad input on how we can improve this model policy going forward."

The privacy policy was developed to encompass nine key principles:

1. Make privacy the default setting.
2. Provide complete privacy protection.
3. Know the law regarding public disclosure in your state.
4. Only store/provide access to necessary information.
5. Obtain written consent before disclosing to most third parties.
6. Educate customers about the implications of sharing data with third parties.
7. Notify customers when data is disclosed.
8. Develop a plan for contingencies.
9. Make your privacy policy accessible to customers.

Jones is available to comment at 802.831.1054 or kbjones@vermontlaw.edu

VLS's smart grid research project utilizes case study research to examine legal, regulatory and other policy changes that can best ensure smart grid implementation in the United States improves reliability, enhances consumer value and meets clean energy goals.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Penn State Sex Abuse Scandal: VT Law School Expert Available to Comment

Vermont Law School — 08 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School Professor Michael McCann, an expert in sports law and social psychology and the law, is available to comment on the alleged sexual abuse of young boys by a Penn State football coach.

McCann can be reached at (cell) 617.875.6132, (office) 802.831.1207 or mmccann@vermontlaw.edu

The Pennsylvania attorney general and the state police commissioner have criticized Penn State administrators and football officials, saying they failed to meet their legal and moral responsibility to report the allegations to authorities.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Week of Oct. 31

Vermont Law School — 07 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST

The Burlington Free Press spoke with Associate Professor Michele Martinez Campbell on Nov. 6 about crack cocaine sentencing reform.
NBA TV talked to Professor Michael McCann on Nov. 1, Nov. 5 and Nov. 6 about the NBA labor discussions in New York City. He also was quoted by NBA News, Salt Lake Tribune, Los Angeles Times, FindLaw and CBS Miami.
Wind & Solar quoted Mark Cooper on Nov. 5 about the drop in nuclear stocks after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Cooper is a senior research fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment.
In his Sports Illustrated column Nov. 4, Professor Michael McCann examined the consequences of decertifying the National Basketball Players Association.
Technology Review talked to Professor Peter Bradford on Nov. 4 about how Republican attacks on loan guarantees for bankrupt solar manufacturer Solyndra could restrict nuclear reactor construction in most states.
SNY.tv and ZagsBlog spoke with professors Michael McCann and Brian Porto on Nov. 4 about the Big East Conference's lawsuit against West Virginia University.
In his Sports Illustrated column Nov. 2, Professor Michael McCann discussed Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt's decision to sell the team. He also spoke with the Dan Patrick Show.
Sports Illustrated cited Professor Michael McCann's research on age limits in the NBA on Nov. 2.
The New York Times spoke with Professor John Echeverria on Nov. 1 about the U.S. State Department's decision to award the environmental impact study for the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline to a company with financial ties to the pipeline operator.
VTDigger and other media reported Nov. 1 on Gov. Peter Shumlin's appointment of Thomas Walsh '93 to the Environmental Division of the Superior Court.
Reuters, whose story was carried by CNBC and other media around the world, talked to Professor Pat Parenteau on Oct. 31 about Nebraska's effort to prevent the proposed Keystone XL pipeline from crossing its borders.
ClimateWire spoke with Professor Pat Parenteau on Oct. 31 about a federal appeals court ruling that could delay the nation's first federally permitted offshore wind farm.

Speth Unveils Blueprint For "New America"

Vermont Law School — 04 Nov 2011 16:00:00 EST

The road to the apocalypse isn't necessarily a dead end.

So says Vermont Law School Professor Gus Speth, a founder of the modern environmental movement who in a recent lecture series at VLS brutally indicted what he called an American plutocracy dominated by greed, money and power.

But at his third and final lecture on Nov. 3, Speth concluded it isn't too late for a populist uprising to install a democracy fueled by a sustainable economy, peace, income equality, justice and respect for the environment. The lectures were drawn from Speth's upcoming book to be published next year.

"A successful America is still possible," he said.

Speth said the United States was drowning in poverty, pollution and most other indexes of well being. He blamed politicians and corporations obsessed with profit, power and relentless economic growth.

He called for a new political system and a progressive form of capitalism devoted to sustainable jobs, public health, clean air and water, education and other areas of well being. "Devotion to the public good and human solidarity, not private interests," he said.

Such a system will only come about through a grassroots movement and civil disobedience, which may already have begun with efforts by Occupy Wall Street, MoveOn.org, American Dream Movement, 350.org, World Social Forum and other progressive groups, he said.

He said transformative change will require struggle. "'Power concedes nothing without a demand,'" he said, quoting Frederick Douglass.

Speth laid out 10 goals for a new America:

• A reformed voting system in which citizens are automatically registered to vote when they turn 18, Election Day is a national holiday and a National Elections Commission ensures voting integrity.
• A Constitutional amendment to directly elect the President or require that states give all their electoral votes to the top popular vote getter.
• Primary elections open to all parties and candidates.
• No more gerrymandering.
• A break up of the two-party monopoly.
• An end to filibusters in Congress.
• Campaign finance reform.
• A Constitutional amendment to deprive corporations of "personhood" and require shareholder approval of corporate political donations.
• All candidates have equal access to the media.
• Restrictions on lobbyists, including no campaign fundraising or bundled contributions.

Speth, who joined VLS in 2010, is a former dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, administrator of the U.N. Development Programme, chair of the U.N. Development Group, founder of the World Resources Institute and co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Wielding a Green Gavel: Chinese Judges Receive New Training to Crack Down on Polluters

Vermont Law School — 03 Nov 2011 16:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- China's green regulations, green lawsuits and green activism are making some progress in reducing pollution from the nation's economic boon, but a lesser known environmental initiative also is underway - delivering green justice from the bench.

Under a pilot program, Vermont Law School's U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and two Chinese organizations are overhauling the way Chinese judges are educated and trained in environmental rule of law.

The goals are:
• To empower judges, so they're better prepared to resolve significant environmental disputes and apply pollution laws that are widely ignored by companies that foul the country's air, land and water.
• To help the National Judges College of Supreme People's Court to create its first environmental law curriculum. The college is the China's training institution for the courts.

"Many of China's environmental regulations are ambiguous, making it difficult for courts to interpret and enforce the law consistently, and China's judges often lack the training, knowledge, skills and confidence in environmental law to adjudicate these complex cases," said Assistant Professor Siu Tip Lam, program director of VLS's U.S.-China Partnership.

U.S. and Chinese judges, scholars, lawyers and government officials - including Wang Canfa, the head of the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (CLAPV) in Beijing and one of China's most celebrated environmental advocates -- started discussions in September 2010 on how to improve environmental governance training for judges. Those discussions led to a June 2011 meeting of the taskforce to create the curriculum. About 30 judges will attend the first pilot training workshop Nov. 8-10 in Yunnan Province.

The training will include the legal and practical issues that environmental court judges struggle with in public interest cases brought by environmental advocacy groups and public authorities - rather than pollution victims -- who seek injunctive relief, remediation and punitive damages that have been rarely, if ever, been issued by Chinese courts in the past.

The project is based on a training program that the EPA has successfully delivered to judges in many countries. It includes training key National Judges College (NJC) instructors and judges to develop an environmental law curriculum to be included in the regular training program for all judges at the NJC. The curriculum will provide judges with knowledge of environmental laws, a better understanding of the environmental protection principles behind the laws, and the tools to apply those principles in deciding environmental cases and enforcing compliance orders.

China's environmental courts, which started in 2007, are experimenting with rules that allow the procuratorates, environmental protection bureaus and related agencies, and environmental nongovernmental organizations to bring civil cases on behalf of the public interest. Last year, VLS's U.S.-China Partnership helped its partners to open China's first public interest environmental law firm and a new university legal advocacy center for environmental health and safety issues.

As part of the environmental adjudication training project, the U.S.-China Partnership next year will bring two NJC judges to study at Vermont Law School and the EPA, and will host a study tour for judges from China's Supreme People's Court and environmental courts.

The project is directed by the U.S.-China Partnership in cooperation with CLAPV at the China University of Political Science and Law, China's Southwest Forest University, and the EPA. The project, which is to be completed by December 2012, is funded by grants from the U.S.-China Legal Cooperation Fund and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Keystone XL in Nebraska: VT Law School Experts Available to Comment

Vermont Law School — 01 Nov 2011 16:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School has faculty experts available to comment on the Nebraska state legislature's convening of a special session today to debate whether to seek changes to a planned $7 billion oil pipeline traversing the state.

TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Texas would cross the ecologically sensitive Sand Hills area of Nebraska, which sits atop a major source of the region's water, the Ogallala aquifer.

VLS faculty available to comment are:

• Professor Pat Parenteau, whose expertise includes environmental law, land use planning and regulation, and water resources: 802.831.1305, pparenteau@vermontlaw.edu
• Professor Jack Tuholske, whose expertise includes environmental, land use and water resources law: 406.396.6415, jtuholske@vermontlaw.edu
• Professor John Echeverria, whose expertise includes environmental law and land use planning and regulation: 802.831.1386, jecheverria@vermontlaw.edu

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Weeks of Oct. 17-24

Vermont Law School — 31 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST

U.S. News & World Report spoke with Professor Michael McCann on Oct. 28 about lobbying from federal lawmakers to push for their favored colleges to gain the upper hand in negotiations with powerful football conferences.
The Yale Daily News reported Oct. 28 on Assistant Professor Jingjing Liu's analysis of the environmental challenges facing China and the United States.
The Associated Press, whose story was carried by MSNBC, CNBC, ABC News, CBS MoneyWatch, Washington Post, Business Week, Salon, Treehugger, Yahoo! News, Oregonian, Puerto Rico Daily Sun, El Nuevo Dia, MIPRV.com, Prima Hora and 200 other media outlets, reported Oct. 27 on the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic's efforts to force federal officials to more closely scrutinze a proposed natural gas pipeline that would cross ecologically sensitive areas in Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rico Daily Sun included the ENRLC in another story Oct. 28.
Scientific American talked to Associate Professor Benjamin Sovacool on Oct. 27 about vehicle-to-grid technology, which allows networks of electric cars to function like a giant battery and is one step closer to U.S. commercialization.
Vermont Public Radio aired a commentary Oct. 26 by Professor Brian Porto about the life and death of innovative football coach Homer Smith.
The Wall Street Journal spoke with Professor Michael McCann on Oct. 24 about Tony LaRussa, the manager of the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, whose law degree may have influenced his coaching.
Sunshine State News talked to Mark Cooper on Oct. 24 about the costs of four proposed nuclear reactors in Florida. Cooper is a senior research fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment.
The Salt Lake Tribune discussed the NBA lockout with Professor Michael McCann on Oct. 21.
SNL Financial reported Oct. 20 on Mark Cooper's comments about the Florida Public Service Commission's consideration of nuclear cost recovery requests by utility companies.
An Associated Press story about VLS's upcoming domestic violence prevention program ran Oct. 20 in the Oregonian, Boston Globe, WCAX, Washington Examiner, Providence Journal, FOX44 and other media.
The Portland Press Herald (Maine) and other media reported Oct. 19 on Heather Parent '00 being appointed policy director of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
Vermont Business Magazine talked to Professor Michael Dworkin on Oct. 19 about the the merger of Central Vermont Public Service into Green Mountain Power.
Vermont Public Radio, ABC 22, WCAX, FOX 44, Times Argus and Vermont Today spoke with Professor Cheryl Hanna on Oct. 18-19 about Gov. Peter Shumlin's appointment of Beth Robinson to the Vermont Supreme Court.
Vermont Public Radio talked to Professor Cheryl Hanna on Oct. 18 about a U.S. Supreme Court case involving exceptions to labor laws provided to religious schools for hiring and firing instructors.
Smart Grid and New Jersey and Company reported Oct. 17 on an Insitute for Energy and the Environment study that recommends policymakers and utilities begin coordinating efforts to protect the U.S. electrical grid from solar storms.
The Austin American Statesman, Yahoo! News and other media nationwide reported Oct. 17 on the Society for College and University Planning giving a Merit Award to Vermont Law School for the campus master framework plan created with Sasaki Associates.

New Politics Needed to Drive New Economy, Says Environmental Pioneer Gus Speth

Vermont Law School — 27 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School Professor Gus Speth, a founder of the modern environmental movement, will conclude his three-part lecture series on America's future by laying out his plan for a new U.S. economic and political order on Thursday, Nov. 3.

The talk, titled "Writhing Free of an Old Skin: Forging a New Politics to Drive the New Economy," will be from 5:15 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. in the Chase Community Center. The event is free and open to the public.

The lecture series, titled "America, Rising to Its Dream: Charting Passage from Today's Decline to Tomorrow's Rebirth," examines the causes and consequences of the economic, political, social and environmental problems plaguing the United States. Speth said the solution is a social movement that creates a new economic and political system based not on growth but on fairness, justice, sustainability, peace, well being and living in harmony with the planet.

More information is available from Suzanne Todd at stodd@vermontlaw.edu. Vermont CLE credits are available.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Citizens, Conservation Groups Threaten Federal Lawsuit Over Controversial Pipeline Project in Puerto Rico

Vermont Law School — 26 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- A coalition of community and conservation groups alerted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers this morning that it intends to sue the Corps within 60 days over the agency's handling of a proposed natural gas pipeline line through ecologically sensitive areas in Puerto Rico.

On behalf of these groups, Vermont Law School's Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC) filed a notice of intent to sue based on numerous violations of the Endangered Species Act. The notice of intent was sent to the Corps' office in Jacksonville, Fla. Read the notice of intent.

In public comments, the groups also have raised concerns about the Corps' compliance with several other federal laws that do not require a 60-day advance notice before filing a lawsuit. The ENRLC is serving as co-counsel for the coalition along with the University of Puerto Rico Environmental Law Clinic, Puerto Rico Legal Services and other attorneys.

The Corps has 60 days to respond to the notice of intent to sue; a lawsuit can be filed after that period. The Corps is expected to issue a draft environmental assessment of the Vía Verde project before the end of the year. The coalition has urged the Corps to hold public hearings and conduct a more thorough environmental impact study before issuing the permit that would allow construction to begin.

"Our clients' objective is to ensure that the Corps fully complies with federal laws designed to safeguard endangered species and sensitive ecosystems as well as to protect the citizens of Puerto Rico from safety risks and other adverse impacts of the proposed pipeline," said VLS Professor Pat Parenteau, senior counsel for the ENRLC.

The 92-mile pipeline, which has provoked widespread opposition over environmental and safety concerns, would traverse the island of Puerto Rico. It would run through heavily populated areas as well as mountains, rainforests, natural reserves, karst regions, coastal areas and other sensitive areas inhabited by more than 40 species of endangered wildlife and plants - including manatees, hawks and snakes -- while providing no real cost savings to the Puerto Rican people.

"With its limestone topography and recognizable haystack formations, the forested mountains and caves of the karst region are cherished by Puerto Ricans and they contain some of the most biologically diverse habitat in the world," said José Colón of Citizens of the Karst.

In August 2010, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority submitted an application to the Corps for a wetlands dredge-and-fill permit for the Vía Verde pipeline project. Such permit applications require the Corps to comply with the Endangered Species Act and a host of other federal laws. Supporters of the project say it would reduce the island's high electricity costs, but opponents say the true costs have not been fully disclosed and that the project is unlikely to improve consumer rates and may even worsen them.

The notice of intent to sue accuses the Corps of failing to adequately consider the project's potential impacts on endangered species before issuing a wetlands dredge-and-fill permit under the Clean Water Act. The notice also calls into question whether the Corps adequately consulted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Corps' failure to consult with the National Marine Fisheries Services over potential impacts on coastal species, such as endangered corals and sea turtles. These interagency consultations are critical in light of the recent proposed listing of the coquí llanero as endangered. "This tiny tree frog depends on wetland vegetation that only occurs within a 400-acre territory that could be damaged or destroyed by the construction of the pipeline," said amphibian expert Neftalí Ríos.

"The citizens of Puerto Rico are in favor of newer, cleaner and cheaper energy alternatives that can be achieved without this unnecessarily damaging and unjustified project," said Professor Pedro Saadé Llorens, director of the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Puerto Rico. "They believe their energy and environmental needs can be met by providing natural gas to southern coast energy plants and by pursuing efficiency and renewable energy alternatives instead of cutting a six-foot deep trench 92 miles through some of the most pristine ecological habitat in the world. In short, our clients are promoting the best interests of their communities based on sound environmental and economic information."

"The pipeline will cause permanent and unnecessary damage to Puerto Rico's unique and priceless natural heritage," said Jaclyn Lopez, a staff attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.

The coalition includes Ciudadanos del Karso (Citizens of Karst), Federación Espeleológica de Puerto Rico (Speleological Federation of Puerto Rico), Sociedad Ornitológica Puertorriqueña, Inc. (Puerto Rico Ornithological Society), Vegabajeños Impulsando un Desarrollo Ambiental Sustentable (Vegabajeños Supporting Sustainable Environmental Development), Comite Utuadeño Contra el Gasoducto (Utuadeño Committee Against the Pipeline), the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club and several individual citizens.

Available to talk to the media are:

• VLS Professor Pat Parenteau: 802.831.1305, pparenteau@vermontlaw.edu
• VLS Associate Professor Teresa Clemmer, acting director of the ENRLC: 802.831.1136, tclemmer@vermontlaw.edu
• UPR Professor Pedro Saadé Llorens: 787.999.9573, 787.766.3063, 787.397.9993, saadellorensp@microjuris.com
• Attorney Hadassa Santini Colberg, Puerto Rico Legal Services: 787.728.8686 ext. 1256, 787.969.2922, hsantini@servicioslegales.org
• Attorney Jaclyn Lopez, CBD: 415.436.9682 ext. 305, jlopez@biologicaldiversity.org

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235,mailto:jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Kaifala '13 Urges Africans to Invest in Education

Vermont Law School — 25 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST

A recent article in PolicyMic by Vermont Law School student Joseph Kaifala '13 called for African leaders to greatly increase investment in their nations' education systems.

"Unless education takes a place second to none in all African countries, the continent will continue to lag behind in human development," the article said. "All African countries must therefore provide free and compulsory education at least at the elementary and fundamental stages, as required by the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

Kaifala is executive director of the Jeneba Project, a nonprofit group dedicated to improving education for children in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

Read the article titled "Africa Must Invest in Education to Overcome Poverty."

Public Trust Doctrine Can Fight Farm Pollution Runoff, VT Law School Study Finds

Vermont Law School — 18 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- The public trust doctrine, an ancient legal principle used recently in a novel effort to protect the earth's atmosphere from greenhouse gas emissions, can help fight farm runoff, the biggest polluter of the nation's waters, a Vermont Law School study finds.

The article, titled "Wildlife, Water Quality and the Public Trust Doctrine: A Means of Enforcing Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution Management Plans," is available on the New York State Bar Association's web site and SSRN.

The study was authored by third-year JD student Veronique Jarrell-King, who won first place in the New York State Bar Association's Animal Law Writing Competition, the nation's most prominent animal law student writing contest.

"Even though the Clean Water Act has proven successful in many respects, it has failed to properly address agricultural nonpoint source water pollution," the study reports. "This lack of sufficient legislation has left our nation's waters polluted and has detrimentally affected much of the wildlife that depend on these waters for survival. In an effort to prevent further deterioration of our water systems, the public should consider using the public trust doctrine as a means of requiring state and local agencies to consider the public's interests in wildlife and water quality when developing, regulating, and reevaluating nonpoint source pollution control plans."

The public trust doctrine, a common law doctrine that dates to Roman times, requires the government to manage natural resources in the best interest of its citizens. The doctrine has often been used to challenge government actions that harm water, wildlife, land and most recently the earth's atmosphere, but it is not frequently used to combat nonpoint source pollution from farms, the study reports. Nonpoint source pollution, which is runoff from farms, construction sites and other broad areas, is the leading cause of water pollution today. By far, the heaviest nonpoint contributor to water pollution is agricultural runoff, which is a major source of fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, sediment, salts, nutrients and pathogens.

California has a common law system that is best suited to apply the public trust doctrine to enforce nonpoint source pollution control plans, but citizens in other states may also be successful using the doctrine to clean up their surface and ground waters, the study says.

"Through the public trust doctrine, citizens have the potential to challenge a state legislature's or agency's failure to consider the public's interest in wildlife when developing and reviewing nonpoint source pollution control plans, even in the face of strong political pressure from agricultural lobbyists," the study reports.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Perfect Solar Storm: VT Law School Study Recommends Better Preparation, Coordination to Protect Power Grid

Vermont Law School — 17 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- With the planet overdue for a severe solar storm, policymakers and utilities should promptly begin coordinating efforts to protect the electrical grid's vulnerable components, prepare system operators and automate procedures, a Vermont Law School study recommends.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center says an increase in the number of solar storms -- or eruptions of electrically charged gas from the sun -- is expected over the next three to five years.

"While it may be difficult during this time of fiscal austerity to imagine devoting substantial funds to a threat that we have never had to face, a comprehensive plan to prepare for a severe solar storm will cost far less now than will addressing the catastrophic impacts to the North American electricity grid when the perfect solar storm finally arrives," according to the article.

The study, titled "Not Your Father's Y2K: Preparing the North American Power Grid for the Perfect Solar Storm," is published in the Electricity Journal.

Solar storms, whose bursts of electromagnetic energy interfere with the Earth's magnetic field, have the potential to inflict massive damage on high-voltage transmission lines, communication satellites, GPS navigation systems, data centers, air traffic control facilities and other critical infrastructure, including water distribution, sewage, medical care, phone service and fuel supply systems, the study reports.

In 2010, the Space Weather Enterprise Forum, a coalition of federal and private space officials who monitor geomagnetic disturbances and their effects on critical infrastructure, issued a report stating that the nation is not ready for a solar storm of even modest size.

"Electric utilities and transmission system operators need not wait passively for the perfect solar storm," the article says. "A series of eight recommendations, adopted as part of a comprehensive strategy, could address many of the threats a large solar storm imposes on critical parts of the North American bulk power system."

The study's recommendations:

• Incorporate solar storms into North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) reliability standards
• Improve solar storm forecasting
• Upgrade solar storm early warning and alert systems
• Use smarter grid technologies to improve situational awareness
• Expand automatic protective mechanisms
• Automate voltage stabilization
• Invest in domestic manufacturing of system components
• Coordinate policy action

Read the article's abstract. Copies of the full article are available from the authors at VLS's Institute for Energy and the Environment:

• Senior Research Fellow Christopher Cooper: 202.251.7166 or ccooper@vermontlaw.edu
• Associate Professor Benjamin Sovacool: 802.831.1053 or BSovacool@vermontlaw.edu

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Week of Oct. 10

Vermont Law School — 17 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST

An Associated Press story about VLS's upcoming domestic violence prevention program ran Oct. 16 in the Washington Examiner, Providence Journal, FOX44 and other media.
NBA Video, WNST Baltimore Sports and Toronto 590 discussed the NBA lockout with Professor Michael McCann on Oct. 13-14.
Vermont Public Radio spoke with Professor Cheryl Hanna on Oct. 12 about Gov. Shumlin's plan to fill a vacancy on the Vermont Supreme Court.
The Burlington Free Press had an op-ed Oct. 12 by Kevin Jones, VLS's smart grid project leader, who said Vermont's renewable energy policy is not reducing Vermont's carbon emissions and that state legislators should enact a renewable portfolio standard similar to what approximately 30 other states have in place.
The Memphis Commercial Appeal talked to Professor Michael McCann on Oct. 12 about the potential fallout from a threatened lawsuit against the University of Memphis over the NCAA's vacating of its 2007-08 Final Four season.
The Burlington Fress Press talked to Professor Cheryl Hanna about a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the father of a homicide victim against the murder suspect's ex-wife.
Free Speech Radio News spoke with Professor John Echeverria on Oct. 10 about the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline project.

Hard Place and a Rock: Coal Won’t Provide U.S. Energy Security, VT Law School Study Finds

Vermont Law School — 14 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- The United States' energy security won't improve--and economic, social and environmental risks will expand exponentially--if the nation switches from oil to coal for most of its electricity and transportation needs, a Vermont Law School study finds.

The study, titled "From a hard place to a rock: Questioning the energy security of a coal-based economy," is published in Energy Policy. Read the study.

Myriad processes are required to render coal safer and cleaner, meaning a transition to a coal-based economy would require vastly more coal to generate the same amount of energy, the study reports.

"Every aspect of a coal-based economy exacts greater external costs from the increased mining, transportation, processing, combusting and clean up of coal," according to the study. "Some of these costs will be reflected in higher energy costs, squeezing a burdened underclass and crippling an economy in tentative recovery. But many costs will not be reflected in energy prices. These include the increased deaths from coal mining, the increased morbidity and mortality associated with inhalation of particulates, the devastation of the sight and soul of rural mining communities, and the heightened competition over dwindling sources of potable water.

"In theory we may achieve the technological capability to transition from oil dependency to an independent coal-based economy. But, pursuing more CCS (carbon capture and storage) and CTL (coal-to-liquids) research and development risks delaying more durable measures and diverts resources from more effective alternatives like energy efficiency and renewable resources."

The study's authors are available to comment:
• Associate Professor Benjamin Sovacool: 802.831.1053 or BSovacool@vermontlaw.edu
• Senior Research Fellow Christopher Cooper: 202.251.7166 or ccooper@vermontlaw.edu
• Professor Pat Parenteau: 802.831.1305 or pparenteau@vermontlaw.edu

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
Office 802.831.1106, cell 540.798.7099, home 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

New York Times Discusses Keystone XL Project with Prof. Echeverria

Vermont Law School — 13 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST

The New York Times has spoken twice recently with Vermont Law School Professor John Echeverria about the controversial Keystone XL project, which would build a 1,700-mile pipeline from the oil sands of northern Alberta to the Gulf Coast in Texas.

An Oct. 7 story said the U.S. State Department assigned an important environmental impact study of the proposed pipeline to Cardno Entrix, a company with financial ties to the pipeline operator, TransCanada, flouting the intent of a federal law meant to ensure an impartial environmental analysis of major projects.

In a Nov. 1 story, the State Department defended its decision to award the environmental impact study to Cardno Entrix.

Professor Echeverria, one of the nation's leading experts in takings law, has expertise in climate change, constitutional law, land use planning and regulation, and other fields. Before joining VLS in 2009, he was executive director of the Georgetown Environmental Law & Policy Institute at Georgetown University Law Center.

Speth Envisions Revolutionized America as Lecture Series Continues

Vermont Law School — 13 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School Professor Gus Speth laid out a grim assessment of the United States on Oct. 6, saying corporate, political and military greed were destroying the nation in the first of three lectures calling for a grassroots revolution.

In his second lecture on Thursday, Oct. 20, Speth will envision a reborn America based on a platform of fairness, justice, peace and a sustainable economy. In his third lecture on Thursday, Nov. 3, he will explain how that new economic and political system can be accomplished.

The lecture series, titled "America, Rising to Its Dream: Charting Passage from Today's Decline to Tomorrow's Rebirth," is free and open to the public. The lectures will be from 5:15 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. in the Chase Community Center.

Speth, a founder of the modern environmental movement, joined VLS in 2010. He is a former dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, administrator of the U.N. Development Programme, chair of the U.N. Development Group, founder of the World Resources Institute and co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

More information about the lecture series is available at www.vermontlaw.edu/ or from Suzanne Todd at stodd@vermontlaw.edu.Vermont CLE credits are available.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

U.S. Electric Grid Needs Cohesive Cybersecurity Policy, VT Law School Study Finds

Vermont Law School — 13 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Securing America's electric grid is a key part of preventing terrorist attacks on the country's power, water supply and telecommunication systems, but the United States lacks a comprehensive cybersecurity policy for its electricity sector despite having plentiful government policies for protecting other infrastructure, according to a Vermont Law School report.

"Smart-grid technology, which may rely on computer networks to intelligently manage electricity, makes having a cohesive policy all the more important," Zhen Zhang, an attorney specializing in energy and environmental law and a global energy fellow at VLS's Institute for Energy and the Environment, wrote in a recent article in National Defense.

In a recent article in Environmental Practice, Zhang said mandatory government cybersecurity standards in the electric industry need improvement, but that at a basic level they are protecting information networks, resources, and systems from cyber and physical threats. "The electric industry's cybersecurity standards may serve as a model for other industries," she said.

Read the National Defense article. Read the Environmental Practice article.

Zhang can be reached at zzhang001@gmail.com

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

NAFTA Continues to Decimate Mexican Hog Industry, VT Law School Study Finds

Vermont Law School — 11 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- NAFTA's poorly-negotiated trade liberalization policies have been manipulated to exploit Mexican consumers, farm owners and laborers, leading to the demise of that nation's hog industry, according to Vermont Law School Assistant Professor Pamela Vesilind.

Vesilind, an animal law expert, analyzes the latest developments in this issue, which over the past 20 years has left Mexico with more meat but far fewer farmers, in a study titled "NAFTA's Trojan Horse & the Demise of the Mexican Hog Industry." The article is published in the University of Miami Inter-American Law Review.

"In many ways, this transformation echoed the industrialization of agriculture in the southern and mid-western United States in the late 1980s and the 1990s, but with one critical distinction: In the U.S., domestic corporations led the agriculture transformation," Vesilind writes. "Not so in Mexico, where the catalysts were primarily foreign-owned, multinational corporations, mostly second-generation corporations to the American agricultural ‘revolution.' These industrial farming corporations thrived in Mexico, but their success has been devastating to Mexican agriculture."

The article discusses NAFTA's tariff rate quotas, how they failed to protect Mexican hog farmers and how foreign-owned corporations were able to apply a two-sided strategy to take over more than one-third of domestic pork production while developing Mexico into a leading importer of U.S. pork products. The article also reviews why industrial animal farms-or confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs)-are unsustainable without considerable government support, why the CAFO model is even more unsustainable in emerging nations like Mexico, and the U.S. pork lobby actively opposes NAFTA reform.

Vesilind, whose expertise includes animals in agriculture, is available to discuss her NAFTA study and other animal law and policy issues at 802-831-1320 or pvesilind@vermontlaw.edu

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

VT Law School Professor Calls For "Revolution," New Political and Economic Order

Vermont Law School — 07 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST

Gus Speth loves his country. He also thinks it's dying and that a revolution is the only way to save it.

"There's still hope, but it's time for civil disobedience," the Vermont Law School professor said.

Speth, a founder of the modern environmental movement, declared his passion for the United States on Thursday at the start of his three-part lecture series titled "America, Rising to Its Dream: Charting Passage from Today's Decline to Tomorrow's Rebirth." But he also declared the United States an empire rotting from within, plagued by worsening rates of poverty, disease, infant mortality, crime, poor student performance, pollution and nearly every other index of well being.

"I love this country, but I'm profoundly angry" at how it's been neglected, he said.

Speth blamed America's decline on politicians, corporations and military leaders whom he said are obsessed with profit, power, consumerism and the mistaken belief that economic growth and military might are marks of well being. The current economic crisis and high unemployment are exacerbating a growing income gap between the rich and poor, fueling health, social and environmental problems, he said. U.S. military spending now exceeds the rest of the world combined, draining trillions of dollars a year that could be invested in jobs, public health, clean air and water, education and other areas, he said.

America's economy and political system are collapsing because they failed to build on the principles of the New Deal and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from the Roosevelt and post-World War II era, he said.

"Instead, we unleashed ruthless corporate, consumerist capitalism," he said. "The United States has changed from a democracy to a plutocracy and corporatocracy."

Speth said the solution to America's woes is a social movement that creates a new economic and political system-"a new American dream" based not on growth but on a progressive platform of fairness, justice, sustainability, peace, well being and living in harmony with the planet. He said the current system can't be fixed and that "transformative change" is needed to create a new democratic order-"not yesterday's socialism or today's capitalism."

Speth said recent protests against a proposed major oil sands pipeline and Wall Street could be the start of a citizens movement that prompts widespread social reform. "It all comes down to the American people coming together to fight for real democracy and devotion to the public good, not private interests," he said.

Speth's lecture series, which is based on his upcoming book, will continue Oct. 20 and Nov. 3 at the Chase Community Center on VLS's campus. Click here for more information.

In Memoriam: the Vermont Law School Gazebo

Vermont Law School — 07 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST

Vermont Law School's iconic gazebo, which was swept away by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Irene, was memorialized in words, photos and video in a blog post by TruexCullins, the Burlington architectural and interior design firm that created the gazebo.

"The gazebo on the edge of the Oakes Hall parking lot at the Vermont Law School campus was a humble, intimate structure designed for individuals to peacefully reflect and quietly ponder their place in the natural environment," according to the blog.

The gazebo was designed by Rolf Kielman, who also led the historic renovation and addition to the school's Debevoise Hall. In 2006, the VLS gazebo was awarded the AIA Vermont Excellence in Architecture Design Award for a Small Project. The jury thought the project had "charm, pure, simple elegance" and was "very inviting".

Read the blog post.

VT Law School Researcher Calls for Shifting Nuclear Liability to Plant Operators

Vermont Law School — 06 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School energy researcher Mark Cooper on Wednesday called for the repeal of the Price-Anderson Act and for shifting the liability for nuclear accidents from governments and the public to plant operators.

Cooper, senior research fellow for economic analysis at VLS's Institute for Energy and the Environment, made his recommendations in an article, titled "Nuclear liability: The market-based, post-Fukushima case for ending Price-Anderson," in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Article highlights:

• The Price-Anderson Act and international treaties unfairly shift the huge liabilities of nuclear accidents from plant operators to governments and the public, creating a "moral hazard" that encourages unsafe and uneconomic practices.

• Over many decades, regulators have failed to create a system of rules that can substitute for the market discipline of private insurance and ensure safe nuclear plant operations.

• The Fukushima disaster creates an opportunity to phase out current liability regimes, so operators seeking new nuclear licenses have to acquire insurance or otherwise bear the full liability for nuclear accidents.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

“Meddlers” or “Guardians”: VLS Event to Explore Mediation’s Role

Vermont Law School — 05 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School's Dispute Resolution Program will mark its 30th anniversary on Wed., Oct. 12 with a conference that explores the controversy, current status and future prospects of mediation in the public arena. The "Mediator and Public Policy" event starts at 9:30 a.m. in the Chase Community Center.

The 10 a.m. panel, titled "Activist Mediators: Unethical Meddlers or Guardians of Durable Solutions?," brings together the authors of three seminal articles, published in the Vermont Law Review in 1981, that launched an ongoing nationwide discussion of the role of mediation in public conflicts.

"Three giants in the field of mediation will revisit a 30-year-old debate that's been discussed in over 100 law review articles, numerous books and countless conferences," said Associate Professor Sean Nolon, director of VLS's Dispute Resolution Program. "These panelists have vastly divergent views of how mediators should be accountable to the parties in a dispute and are not shy about expressing their disagreements."

Following the conference, VLS and Pepperdine University Law School will co-host the fifth annual East Coast Professional Skills Program Oct. 13-15 in Woodstock, where national leaders in dispute resolution join participants from around the world in an intensive three-day training program.

VLS's Dispute Resolution Program lets students explore more efficient and cooperative processes for dispute resolution through clinics, courses, conferences, workshops and research offerings.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Law Reviews’ Symposium to Examine Impacts of Sorrell v. IMS Health

Vermont Law School — 03 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- The Vermont Law Review and the University of New Hampshire Law Review will co-sponsor an Oct. 14 symposium to explore issues stemming from the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Sorrell v. IMS Health.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be from 8:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., on Friday, Oct. 14, at the University of New Hampshire School of Law campus in Concord.

The symposium, titled "Constitutional Constraints on State Health Care and Privacy Regulation after Sorrell v. IMS Health," will examine federalism and health care regulation (including state single-payer systems), privacy regulation, commercial data as speech and the implications for policy issues ranging from smart-grid deployment to the off-label use of pharmaceuticals.

In June 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Vermont's Prescription Confidentiality Law violated the Free Speech Clause, reasoning that speech in the aid of pharmaceutical marketing is a form of expression protected by the First Amendment.

For more information and to register, visit http://law.unh.edu/lawreview/symposium.php For specific questions, email sorrellconference@gmail.com CLE credits can be applied for at the cost of $115.

The Vermont Law Review, a legal journal edited and managed by students at Vermont Law School, publishes articles contributed by prominent legal scholars as well as student-written notes and comments.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
Office: 802.831.1106, cell: 540.798.7099, home: 802.649.2235, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Week of Oct. 3

Vermont Law School — 03 Oct 2011 13:50:42 EST

The New York Times talked to Professor John Echeverria on Oct. 7 about the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline project. The story was picked up by the International Herald Tribune and other media.
The Wall Street Journal linked to a blog post about VLS's iconic gazebo being destroyed by Tropical Storm Irene.
95.7 The Game (San Francisco) spoke with Professor Michael McCann on Oct. 6 about the NBA labor dispute.
Politico reported Mark Cooper's article Oct. 5 about nuclear liability costs in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Cooper is a senior research fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment.
An Associated Press story Oct. 4 about the impending return of military recruiters to VLS's campus ran in the Military Times, Vermont Public Radio, CBS Minnesota and dozens of other news outlets nationwide.
WCAX spoke with Professor Cheryl Hanna on Oct. 3 about cases set to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court that could impact Vermonters.