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Scholarships and Impacts 2017

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​​​​​​Read below about some of the latest scholarships and impacts made by V​LS community members.

  • Patrick Parenteau's commentary, "Kozinski Resignation Complicates Mandamus Ruling in Kids’ Climate Lawsuit," appears on the American College of Environmental Lawyers (ACOEL) website, December 22, 2017.
     
  • Janet Milne's article, "Carbon Pricing in the Northeast: Looking Through a Legal Lens" appears in 70 National Tax Journal 855-878, December 2017.
     
  • Janet Milne participated in an invitation-only conference, Together in Climate Action: Northeastern North America Policy Summit, MIT, December 7-8, 2017.
     
  • Janet Milne presented at an international carbon pricing webinar, organized by Carbon Pricing Workgroup of the Climate and Energy Funders Group (CEFG), December 5, 2017.
     
  • Hillary Hoffmann's blog piece, "Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments Litigation," appears on the Environmental Law Profs Blog, December 5, 2017.
     
  • Laurie Ristino​ was invited to join the Center for Progressive Reform as a scholar in December 2017.
     
  • Yanmei Lin's chapter, "Rules and Practices of Settlements in U.S. Citizen Suits," appears in the Annual Environmental Public Interest Litigation Observation Report, edited by Li Dun (Legal Press), December 2017.
     
  • Yanmei Lin's article, "Comparative Study on U.S. China Environmental Public Interest Litigation Practice," appears in the Journal of Social Governance in China, December 2017.
     
  • Craig Pease's article "Geoengineering & Hubris: Altering Gargantuan Natural Flows of Energy" appears in the Science and the Law column, Environmental Law Forum, November - December 2017.
     
  • Janet Milne was invited to write the Prologue to a book on Controversial Constitutional Aspects of Environmental Taxation.  The book is the result of a two-year project conducted by the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba-Argentina that examines how environmental taxation can operate within Argentina’s legal system.  Professor Milne submitted the Prologue at the end of November, and publication is expected in early 2018.  The Prologue highlights the importance of examining the legal frameworks that surround the use of environmental taxation, including constitutional provisions.
     
  • Janet Milne delivered a lecture on "Combating the Climate Hoax: State Policy Shields and Swords" at Smith College on November 9, 2017.
     
  • Kinvin Wroth presented an illustrated lecture entitled “Electoral College Reform:  Now? or Never” to a general audience at Vermont Law School on November 4, 2017.
     
  • Jessica Scott is serving as a UVM Sustainability Faculty Fellow for 2017-2018.  The UVM Sustainability Faculty Fellows program works to create a multidisciplinary community of faculty who spend a year exploring concepts of sustainability and how to teach those concepts to students through a series of discussion workshops and a two-day training institute.
     
  • Janet Milne provided a jacket blurb for book that has just been published, Alice Pirlot, Border Tax Adjustments and International Trade Law (Edward Elgar 2017).
     
  • Janet Milne has been invited to take part in a two-year project, Public Finance and Taxation for the Cultural Heritage, organized by law professors at four Italian universities—the University of Teramo, the University of Florence, the University of Venice and the University of Chieta-Pescara.  Professor Milne has been asked to provide the US perspective.
     
  • Mark James was interviewed in "RTO Governance – Is It Broken and Can It be Fixed?" on the Grid Geeks Podcast, Season 2, Episode 4, November 2017.
     
  • Jill Witkowski Heaps presented a session entitled “Leveraging Intersectionality to Address Injustice in Our New Reality” at the Annual New England Clinical Conference hosted at Suffolk University School of Law on October 20, 2017.
     
  • Michael Dworkin served as panel moderator for "National Security and Reliability of the Grid" at the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law Symposium at Vermont Law School, on October 20, 2017.
     
  • Hillary Hoffmann presented "Tribal Natural Resources Co-Management Agreements: Transitioning Natural Resource Management From a Jurisdictional Model to an Ecological Model," at the Economics for the Anthropocene (E4A) Law and Governance Research Initiative and Ecological Law and Governance Association (ELGA) Workshop at McGill University Faculty of Law in Montreal, QC on October 18, 2017.
     
  • Kinvin Wroth was an organizer of, and panel moderator at, a workshop entitled “From Environmental to Ecological Law” sponsored by the Law and Governance component of Economics for the Anthropocene (E4A) at the McGill Faculty of Law, Montreal, QC on October 17-18, 2017.
     
  • Yanmei Lin served on the panel, "Demand-Side Timber Legality Developments in Asia – Part II," at the Forest Legality Week conference by the World Resources Institute, in Washington, DC, on October 18, 2017.
     
  • Thomas McHenry provided opening remarks to the 4th Annual Energy Law and Policy Symposium, hosted by Vermont Law School in Washington, DC on October 18, 2017.
     
  • Jeannie Oliver served on the panel, "Beyond the Traditional Client/Attorney Paradigm: Modeling Professional Responsibility in an Increasingly Complex Ethical World" at the Midwest Clinical Legal Education Conference, University of Kansas School of Law in Lawrence, KS on October 14, 2017.
     
  • Laurie Beyranevand​ served on the panel, "The Overhaul of SNAP and Nutrition Programs" at the Texas A&M Law Review's Fall 2017 Symposium at Texas A&M Law School, Fort Worth, TX on October 6, 2017.
     
  • John Echeverria served on the panel, "Water and Takings," at the 20th Annual Conference on Litigation Takings Challenges to Land Use and Environmental Regulations, co-sponsored by Vermont Law School and held at the University of Minnesota Law School, Minneapolis, MN on October 6, 2017.
     
  • Michael Dworkin served as panel moderator for "Utilities Of The Future – Rate Design & Regulation For Total Energy Transformation" at the Renewable Energy Vermont Annual Conference, Burlington, VT, on October 3, 2017.
     
  • Kevin Jones and Mark James (with former IEE Research Associates Ashleigh Krick JD/MERL '17 and Rikaela Greane '17) published a commissioned white paper  "How the RTO Stakeholder Process Affects Market Efficiency,” for the market-oriented Washington DC think tank R Street Institute R Street Policy Study No. 112, on October 5, 2017.
     
  • Michael Dworkin served as the opening speaker on the legislative panel, "The Utility of the Future," as well as the closing speaker on the legislative panel, "Technical Potentials and Expected Installation Rates," at the Vermont Climate Economy Conference in Montpelier, VT in September 2017.
     
  • Janet Milne co-edited the book, The Green Market Transition: Carbon Taxes, Energy Subsidies and Smart Instrument Mixes, volume XIX in the series, Critical Issues in Environmental Taxation, published by Edward Elgar, September 2017. The book contains a chapter written by Professor Milne, "Carbon Tax Choices: The Tale of Four States."
     
  • Janet Milne edited the two-volume Environmental Taxation and the Law, published by Edward Elgar, September 29, 2017.
     
  • Hillary Hoffmann was interviewed in, "Shrinking America’s National Monuments" by Living on Earth on September 29, 2017.
     
  • Janet Milne served as a panel moderator for "Plenary Session II" and also presented "Climate Change Goals: Is There a Sheriff in Town?" at the 18th Global Conference on Environmental Taxation, co-sponsored by the VLS Environmental Tax Policy Institute, University of Arizona College of Law, Tuscon, AZ on September 28-29, 2017.
     
  • John Echeverria served on the panel, "Government/Community Argument" at the 15th Kratovil Conference on Real Estate Law & Practice at the John Marshall Law School, Chicago, IL, on September 28, 2017.
     
  • Hillary Hoffmann was quoted in "Legal or Not, Trump's Wall is Already Being Built," High Country News, Sept. 25, 2017.
     
  • Several VLS faculty participated in the 8th Annual Colloquium on Environmental Scholarship at Vermont Law School, September 22 - 23, 2017​:
    • Melissa Scanlan, conference organizer
    • David Mears, moderator
    • Laurie Beyranevand, moderator
    • Oliver Goodenough, moderator
    • Jeannie Oliver, moderator
    • Kinvin Wroth, moderator
    • Patrick Parenteau, moderator
    • Joan Vogel, moderator
    • Mark James, presenter, "Attacking Energy Poverty with Energy Efficiency and Confidential Information"
    • Michael Dworkin, moderator
    • Laurie Ristino, moderator
    • Stephen Dycus, moderator
    • Reed Loder, moderator
    • Kevin Jones, moderator
    • Sean Nolon, presenter, "Eroding the “Pervasive Privatism” of Local Government"
       
  • Thomas McHenry provided opening remarks and Stephen Dycus served on two panels, "“Foundational Legal Principles: The Constitutional, Statutory, and Common Laws and Rules Concerning Press Access to Information” and “Whistleblowers, Leakers, and National Security” at the Annual Vermont Law Review Symposium at Vermont Law School, September 15, 2017.
     
  • Laurie Beyranevand​ gave the keynote speaker address, "What’s New in Food Policy," at the Food and Drug Law Institute's Food Advertising, Labeling and Litigation Conference in Washington D.C. on September 13, 2017.
     
  • Kinvin Wroth presented a lecture entitled “Electoral College Reform:  Now? Or Never?” at a Community Partnership meeting in Brookfield, VT on September 12, 2017. 
     
  • Kevin Jones presented "The Past, Present and Future of Battery Storage" at the Solar Power International and Energy Storage International in Las Vegas, September 12, 2017.
     
  • Craig Pease's article "TSCA Reform: Wherein Science Gets Written Into a Federal Statute" appears in the Science and the Law column, Environmental Law Forum, July- August 2017.
     
  • Yanmei Lin's chapter, "Rules and Practices of Citizen Suits Settlement: Lesson from the United States," will appear in the Book of Public Interest Litigation in Environmental Protection Review, edited by Li Dun, Legal Press, forthcoming 2017.
     
  • Kevin Jones was appointed by the Scott Administration as Co-Chair of the Technical Advisory Group for Governor Scott’s Climate Action Commission on July 20, 2017.
     
  • Tracy Bach began her appointment as Director of VLS’s International and Comparative Law Programs (ICLP) on July 1, 2017.
     
  • John Echeverria's article, "Antonin Scalia's Flawed Takings Legacy" appears in Vermont Law Review, Vol. 41, June 7, 2017.
     
  • Hillary Hoffmann's commentary, "Trump's Monuments Order Won't Benefit Tribal Economies," appears in Law360 on June 7, 2017.
     
  • Laurie Beyranevand​'s essay, "Regulating Inherently Subjective Food Labeling Claims," appears in 47 Environmental Law Review 3, 2017.
     
  • Laurie Ristino​ co-authored (with Jamie Konopacky) the article "The Healthy Watershed Framework: A Blueprint for Restoring Nutrient-Impaired Waterbodies Through Integrated Clean Water Act and Farm Bill Conservation Planning and Implementation at the Subwatershed Level," 47 Environmental Law Review 3, 2017.
     
  • Kevin Jones' chapter, "Beyond Community Solar: Aggregating Local Distributed Resources For Resilience And Sustainability" (with Erin Bennet, Flora Wenhui Ji & Borna Kazerooni), will appear in Innovation and Disruption at the Grid’s Edge, Fereidoon P. Sioshansi ed., Academic Press, forthcoming June 2017. 
     
  • Jack Tuholske​ and Judge Sun Qian will have their article, “Explorations of and Reflections on China's System of Environmental Public Interest Litigation” published in the June edition of the Environmental Law Reporter, 47 ELR 10497.
     
  • ​​​​Laurie Ristino​ was a panelist at the Environmental Law Institute’s event Conservation Easements in a Changing Climate on May 17, 2017.
     
  • Kevin Jones and Mark James (with former IEE Research Associate Heather Huebner JD/MERL '17) published "Do You Know Who Owns Your Solar Energy: The Growing Practice of Separating Renewable Attributes from Renewable Energy Development and its Impact on Meeting our Climate Goals,” for a special issue on renewable energy in the Fordham Environmental Law Review, May 10, 2017.
     
  • Melissa Scanlan presented her Blueprint for a Great Lakes Trail at the International Trails Symposium 2017, Dayton, OH, May 8, 2017.
     
  • Laurie Beyranevand​ was invited to speak at the Food and Drug Law Institute’s Annual Conference on May 5, 2017 on a panel entitled, “Top Ten Cases to Watch in Food and Drug Law.
     
  • Hillary Hoffmann​ is publishing Of Dinosaurs and Sagebrush:  The National Monuments of the Colorado Plateau in the Spring 2017 issue of the Grand Canyon Trust's Advocate Magazine.  The article is part of a special issue in honor of President Obama's creation of the Bears Ears National Monument and will contain articles by Terry Tempest Williams, John Echohawk, Prof. John Leshy of U.S. Hastings, and Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) related to the Antiquities Act, the National Monuments of the Colorado Plateau in general, and the Bears Ears Monument specifically.  ​
     
  • Yanmei Lin​'s abstract entitled "A Perfect Storm: How the Taizhou Case Marks the Beginning of a New Wave of Environmental Enforcement in China" (with Amy Pickering) was submitted and accepted to IUCN Academy of Environmental Law 15th Annual Colloquium (29 May - 2 June 2017).
     
  • Tracy Bach delivered the closing statement of the Research and Independent Non-Governmental Organization (RINGO) at the APA1-3 Closing Plenary at the mid-year meeting of the UNFCCC parties, in Bonn, Germany on May 18, 2017. She also moderated a panel on Empowering Civil Society And Using Legal Means To Advance Climate Justice And Ambition at the Climate Law and Governance Roundtable held on the sidelines of this meeting.
     
  • Laurie Ristino's book chapter, "Legal Democracy: Using Legal Design, Technology And Com Munications To Reform  Food And Agriculture Systems", will appear in Law and Policy for the New Economy: Sustainable, Just, and Democratic, Melissa K. Scanlan ed., Edward Elgar, forthcoming 2017.​​
     
  • Kevin Jones' book chapter, "Distributed Renewables In The New Economy: Lessons From Community Solar Development In Vermont​" (with Mark James), will appear in Law and Policy for the New Economy: Sustainable, Just, and Democratic, Melissa K. Scanlan ed., Edward Elgar, forthcoming 2017.​​
     
  • Kevin Jones' book, The Electric Battery: Charging Forward to a Low Carbon Future (with Benjamin Jervey, Matthew Roche & Sarah Barnowski), will be published by Praeger, forthcoming April 30, 2017.
     
  • Laurie Beyranevand and ​​​​Laurie Ristino​ were panelists at the 21st Century Food Law Symposium at Lewis & Clark Law School, April 7, 2017.
     
  • Aurora Moses, Laurie Beyranevand​, Sarah Danly and Marita Canedo (Migrant Justice) will present on a panel entitled, “Milked: Migrant Dairy Labor and the American Dream” at the Harvard Law School’s Just Food? Forum on Labor Across the Food System Conference on April 1, 2017.
     
  • Craig Pease's article "Waste-to-Energy Plants Are Not the Elixir to Solve Power Problem" appears in the Science and the Law column, Environmental Law Forum, March - April 2017.
     
  • David Mears's article, "Flint, Michigan and the Drinking Water Crisis" appears in Trends ABA Section of Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources Newsletter, March/April 2017.
     
  • Mark James's article (coauthored with David Sloan and Kelsey Bain), Planning for the Sun To Come Up: How Nevada and California Explain the Future of Net Metering” appears in 8 Univ. of San Diego J. Climate and Energy L. (2017).
     
  • Mark James's article (coauthored with Ashleigh Krick), Undamming the Federal Production Tax Credit: Creating Financial Incentives for Dam Trading and Dam Removal” appears in 53 Idaho L. Rev. 93 (2017).
     
  • John Echeverria's book, Land Use Regulation: Cases and Materials​, 5th Edition with Daniel Selmi et al, published by Wolters Kluwer is forthcoming in 2017.
     
  • Hillary Hoffmann was quoted about Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s views on federal public lands in a Feb. 28, 2017 article in Backpacker Magazine – “Will Ryan Zinke Save the Outdoors-Or Ruin Them?”
     
  • Yanmei Lin published "Where the Compensation Fund Comes from in the Environmental Public Interest Litigation? How to manage the fund?" (With Ma Rongzhen & Ge Feng), China Environment, Issue 2, 2017, February 20, 2017.
     
  • John Echeverria's article, "The Fate of Environmental Law in a Trump-Era Supreme Court​," appears as a guest blog in Scientific American, February 8, 2017.
     
  • Patrick Parenteau's commentary, "Gorsuch Likely to be Skeptical of Environmental Rules, but that Could Bite Trump, Too​​," appears in Grist, February 3, 2017.
     
  • Melissa Scanlan presented "All About Water" at the University of Florida Levin College of Law’s Environmental Capstone Colloquium, February 1, 2017.
     
  • Tracy Bach's article, "Minding the Gap: Teaching International Climate Change Law Through Service Learning," appears in the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law, volume 18, February 2017.
     
  • David Mears​ presented at a "Learning Session," co-hosted by Vermont Law School and the Lake Champlain Basin Program, at the State House in Montpelier, VT, February 2, 2017.  This event provided Vermont state-elected and appointed leaders with a briefing by experts in the areas of science, engineering, policy and law for a learning session related to the clean water issues facing the State of Vermont, with a focus on nutrient pollution and the Lake Champlain restoration efforts.
     
  • Patrick Parenteau's commentary, "Trump Greenlights Keystone and Dakota Access Pipelines, but the Battle is Far From Over," appears on the American College of Environmental Lawyers (ACOEL) blog on January 26, 2017.
     
  • Hillary Hoffmann's op-ed (with Michael Blumm) "Obama's National Monument Designations Were Lawful, Not Land Grabs" appeared in the Los Angeles Times on January 23, 2017.
     
  • Tracy Bach presented at "The World After Paris," at a colloquium organized by McGill's Journal of Sustainability Law on January 19, 2017.
     
  • Craig Pease's article "Environmental Protection Grinds to Halt With Neonicotinoid Pesticides" appears in the Science and the Law column, Environmental Law Forum, January - February 2017.
     
  • Melissa Scanlan's opinion article, "Does The US Constitution Ensure A Future Livable Planet?" appears on Law360, January 10, 2017.
     
  • Janet Milne's​ article, "Energy Tax Incentives in the United States: A Comparative Perspective on State Aid​," appeared in a special edition of European State Aid Law Quarterly, January 7, 2017.
     
  • Jeannie Oliver's article, "The Energy Trilemma and the Smart Grid: Implications Beyond the United States," (with Benjamin K. Sovacool), appears in Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, January 5, 2017.
     
  • Janet Milne has submitted a chapter entitled "Energy Tax Incentives, the US Commerce Clause and EU State Aid: Common Ground, Different Contours" for publication in M. Villar Ezcurra, ed., State Aids, Taxation and the Energy Sector (Thomson-Reuters Aranzadi), forthcoming 2017.