The Environmental Advocacy Clinic
Overview
As one of the nation’s top-ranked environmental law schools, Vermont Law and Graduate School offers students the chance to apply what they learn in the classroom by working in one of the best environmental law clinics in the country: the Environmental Advocacy Clinic.
The Environmental Advocacy Clinic is an in-house clinic that operates as a public interest law office, teaching students how to be lawyers by representing clients in need. Clinical experience helps students become well-rounded, skilled professionals who can develop arguments and claims from the ground up, explore strategies and options, as well as communicate effectively with clients, courts, agency officials, scientific experts, and opposing parties.
Our Mission
- To provide a high-quality, skills-based educational experience for law students who learn how to become competent, ethical attorneys with expertise in the field of environmental and natural resources law.
- To provide pro bono representation for individuals and organizations who could not otherwise afford legal services.
- To ensure that laws protecting health, wildlife, and the environment are properly interpreted, implemented, and enforced to protect people and places for the benefit of this and future generations.
Highlights
In the Clinic, students serve lead attorneys, supervised by experienced lawyers, representing clients—including leading national conservation organizations and local community groups to promote access to justice on important environmental and natural resources issues. We’ve created positive outcomes for clients in a variety of areas including:
Protecting New England’s Mature Forests
VLGS students are advocating for the protection of mature forests critical to the region’s climate resilience and biodiversity, representing our client Standing Trees, a grassroots membership organization that works to protect and restore New England’s forests for the benefit of the climate, clean water, and biodiversity, with a focus on state and federal public lands in New Hampshire and Vermont.
Students are now challenging several U.S. Forest Service proposed logging projects in the White Mountain National Forest that seek to log mature forests with outstanding natural resource value and have filed formal objections to these projects. Students are also using the Freedom of Information Act and state public records laws to obtain important agency documents about these projects and other forest and wildlife protection issues. The students’ advocacy seeks to ensure that the Forest Service uses the best available science in considering logging projects and fully complies with relevant federal environmental protection laws and guidance – including the National Forest Management Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Endangered Species Act.
Protecting Communities from Pollution
A team of students filed comments with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) calling for a comprehensive analysis of flooding and natural resource impacts on the relicensing of the Pensacola Dam in northeastern Oklahoma. The dam exacerbates flooding upstream, especially along the highly contaminated Tar Creek.
One of the first superfund sites in the country, Tar Creek is laden with toxic pollution from long-abandoned lead and zinc mining operations in the area. Students are continuing to work to ensure that during the relicensing process, FERC takes responsibility for comprehensively analyzing upstream flooding exacerbated by the dam, climate change impacts on the dam’s operations, impacts of toxic pollution, and compliance with the Endangered Species Act.
Environmental Advocacy Clinic Cases
The Environmental Advocacy Clinic works on a range of state, regional, and national environmental issues concentrated in four program areas: Water, Climate, Wildlife, and Healthy Communities.
Water
The Environmental Advocacy Clinic works to protect and restore surface waters, groundwater, and aquatic ecosystems. We’ve filed citizen suits, challenged agency actions, counseled neighborhood groups, and advocated for regulatory and policy changes in multiple venues. A few examples:
Protecting Alaska’s Most Treasured Salmon Fishery
Suing the Environmental Protection Agency’s action to clear the way for a massive copper mine to be in permitted in the heart of the Bristol Bay watershed, one of the world’s most productive fisheries.
Cleaning Up Polluted Mountain Streams
Appealing a permit issued by Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources that would have allowed Jay Peak Resort to continue discharging sediment into impaired mountain streams.
Protecting Vermont’s Water Quality through Systemic Reform
Petitioning the United States Environmental Protection Agency to either assume control of Vermont’s Clean Water Act program, or to require Vermont to properly administer the Act.
Climate
The Clinic’s Climate projects offer student clinicians the chance to work on cutting-edge issues relating to global climate change and energy using a variety of legal tools and strategies. Much of the Clinic’s climate work involves the coal and oil industries because of their overwhelming contribution to the climate crisis and harmful impacts on human health and the environment. A few examples:
Protecting Montana Citizens and Ranchers from New Coal Mining Activities
Working with the Northern Plains Resource Council to prevent harmful coal development in Montana’s Powder River Basin.
Protecting Jobos Bay and Puerto Rico’s Clean Energy Future
Challenging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s decision to approve an offshore liquefied natural gas port and pipeline without the proper environmental impact and endangered species review.
Wildlife
Since its inception, the Clinic has been devoted to protecting wildlife, endangered species, biodiversity, healthy ecosystems, and wild places for their own sake and for the benefit of current and future generations. These irreplaceable resources face a wide array of human-induced threats, including climate change, industrial activities, and government programs that encourage rapid development without adequate attention to environmental consequences. A few examples of the Clinic’s work:
Halting the Unlawful Roundup of Wild Horses
Securing a legal victory on behalf of Wild Horse Fire Brigade to halt the Bureau of Land Management’s roundup of wild horses from private lands in and around the Pokegama Wild Horse Management Area.
Protecting Canada Lynx from Trapping
Suing the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for issuing an Incidental Take Permit that allows trappers in the state of Maine to harm the threatened lynx species.
Protecting Puerto Rico’s Rich Ecosystems from Proposed Via Verde Pipeline
Fighting to protect over 300 acres of wetlands, numerous streams and surface waters, protected natural reserves, unique limestone karst formations, ancient archaeological sites, and more than 40 federally listed endangered species.
Protecting the Gray Wolf in the Northeast
Requiring the United States to maintain Endangered Species Act protections for the gray wolf.
Saving Passamaquoddy Bay
Challenging the federal government’s failure to properly consider the cultural, spiritual, and environmental impacts of a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal on the Passamaquoddy Tribe’s Pleasant Point Reservation.
Healthy Communities
A key component of the Healthy Communities program is to help communities in northern New England address contaminated sites and polluting facilities in their neighborhoods, often in partnership with the New England-based advocacy group Toxics Action Center. This program also includes broader advocacy work directed toward advancing healthy, sustainable policies for the planet. Some examples include:
Advancing Environmental Justice
Partnering with Earth justice and the Ironbound Community to combat pollution disproportionately impacting communities in Newark, New Jersey.
Protecting Virgin Islands Communities from Hazardous Incinerator Emissions
Protecting the health of U.S. Virgin Islands residents by preventing FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers’ from burning more than 600,000 cubic yards of debris—roughly 200 Olympic swimming pools—following Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
Requiring Labels for Genetically Engineered Foods
Providing legal support to advance Vermont’s trailblazing labeling law for genetically engineered foods, and helping to defend the law in court.
Defending Local Communities’ Ability to Protect their Natural Resources
Advising groups how to protect communities from local impacts of large, interstate, and international energy projects.
Opposing Smokestack Industry Next to Residential Community
Representing residents of Graniteville, Vermont, to protect them from air pollution, dangerous traffic, and other threats posed by a new asphalt plant and rock crusher.
Helping Neighbors of Factory Farms
Providing tools to help people who live near factory farms challenge their property tax assessments.
Amicus Briefs
Standing Trees Peabody West Objection
In June 2023, Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic, on behalf of forest protection group Standing Trees, submitted an objection with the U.S. Forest Service, seeking reconsideration of the flawed Peabody West Integrated Resource Project (Project) proposed for the White Mountain National Forest, near Gorham, New Hampshire. The Project would authorize more than 2,200-acres of commercial logging just north of the Great Gulf Wilderness and Mount Washington, in close proximity to the Appalachian Trail.
Read the Amicus Brief
Conowingo Dam Appeal
In February 2022, the EAC filed an amicus brief in the case representing the National Wildlife Federation. The Federal Energy Commission reissued a permit for the Conowingo Hydroelectric Dam that failed to include water quality criteria imposed by the Maryland Department of Environment. The shoddy permit would lead to increased water pollution that would harm aquatic life in the Chesapeake Bay. Our brief supported the appelants, urging the court to set aside the license issued by FERC.
Read the Amicus Brief Here
Appalachicola River Appeal
In January 2021, the EAC filed an amicus brief in the case representing underserved communities throughout the Apalachicola region that have been negatively impacted by the Corps’ water management practices. The Corps’ failure to adequately consider these impacts is a violation of NEPA and the 1994 Executive Order addressing the impact of federal actions on environmental justice communities (EO 12898).
Read the Amicus Brief Here
Who We Are
-
Christophe Courchesne
- Interim Director, Environmental Law Center
- Director, Environmental Advocacy Clinic
- Associate Professor
Expertise: Administrative Law, Energy Law and Regulation, Environmental Law -
Taylor Cox
- Program Coordinator, EAC/EJC
Environmental Advocacy Clinic News and Events
Oklahoma Communities Support Federal Action to Hold Dam Operator Accountable for Dangerous Flooding
December 22Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic files amicus brief in D.C. Circuit supporting federal ruling compelling Grand River Dam Authority to acquire …
Leading Climate Scientists Submit Amicus Brief Supporting EPA’s Clean Car Standards
December 9Environmental Advocacy Clinic Files Brief Describing Reality and Risks of Climate Change in D.C. Circuit to Help Defend Emissions Standards for Light- and Medium-Duty Vehicles…
Christophe Courchesne Named Interim Director of the Environmental Law Center at Vermont Law and Graduate School
July 18Environmental Law and Policy Expert to Lead Top Environmental Law Center Vermont Law and Graduate School (VLGS) has named Christophe Courchesne as the interim director of its …
Conservation Groups Fight for Strong Environmental Protections at Vermont Dams
June 28Friday, June 28, 2024 South Royalton, Vt. Environmental Advocacy Clinic Files Brief in D.C. Circuit and Filing with Federal Regulators to Support State Water Quality Requireme…
E&E News interviewed Christophe Courchesne in “Vermont Wants to Make Big Oil Pay. And It’s Bringing Receipts,” May 2024
Scientific American interviewed Christophe Courchesne in “Vermont Is Coming for Big Oil, Making It Pay for Decades of Climate Pollution,” May 2024.
NHPR interviewed Christophe Courchesne in “Environmental Group Sues US Forest Service for Logging Projects in White Mountain National Forest,” May 2024
InDepthNH.org credited Christophe Courchesne “Group Files Lawsuit to Challenge Logging in White Mountain National Forest,” May 2024
The Hill quoted Christophe Courchesne in “Why Trump’s Tax Law Could Limit Biden’s Efforts to Protect Arctic Wildlife from Drilling,”September 2023
EAC students Hannah Weisgerber JD’25, Janice Smith JD’25, and Sara Alimoradi MECP’24 wrote an op-ed about their roles as student attorney advocates representing Standing Trees, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and restoring forests on New England’s public lands. The op-ed was published in the Valley News. Read the op-ed here. August 2023
Seven Days VT quoted Christophe Courchesne in “Vermont and Its Schools Sued Over PCBs. Will They Win?,”. July 2023
InDepthNH.org quoted Christophe Courchesne in “Challenge Filed to Proposed Logging Project in Northern Presidential Range,”. June 2023
NHPR & Concord Monitor quoted Christophe Courchesne in “Advocates object to White Mountain National Forest plan to manage land near Gorham,”. June 2023
WCAX-TV interviewed Christophe Courchesne, the Director, in “Vermont sues chemical giant Monsanto over toxic PCBs in schools, waters,”. June 2023
“Environmental Justice: The National Context,” Christophe Courchesne was a presenter and panelist, Webinar on “Environmental Justice: What Is It and Why You Should I Care,” Environmental Business Council of New England, Rhode Island Chapter. June 2023
The New York Times: Biden Aims to End Arctic Drilling. A Trump-Era Law Could Foil His Plans.
“Biden’s going to have to do another Arctic drilling lease sale no matter what,” said Patrick Parenteau. June 02, 2021
Bloomberg Law: Biden Era Brings Legal Disappointments for Environmental Groups
“It’s worse when your friends disappoint you,” Vermont Law School professor Patrick Parenteau said. June 01, 2021
Contact Us
If you have questions about the Environmental Advocacy Clinic at Vermont Law School, you are welcome to contact us. Please note that the Clinic does not typically take cases on behalf of individuals, particularly in situations involving complaints against neighbors. We select cases and projects based upon our capacity, and the degree to which they advance the public interest in environmental protection. The Clinic does not represent commercial interests.
Contact
Christophe Courchesne, Director
Phone: 802.831.1630
Taylor Cox, Program Coordinator
802.831.1630
Email: tcox@vermontlaw.edu
Mailing Address
Environmental Advocacy Clinic
Vermont Law School
PO Box 96
South Royalton, VT 05068
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