January 19, 2017

Faculty Updates - Winter 2016

The Lewis & Clark Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law faculty have been very busy this year. Read all the updates here.

The Lewis & Clark Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law faculty have been very busy this year. Read all the updates here:

Michael C. Blumm published The Public Trust as an Antimonopoly Doctrine, 44 B.C. Envtl. Affairs L. Rev. 1 (2017), https://ssrn.com/abstract=2811969; The Property Clause and Its Discontents: Lessons From the Malheur Occupation, 43 Ecology L.Q. __ (forthcoming 2017), https://ssrn.com/abstract=2817205; Still Crying Out for a ‘Major Overhaul’ after All These Years — Salmon and the Fourth Failed Biological Opinion on Columbia Basin Hydroelectric Operations, 47 Envtl. L. __ (forthcoming 2017), https://ssrn.com/abstract=2858098; Earth on the Docket: Why Obama Can’t Ignore this Climate Lawsuit by America’s Youth, The Conversation (Dec. 15, 2016) (co-authored with Mary C. Wood, Oregon),https://theconversation.com/earth-on-the-docket-why-obama-cant-ignore-this-climate-lawsuit-by-americas-youth-69193; and “No Ordinary Lawsuit”: Climate Change, Due Process, and the Public Trust Doctrine (forthcoming 2017) (also co-authored with Professor Wood).  The federal Bureau of Land Management published final rules revising its land planning process in December, which reflected comments Blumm and Mark Squillace (Colorado) drafted for over 20 law public land law  professors.  The new rule calls for greater attention to areas of critical environmental concern, as authorized by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act:https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/documents/files/PlanningandNepa_Planning_FinalPlanningRuleSigned.pdf.  Whether the rule will survive a hostile Congress and the Trump Administration is an open question.

Bill Funk had a chapter on Constitutional Law and Separation of Powers in Developments in Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice, 2015, published by the ABA Press.  The ABA Press also published the fifth edition of his Federal Administrative Procedure Sourcebook.  Funk’s presentation at the Waters of the United States Symposium at Lewis & Clark, “Make My Day! Dirty Harry and Final Agency Action,” was published in 46 Environmental Law 313 (2016). Funk presented a paper on “Final Agency Action after Hawkes” at the annual meeting of the SouthEastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS).  The paper will be published in the NYU Journal of Law and Liberty.  While at SEALS Funk also appeared on a panel addressing recent Supreme Court administrative and environmental law cases.  In September, Professor Funk, along with Lewis & Clark Law faculty, provided training in environmental law to federal judges. Funk spoke at the Annual Meeting of the National Association of Hearing Officials, where he discussed recent developments in administrative law.  Funk spoke on the Hawkes decision and recent developments in constitutional law and separation of powers annual conference of the Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section of the ABA. 

Erica Lyman has been busy traveling for her work with the International Environmental Law Project. She has attended two meetings of the Convention on International Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) as a legal expert. At the meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES in Johannesburg, South Africa, Professor Lyman’s work included advocating for the regulation of bioengineered wildlife products. Lyman also continued her work as a legal advisor to the Maldives, attending the climate change negotiations in Marrakech, Morocco. Lyman also taught a field course in Cuenca, Ecuador that examines the implementation of sustainable development.

Melissa Powers published a book chapter, “Lessons from U.S. Biofuels Policy: The Renewable Fuels Standard’s Rocky Ride,” in The Law and Policy of Biofuels (eds. Le Boutillier, Cowie, Martin, & McLeod-Kilmurray) (2016), and an essay, “Juliana v. United States and our Zero-Sum Climate System,” as part of a series of essays produced by Environmental Law Collective on the Environmental Law Professors Blog. Melissa presented the following draft papers: “Bringing Climate Science into the Courts,” at the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Colloquium in Oslo, Norway; “Effective Energy Governance in an Age of Transition,” at the Oxford Energy Transition Workshop organized by the University of Oxford, University of Minnesota Law School and University of Melbourne; and “Embracing Integration in the Western Power System: Can and Should FERC Mandate a Western RTO?,” at the University of San Diego’s Climate and Energy Symposium. Melissa moderated a webinar discussion for the Center for Progressive Reform regarding the Clean Power Plan between CPR Scholars Kirsten Engel and David Driesen and opponents to the CPP.  Melissa also discussed the recent climate trust decision, Juliana v. United States, on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Think Out Loud program.

Dan Rohlf is transitioning to full-time classroom teaching, though he still has a few cases remaining on his docket with Earthrise Law Center, Lewis and Clark’s domestic environmental law clinic. Dan and Craig Johnston, Earthrise’s co-founders, along with Earthrise staff, law school colleagues and alums, celebrated the clinic’s 20th anniversary in September. Next semester Rohf is teaching Law of the Columbia River Seminar, putting to good use his 25+ years of experience working on salmon conservation issues in the Columbia Basin. Rohlf, along with Allison LaPlante and Tom Buchele, and in conjunction with our Environmental Law journal, is organizing the spring environmental law symposium: 21st C. Food Law: What’s On Our Plates.

Associate Dean Janice Weis continues to oversee and teach in the annual ESA short course Lewis & Clark offers for federal agency employees and others interested in the ESA, along with Professor Dan Rohlf.  Dean Weis and Professor Melissa Powers were also invited to teach in Ravenna, Italy in July for a comparative environmental law course offered by the University of Bologna. Dean Weis taught sections on NEPA, water law, public lands and the ESA.  In September, she also organized the annual environmental law seminar for federal judges Lewis & Clark offers annually which involves many of the LC faculty.  She taught a segment on NEPA.

Chris Wold traveled to South Africa in September where he helped negotiate rules relating to implementation and compliance of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. In October, he represented Luxembourg at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Slovenia to discuss the human rights of indigenous peoples to whale and the duty of the IWC to manage global stocks of whales. In December he went to Fiji to advocate for greater transparency and shark protection in the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.