AEP v. Connecticut: The Ruling and its Implications

AEP v. Connecticut (June 20, 2011) is this year's blockbuster environmental law case. AEP is the first decision of the Supreme Court on climate change since Massachusetts v. EPA (2007) and a titanic piece of litigation pitting some of the largest states against some of the country's largest utilities. AEP involves a plethora of constitutional issues (political question, standing and displacement of federal common law) together with equally important issues of judicial management of large-scale environmental litigation. 

The Court in AEP split 4-4 on certain preliminary issues that resulted in an affirmation of part of the lower court ruling, followed by an 8-0 decision reversing the rest of the Second Circuit's decision. The Court agreed with the utility defendants on one core point: That highly complex climate change environmental regulation is more suited to expert agencies set up by Congress than by federal judges issuing "case-by-case injunctions." Justice Ginsburg, writing for the Court, also managed to raise one other constitutional issue not briefed by the parties -- potential federal preemption of state nuisance claims.

On Thursday, July 7, 2011 the American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy and Resources will be hosting a teleconference to discuss the legal, environmental and regulatory implications of this decision. This is a FREE program and will not provide CLE credits.

The lawyer who represented the defendant utility companies, Peter Keisler of Sidley & Austin, and the former senior climate change policy counsel to the EPA Administrator, Professor Lisa Heinzerling of Georgetown University Law Center, will discuss the Court's holding and its implications.

Click here for more information about this program.

40th Annual Conference on Environmental Law! Conference scholarship opportunity for law students! Application deadline Feb.8th!

The ABA Section of Environment, Energy and Resource conferences are always a great place for law students to meet and network with today's environmental practitioners and policy leaders.

Law students interested in a conference scholarship for the upcoming 40th Annual Conference on Environmental Law (Salt Lake City, UT) please read below. You may be eligible to attend the conference for FREE!




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"Environmental Justice" Writing Competition! Get Published and Win Cash!

The winning entry will be awarded a prize of $1000 and will be published in a special issue of the Mississippi Law Journal together with other articles and materials from the Symposium. In addition to the first prize, the Competition will award a second prize of $500 and a third prize of $250. The first place paper will also be published on the ABA-SEER website as will the second and third place papers

-OPEN TO ALL CURRENTLY ENROLLED LAW STUDENTS-

Any relevant article, case comment, note, or essay may be submitted, including writing submitted for academic credit. Jointly authored pieces are eligible only if all authors are students and consent to submit. Previously published pieces, or pieces that are already slated for publication, are ineligible.

For more information, CLICK HERE

Minority Fellowships in Environmental Law

This fellowship program is designed to encourage minority law students to enter the field of environmental law.

Presented by: NYSBA Environmental Law Section

Co-Sponsored By: NYC Bar Association Committee on Environmental Law and the ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources.

Nomination Deadline: November 19, 2010





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Student Writing Competition: "Endangered Environmental Laws" ($2000 cash prize!)

Co-Sponsored by the Environmental Law Institute, the American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy and Resources, and the National Association of Environmental Law Societies

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Award: $2000 cash prize, an offer of publication in the Environmental Law Reporter, and a one-year individual membership to ELI.

Topic: Any topic addressing recent developments or trends in U.S. environmental law that have a significant constitutional or “federalism” component. (See sample topics below.)

Eligibility: Students currently enrolled in law school (in the U.S. or abroad) are eligible, including students who will graduate in the spring or summer of 2011. 





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Environment, Energy and Resource Law Summit in New Orleans (9/29-10/2)

The American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy and Resources Law (ABA-SEER) will be hosting its 18th annual Fall Summit in New Orleans this year (September 29-October 2).

As a 2nd year law student, I attended last year's Falls Summit in Baltimore and it was an incredible experience. I met attorneys from many fields, both private and public, and established great connections with some of today's preeminent environmental law leaders.

I highly recommend attending this conference if you're at all interested in environmental, energy or resource law. The CLE's and "break-out" sessions are great, touching upon some of the most important developments in the field of environmental law. This year's Summit should be particularly special because of the recent BP Oil Disaster that devastated the Gulf Region. I'm sure ABA-SEER will have great programming addressing the disaster, what we can do as attorneys (and law students) to help and what are the most important "lessons learned".

If you're interested in attending as a Law Student Volunteer, please contact Julie Connell (connellj@staff.abanet.org) for more information, or check out the Summit website (http://www.abanet.org/environ/fallmeet/2010/home.shtml).

NoLa is one of my favorite cities, so I'm looking forward to this one.

-JA