I. Programs
Over the past year, the Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Section (EENR) sponsored numerous programs on cutting-edge issues of interest to the Bar, including climate change, marine management issues, and the illegal trade of endangered species. Whenever possible, we have cosponsored programs with other sections, most notably with the Administrative Law and the International Law Sections. In addition, we have sponsored a number of programs with other organizations, including the Environmental Law Institute, the ABA and the Energy Bar Association. This outreach has given the section greater exposure and has strengthened ties with complementary organizations.
Examples of programs conducted over the past year include the following.
“Equity and Commercial Rights for Genetic Resources” – This program, cosponsored by EENR and the Environmental Law Institute, focused on how scientists find and seek to utilize new genetic resources, such as those found in rain forests and other biodiversity–rich environments. A distinguished panel discussed the issues involved in determining the ownership of rights to these resources, and the international agreements and protocols that exist on the subject.
“Marine Spatial Planning: Why, How and When” – This panel, including a representative of the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality, discussed the need to close data gaps that now exist in charting the Great Lakes and the EEZ sea floor through the use of new three–dimensional remote sensing technologies. Mr. Weiss, the CEQ representative, also discussed the administration’s objectives in devising a framework to improve marine stewardship and make recommendations to the President on Marine Spatial Planning, which are estimated to be transmitted to the President in December 2009.
“Extinction Incorporated: Inside an Illegal Wildlife Trafficking Syndicate” – This program featured Bryan Christy, the author of the highly–praised book The Lizard King, which chronicles the true story of a wildlife smuggler investigated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The program was cosponsored with the Environmental Law Institute.
“Carbon Trading: The New Market in GHGs” - A panel of attorneys and financial experts discussed the new market in trading credits in green house gas compounds. Already a thriving enterprise in Europe, the panel described an emerging market in the U.S. that would bank and sell carbon credits. This brown bag was very well attended and will undoubtedly be re–visited by the section if new climate legislation is passed by Congress that includes a cap and trade regime for green house gases.
“Meet the General Counsel Series” – This ongoing series provides practitioners with the opportunity to meet the general counsel of the regulatory agencies involved in shaping environmental, energy and natural resource law. The general counsels participating in these brown bags discuss the legal challenges facing their agencies and the priorities of their administration. The most recent general counsel brown bag featured the general counsel of the White House office of the Council for Environmental Quality, Ted Boling.
II. Community Outreach
The section has been active in pro bono activities, and Section members staffed two D.C. Bar pro bono advice and referral clinics. In addition, the section cosponsored the 2009 Youth Law Fair.
During this last section election cycle, we recruited candidates for our committee who would provide a stronger tie to the D.C. community. Patrice Simms, one of our new section committee members, is head of the Environment Department of Howard Law School. Another new committee member, Bicky Corman, is the general counsel to the D.C. Department of the Environment. Their addition will keep us better informed and connected with environmental issues of particular interest to the D.C. community.
III. Section Outreach
To better serve Section members and potential members, we publish a quarterly newsletter that provides notice of upcoming programs, describes programs held in the last quarter, and provides D.C. Bar updates of interest to our members. The newsletter is also a vehicle to solicit from Section members ideas for and organization of future programs. The newsletter also invites articles or other publications by section members that may be of interest to the Bar. In addition, we augment and update the environment chapter of the D.C. Bar Practice Manual in order to provide a tool for practitioners encountering legal issues involving D.C. environmental, energy and natural resource law.
By way of attracting less–experienced attorneys to the section, we hold job panels at D.C. law schools at which panels of practitioners drawn from NGOs, federal, D.C. and private practice describe various facets of environmental, energy and natural resource law. In addition, the section annually holds a summer reception for legal interns, giving interns an informal forum for discussing their interest in this area of practice with dozens of seasoned D.C. practitioners, again drawn from a broad spectrum of NGOS, private practice, and federal and D.C. government.
