Environmental law often strikes a balance between keeping the planet green and business in the black, but these days key players on all fronts are working to keep the planet’s thermostat out of the red zone. Legal work related to curbing greenhouse gas emissions is on the rise, lawyers say.
“Any company or business that operates in Europe, Japan, or Canada has to consider the Kyoto protocol,” says John Dernbach, co-chair of a committee that studies climate change and sustainable development for the ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources. The 1997 treaty, which obligates signatory nations to commit to limiting greenhouse gases, has been ratified by 163 countries. Although the U.S. did not sign on, many large American companies do business with nations that did, says Dernbach, a professor at Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg, Pa.
Given Kyoto’s multinational impact, Dernbach says, some U.S. corporations are taking the lead on reducing greenhouse gases to remain competitive in the global marketplace.
“Pretty much everyone sees the handwriting on the wall,” he says. Lawyers, he adds, are needed to help corporate clients comply with evolving emissions standards.
Here at home, regional and local initiatives are implementing their own standards. Stateside legal work, Dernbach says, will flow from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which covers eight Eastern states.
Lawyers can tap into their analytical skills as policymakers. Dernbach’s committee co-chair, Thomas Kerr, sees environmental issues from inside government in his post with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As chair of EPA’s Energy Supply and Industry Branch, Kerr manages a suite of programs that offer businesses incentives and technical assistance to slash emissions and foster investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Kerr foresees plenty of legal work helping corporations anticipate environmental issues and improve operations and practices before such action is mandatory. Staying ahead of the curve allows companies to remain competitive, he notes, and prescient companies may even influence the process. One industrial giant “had a seat at the policy table because they acted early,” Kerr says.
Lynn Bergeson, chair of the ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, agrees that climate change is producing a growth area in the practice. Trained as a chemical engineer, she focuses on chemical product approval and defense in her Washington, D.C., practice.
But Bergeson points to another development that’s sweeping
her practice: nanotechnology. Federal laws governing industrial and
agricultural chemicals are being influenced by the science of observing
and producing the truly small, she says.
Nanotechnology is making its mark on the environmental law landscape.
The EPA is looking at nanotechnology with an eye toward adapting existing
statutes that regulate particulates.
The ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources has been gearing up to brief the U.S. EPA on legal issues related to nanotechnology. These issues include whether the current regulatory structure can cope with novel commercial and other applications of the technology. To learn more, see www.abanet.org/environ/committees/pesticides.
If you’re interested in the field, consider a career or a career-launching pad with government. John Minan, chair of the environmental law committee of the ABA Section of State and Local Government Law, says staff attorney positions are available with federal and state agencies. Minan, who started out with the U.S. Department of Justice, says government work gave him the opportunity to survey the landscape of the private and nonprofit sectors. Today, he’s a professor at the University of San Diego School of Law, where he focuses on water quality and supply. He also chairs a state water quality control board.
Minan advises those seeking federal jobs to plumb opportunities with agencies such as the EPA, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Fish and Wildlife Service. On the state level, in addition to state EPAs, he recommends offices of attorneys general. California’s attorney general, he points out, has an elaborate Office of Chief Counsel with a good number of lawyers advising state and regional water boards.
Dernbach says a background in environmental law may be useful even if your practice takes you to a seemingly unrelated field. He tells the story of how one of his former students took a job with a state retirement board. The agency soon learned that its offices were near a filling station with leaky storage tanks. Because of his knowledge from law school, the new recruit was ready to jump on the contamination issues.
If you are reading this piece, chances are you are already plugged into one great resource: the American Bar Association. As Minan says, “The ABA is a wonderful way for students to become active and engaged with other like-minded professionals.”
Lisa Stansky
is a lawyer with the New Orleans office of McGlinchey Stafford.
