Environmental lawyers focus on endangered species, watershed permitting and more at recent conference

For environmental and energy lawyers, the place to be from March 9 -12 was the Keystone Resort and Conference Center in Keystone, Colo. What do the recent changes in the make up of the Supreme Court mean for environmental law? Given its budgetary constraints, what are the Environmental Protection Agency's priorities? Will the courts find climate change claims justifiable? Those questions and many more were addressed at the ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources' meeting last month.

During "Changes at the Supreme Court: What Does It Mean for Environmental Law?," Edward C. DuMont of Washington, D.C., said he doesn't believe the addition of justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court will dramatically alter the way the Court decides environmental issues, at least in the short term. What he believes will be important to the two newest justices are such issues as federal v. state rights, standing, and deference to agency expertise. On the same panel, Donald B. Ayer of Washington, D.C., said that when a justice is elevated to the Supreme Court, the rules change – no longer are they bound by higher court decisions.

Break-out sessions during the conference focused on such topics as the Endangered Species Act and how the law can delay or even cancel a proposed project or result in costly permit conditions; what environmental lawyers should know about Securities and Exchange Commission-mandated environmental disclosure requirements; and the new initiatives related to watershed permitting. A practice development workshop examined trends in environmental law practice, including looking at the question of what a client is seeking from an outside counsel.

Among the additional speakers were EPA General Counsel Ann R. Klee, former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, and Jonathan Halperin, documentary filmmaker and producer of National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth: Troubled Waters.

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