37th Public Lands Law Conference

Bridging Divides: Energy, Environment, and Empowerment in a New Era

October 12-13 (Homecoming & Reunion Week)

The 37th Public Land Law Conference seeks to answer the question: How do we bridge divides and find common vision to manage our energy and environmental resources in an evolving political climate? The conference will bring together voices of local communities, federal and state actors, tribal nations, and private and nonprofit interests, to work toward a common vision of the law and policy of energy and the environment. Featured keynotes include Ryan Zinke, Secretary of the Interior (invited), and Distinguished Professor Charles F. Wilkinson, Moses Lasky Professor of Law at the University of Colorado School of Law.

Day 1 includes a field trip through the Upper Clark Fork River Basin to study on-the-ground examples of mining reclamation and energy development. (7 CLE credits pending)

Day 2 includes panels on Water, Wind & Wildlife; Energy, Infrastructure & Culture; and The Theory and Practice of Sustainable Energy Development. (7 CLE credits pending)

Visiting Professor Sandi Zellmer

We are pleased to welcome Professor Sandra Zellmer, the Robert E. Daugherty Professor of Law at the University of Nebraska, next year as a Distinguished Visiting Professor in our Natural Resources & Environmental Law Program. Zellmer is a nationally-recognized teacher and scholar in the fields of natural resources, water, public lands, wildlife, and environmental law. She is a co-author of a leading casebook on natural resources law, as well as a hornbook on natural resources law and Water Law in a Nutshell. Zellmer will teach Public Lands Law, oversee our Land Use & Natural Resources Clinic, and co-teach Water Law with Professor Michelle Bryan.

Ambassador Baucus Visits New International Environment Law Class

This year we inaugurated our newest environmental law class - International Environmental Law. This course covers topics such as international trade and agriculture, water resources, wildlife, climate, and human and indigenous rights. The class kicked things off with a visit from Max Baucus, who just completed his service as Ambassador to China. Ambassador Baucus discussed the importance of US-China relations and China’s emerging role as a leader in renewable energy. The law school will be the home for the future Baucus Institute.

Summer Indian & Indigenous Law Program

There is still time to register for courses in our Summer Indian & Indigenous Law Program, which includes several natural resource topics like “Indigenous Cultural Preservation: Sacred Sites and Religious Freedom” (Professor: Hillary Hoffmann, Vermont Law School), “Good Native Governance” (Professor: Angela Riley, UCLA), and “Environmental Justice in Indian Country” (Professor: Wenona Singel, Michigan State University College of Law).  CLE credit is available for registered attorneys.

Hands-On Learning: Students Study ARCO Cleanup

Continuing our program’s tradition of place-based learning, the students in Introduction to Natural Resources & Environmental Law attended oral argument in Atlantic Richfield Co. v. Second Judicial District Ct. and spent an afternoon at Milltown State Park to discuss how CERCLA natural resource damages are used to remove a dam and contaminated tailings, restore river habitat, and preserve the fishery and cultural interests of the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes.

Cremer Award for Best Paper in Environmental Law

Congratulations to Kathryn Sears Ore, winner of the Cremer Award for Best Paper in Environmental Law, for her article Form and Substance: The National Historic Preservation Act, Badger-Two Medicine, and Meaningful Consultation. Look for it in the upcoming edition of the Public Lands & Resources Law Review.

NREP Faculty Activities

Professor Sam Panarella recently published his article A Bird in the Hand: Shotguns, Deadly Oil Pits, Cute Kittens, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in the Virginia Environmental Law Journal. He will present this article at the upcoming Energy, Utility & Environment Conference in San Diego, California. Professor Panarella also has been appointed to the Advisory Board for the ABA's SEER project on clean energy and micro grids. He will author a chapter in a forthcoming ABA book on those topics.

Professor Monte Mills recently published short articles in The Conversation and The Jurist regarding tribal rights and the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines. Professors Mills, Bryan, and Zellmer also co-authored a piece for The Conversation about the cultural and ecological costs of dismantling national monuments. In addition, Professor Mills presented his work regarding tribal challenges to the Dakota Access Pipeline at the Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities and the 35^th Annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference. He also contributed the foreword for the forthcoming special issue of the Public Land and Resources Law Review honoring Professor Raymond Cross.

Professors Steve Brown and Michelle Bryan are currently writing the Montana Water Law Treatise, along with co-author Chief Water Judge Russell McElyea. Professor Bryan also recently published her article Valuing Sacred Waters Within Prior Appropriation in the Natural Resources Journal. She is presenting this work at the Natural Resources Law Teachers Institute in Banff, Canada in June. Professors Panarella and Bryan are also teaching in the law school’s China Summer Program, offering courses in comparative renewable energy law and comparative environmental and natural resources law.

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