DU Graduate Students Attend Oral Argument on "Roadless Rule" at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit

Yesterday a group of students attended the oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver in the important case of State of Wyoming, et.al. v. U.S. Department of Agriculture, et.al. The case is also widely known as the "roadless rule case."

The case, which has been going on for more than 10 years, focuses on whether roads can be built on nearly 60 million acres of federal forest land. According to a recent article in Law Week Colorado, the case has national implications. "The roadless rule is one of the most progressive conservation initiatives in decades," Jim Angell with Earthjustice said. "Our old system of addressing this issue on a forest-by-forest basis was leading to the loss of millions and millions of acres of wild land because things were being piece mealed away." On the other hand, Paul Seby, an attorney representing the Colorado Mining Association, has said that the rule established "de facto wilderness areas" in spite of lacking approval from Congress.

Students were hosted at the important hearing by Lori Potter, a nationally recognized environmental attorney with the Denver firm of Kaplin Kirsch & Rockwell. Before the hearing, Ms. Potter explained to the students the context for the case and its overall importance. She also introduced the students to several key actors in the matter.

During the 60 minute hearing (which was only supposed to last 30 minutes, but went longer than anticipated because of the underlying importance of the issues involved), students watched the three-member judicial panel question both sides' attorneys as the judges probed the underpinning rationale on which each side based its arguments.

The students benefited enormously from Ms. Potter's observations both before and after the oral argument.

Before leaving the 10th Circuit Courthouse, Ms. Potter also arranged for the students to meet 10th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Tim Tymkovich in his chambers. This was a particularly enjoyable experience as the students had the opportunity to ask Judge Tymkovich (who was not a member of the panel hearing the oral argument) questions about his tenure on the bench as well as the process of becoming a federal circuit court judge, one of the highest positions in the entire U.S. federal court system.

All of us at the Sturm College of Law owe a great debt of gratitude to Ms. Potter who proposed the idea of having students attend an oral argument and helped carry it out. Also special recognition goes to Lisa Reynolds, an attorney in Ms. Potter's office and Lucy Daberkow, Assistant Graduate Program Director, for their efforts organizing the event.

Yesterday's experience clearly demonstrates why DU is such a great place to study about environmental and natural resources law. With the help of "community members" such as Ms. Potter students attending DU have the opportunity to enjoy a wide range of events -- in this case an oral argument with national implications -- that add immense richness to the experience of studying at DU.

(The picture above is from the historic courtroom three at the 10th Circuit.)

Iberdrola, World's Largest Wind Energy Producer, to Invest More Than $10 Billion in U.S. Market

Spanish utility giant Iberdrola plans to spend more than $10 billion in the U.S. wind energy market in the next three years.

During the same period the company plans to spend about $6 billion in Spain and the United Kingdom and $3 billion in South America and other locations.

The money spent in the United States represents about 40 percent of the firm's total investment across its entire energy business, the Financial Times has reported ("Iberdrola to Focus on U.S. Growth," Feb. 24, 2010).

Currently Iberdrola has 3,500 MW of installed capacity in the U.S. and is aiming at growing to 23,500 MW of installed capacity.

Carlos Dominguez, a Leading Attorney in South America, Speaks to Environmental Students at University of Denver

An important benefit of studying at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law is the opportunity it provides students and faculty to learn from prominent lawyers from around the world. Recently, one of South America's top attorneys, Carlos Dominguez of Caracas, Venezuela, spent several weeks as a visiting scholar at DU.

One of the classes Mr. Dominguez spoke to was "Comparative Environmental Law," which I teach. In the course, we consider environmental and legal matters in a range of countries. We also talk about the types of issues that might arise in an international setting.

We were honored to have Mr. Dominguez, a partner in the highly-respected firm Hoet Pelaez Castillo & Duque, speak to the class about his practice in litigation and intellectual property law. Among other things, he talked about the historical development of the oil and gas sector in Venezuela.

It was particularly great to have Mr. Dominguez speak since there are an increasingly growing group of matters that are dealt with in an international -- as opposed to just a domestic -- setting, and it is beneficial for students to hear individuals whose experience reflects these changes in the practice of law.

Among the students in the class were individuals from Argentina, Ghana, Japan, Nigeria, Peru, and the United States. (The students in this class really reflect the international diversity of DU's graduate program.)

During his time in Denver, Mr. Dominguez spoke to a wide range of classes, held meetings with many members of the faculty, met with numerous students, and was a great colleague and friend to all of us here.

Muchas gracias a Señor Dominguez. Nos vemos el año próximo! (Many thanks Mr. Dominguez. We will see you next year!)

--Don Smith

National Renewable Energy Laboratory Accounces Application Process for 2010 Energy Leadership Program

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the leading U.S. government agency studying renewable energy and energy efficiency, has just announced that it is taking applications for its 2010 Executive Energy Leadership Program.

The program is open to "business executives throughout the United States who are interested in building their knowledge of the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries."

Selected applicants will meet for two-day periods over five months beginning this May.

As the blog has said before, Colorado is the center for the new energy economy. This program is yet another example of why.

New Report Sets Out What European Union Must Do To Encourage Take Up of Carbon Capture and Sequestration

The European Union, which has enacted legislation mandating a reduction (across the whole of the EU) of greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 based on 1990 levels, must invest more public money for developing carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects as well as implement "strong market signals" to "ensure mass deployment of the technology," according to a new study by a leading EU think-tank.

In "Carbon Capture and Storage: What the EU Needs to Do," the Centre for European Reform in London sets out several key activities that the EU must undertake if it is to have 12 large CCS demonstration projects operating by 2015.

In a broader context, the EU finds itself in an increasingly difficult position. It has adopted strong legislation aimed at achieving its GHG reduction targets. But thus far, despite the leadership it has tried to provide at an international level it is moving along mostly in the absence of any large partners (for example, China, India, the U.S.).

Have the Europeans made a huge strategic mistake that will hinder economic development? Or will their first mover approach pay dividends in a world that will adopt EU-based solutions? Difficult questions to be sure. Only time will tell.

LLM Students Glauce Santesso Coelho and Taciana Marques Play Key Roles as DU Hosts Brazilian Federal Judges Association Conference

Recently the DU Sturm College of Law hosted a visit of more than 30 members of the Association of Federal Judges of Brazil. The Brazilian judges visited the college of law and Denver to learn more about the U.S. legal system as well as to visit several courts located in Denver.

The week-long event was organized by Prof. Rock Pring and his wife Catherine Pring as well as the former president of Brazil's Federal Court of Appeals of the 4th Region Judge Vladimir Passos de Freitas. Prof. Pring and Judge Freitas met several years ago when the Prings were visiting Brazil while working on their Environmental Courts and Tribunals study.

Two Brazilian LLM students were centrally involved in helping the college of law host the members of Brazil's federal judiciary. According to Prof. Pring, "One of the really innovative aspects of the conference was engaging Glauce Coelho [who has practiced as an associate attorney at Demarest & Almeida Advogados and Mattos Filho Advogados, both in Sao Paulo], an impressive Brazilian lawyer who is here getting her LLM in our world-famous Graduate Program in Environmental and Natural Resources Law. Glauce and her team provided the professors with background papers on the Brazilian law of their subjects, inserted Portuguese translations onto the professors' PowerPoints, and assisted the Judges with their questions throughout the morning lectures and afternoon field trips. She was ably supported by two other students of ours: Taciana Marques, [senior associate attorney at Souza Cescon Barrieu & Flesch Advogados in Sao Paulo] another Brazilian lawyer in our LLM Program, and Sierra Russell, a U.S. student in our JD Program who is fluent in Portuguese. The Judges told me they were highlights of the program."

Pictured in the photograph above are Judge Claudia Cristina Cristofani, Prof. Don Smith, attorney Taciana Marques, attorney Glauce Santesso Coelho, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Carlos Lucero, Judge Nino Oliveira Toldo, Judge Marcelo Navarro Ribeiro Dantas, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Neil Gorsuch, and Judge Jose Henrique Guaracy Rebelo. The photograph was taken in the Denver Federal Courthouse where the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals is located.

EU Greenhouse Gases Emission Trading Scheme a "Path Breaking Public Policy Experiment" New Book Reports

The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) "is one of the most exciting and important initiatives ever taken to limit greenhouse gas emissions" according to the new book "Pricing Carbon: The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme." Authored by Frank J. Convery of University College Dublin, A. Denny Ellerman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Christian de Perthuis of the Universite de Paris IX, the book analyses the first period of the ETS, which ran from 2005 through 2007.

The ETS is currently in its second stage, which runs from 2008 to 2012. The third stage of the ETS begins in 2013 and runs through 2020. According to the publisher, Cambridge University Press, the book is the "first comprehensive assessment of the EU ETS."

In the book's introduction, the authors argue that the European legislation "will be an important influence on the development and implementation of trading schemes in the United States, Japan, and elsewhere. As such, it can provide the cornerstone for an eventual global grading regime, which will be an important component of the set of policies that will be needed to address climate change."

The book also makes several other interesting observations about this first phase of the ETS, a phase that many have concluded was less than successful because of the oversupply of emissions allowances caused when the European Commission approved too many allowance requests by the EU's member states. Among the observations:

• The "EU ETS was a product of two failures. First, the European Commission failed in its initiative to introduce an effective EU-wide carbon energy tax in the 1990s. Second, the Commission fought unsuccessfully against the inclusion of trading, as a flexible instrument in the Kyoto Protocol in 1997?[T]hese apparent setbacks were followed by the successful creation of an EU-wide market in carbon dioxide."

• "Carbon emissions trading in Europe has finally lifted the environment from the boiler room to the boardroom, from ministries of environment to ministries of finance, from local councils to Cabinet tables. For chief executives of many major corporations, the environment and the carbon market has become an omnipresent, if not always welcome, guest at their strategic tables?The ETS is orders of magnitude more significant in terms of its scope, ambition, and likely impact than any other application of environmental economics."

• "Creating a carbon market at the heart of Europe was a means of providing not only a price signal, but also a practical fulcrum that could enhance the effectiveness and coherence of other, parallel EU policies, demonstrate global leadership by the European Union and provide encouragement to, and a framework for, the rest of the world to join in the effort."

A recent article in the BNA International Environment Daily ("Transatlantic Study Finds EU Trading Scheme Successfully Cut Greenhouse Gas Emission," Feb. 12, 2010) said, "According to the study, emissions reductions achieved in the ETS first three years were obtained in cost-effective ways with moderate implementation and transaction cost, while there was no loss of competitiveness for the firms required to participate."