President Obama visits Buckley Air Force Base for an energy talk.

Highlighting key concepts of his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday January 24th, 2012 President Barack Obama came to Colorado's Buckley Air Force Base as part of a five-state tour. President Barack Obama briefly stopped at Aurora’s Buckley Air Force Base on Thursday January 26, 2012 to promote his concept of an “all of the above” energy strategy. The White House emphasized their push for clean-energy use on military bases and public facilities by choosing the Buckley Air Force Base as their location for the energy talk.

“Last year we relied less on foreign oil than any time in the past 16 years,” he said while speaking at a Buckley hangar. “But we’ve got to do more, because even if we tapped every drop of domestic oil, we’ve only got 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves,” the president added. “We’ve got to have an all-out, all-of-the above strategy, develop every available source of America energy, and it’s got to be a strategy that is cleaner and cheaper and will create all kinds of new jobs.”

Father Alphonsus Ihuoma, December 2011 LLM Graduate, Visits Sturm College of Law

It was a great pleasure to welcome Alphonsus Ihuoma, a Sturm College of Law LLM graduate of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy (ENRL) program back to Denver recently.

Alphonsus Ihuoma, who hails from Nigeria and is a Nigerian trained barrister, is also a Catholic priest. During his time in the ENRL program, Father Ihuoma served as pastor of the Our Lady of Guadalupe St. Patrick Parish in La Junta, Colorado, which is about 100 miles southeast of Denver. Father Ihuoma continues as pastor there.

Father Ihuoma is an inspiration to all who care about the fair and responsible development of natural resources that respects the environment and, perhaps most importantly, the rights of the communities in which this development takes place. On one hand, he is a religious leader, but on the other he is also a keen legal thinker. It seems likely that his future will include the combination of these two passions, a development that will surely benefit all those in whom the Father comes in contact.

Godspeed to the good Father.

Don C. Smith
Director
Environmental and Natural Resources Law

Editor's note: In picture above, Lucy Daberkow is on far left, Father Ihuoma is in center, and Don Smith is on right.

Becky Bye, 2005 Denver Law JD Graduate, Selected by American Inns of Court for Prestigous Pegasus Scholar Award

Becky Bye, a JD graduate of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, has been selected by the American Inns of Court to be a 2012 Pegasus Scholar.

The prestigious award, which was received by only one other American lawyer, will allow Ms. Bye to practice law this spring in a U.K. barrister's office. Pegasus Scholars spend the majority of their time in barristers' chambers and observe trials or arguments in action.

Activities include opportunities to observe proceedings of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the Privy Council, the Old Bailey, the Royal Courts of Justice and Magistrates' Courts, followed by a discussion of the proceedings with the Justice, Judge or Magistrate as the case may be.

While a student at Denver Law, Ms. Bye focused on environmental and natural resources law. Currently she is an attorney with the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in Golden, Colorado. Before joining the Department of Energy, Ms. Bye served as an assistant attorney general in the Colorado Office of the Attorney General. She practiced law with Holland & Hart in Denver before moving to the public sector.

Ms. Bye was articles editor for the University of Denver Water Law Review.

New students begin their graduate studies at Denver Law

A new year begins, and the Environmental and Natural Resources Graduate Program is proud to welcome a talented group of new students.

Our team conducted orientation for these new students, and it was apparent that they are extremely well-prepared to begin their studies. Our new students come from Brazil, California, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Saudi Arabia, Texas, Virginia, Wyoming.

A special thanks to Professor Tim Hurley, Joan Policastri, Joan Pope, Jessica Hogan, and Payal Sathe for their invaluable help during orientation.

Congratulations to December 2012 Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Graduates

The Denver Law Environmental and Natural Resources Law Graduate Program leadership team of Don Smith and Lucy Daberkow recently congratulated the latest group of students who have just completed the program.

In the top photo, from left to right, Mr. Smith, Ms. Daberkow, Sing Fai Hong from China, and Morad Money from Saudi Arabia. In the lower picture, Mr. Smith and Ms. Daberkow are shown with Bohua Yao from China.

Mr. Smith said, "Finishing the program is a wonderful achievement for these students. It marks both the end of their formal studies and the beginning (or resumption) of their professional careers. It has been a great pleasure to have them in our program."

Ms. Daberkow said, "We take great pride in the international diversity of our program, and we are delighted these three students chose to study at Denver Law. We have great expectations for their future success."

Alumni Profile: JD and LLM Graduate David Makongo, A Leader in Africa-U.S. Natural Resources Business Relations

Dr. David Makongo PhD., a Denver Law '06 JD graduate as well as an '05 LLM graduate, has established Makongo & African Partners LLC (MAP LLC), a firm with expertise in African mining and oil and gas issues.

Addressing the "big business gap"as he describes it between Africa and foreign investors, he has global responsibility for due diligence investigations, negotiation of natural resources agreements, corporate social responsibility, FCPA compliance, permitting, government relations, local community and local partner(s) relations, business risk analysis and mitigation.

Dr. Makongo has extensive international experience, expertise, and success in Africa-North America business transactions. He founded MAP LLC for the purpose of "ensuring the success of North American businesses in Africa through negotiation of natural resources agreements, contract drafting, and acquisition of various mining and oil and gas properties and maintenance of good relationships between investor companies and host African nations."

Prior to founding MAP LLC, he was Director for African Affairs for Electrum USA Ltd. (Global Gold Group) based in Denver. While with Electrum he worked on projects in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, and Rwanda.

Before joining Electrum, Dr. Makongo was a consultant with Cougar Gold and a contracts officer for the International Royality Corporation. He has also worked with SCDP – Cameroon National Petroleum Depot.

In addition to his DU Law degrees Dr. Makongo holds the Honorary Degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in Humanities from the United Graduate College and Seminary and an LLB Degree from the University of Buea Cameroon.

Fluent in both English and French languages and knowledgeable in common law and civil law principles and practices, Dr. Makongo is a member of the American Bar Association, the International Bar Association (IBA), and the IBA's Mining Committee and the Anti-corruption Committee.

Don C. Smith, Director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Policy Program, said, "David Makongo is in the process of establishing himself as an expert in identifying and negotiating important natural resources agreements across the whole of the African continent. David is an individual who has successfully combined legal knowledge with a keen eye for business opportunities.”

Denver Law Graduate Sheila Slocum Hollis Recognized with Prestigious Platts "Lifetime Achievement Award" for Contributions to the Energy Sector

Sheila Slocum Hollis, a Denver Law graduate, was recognized last week with the prestigious "Lifetime Achievement Award" at the 13th Annual Platts Global Energy Awards ceremony in New York.

According to Platts, one of the world's premier energy information providers, the Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes members of "our industry who [have] made an outstanding contribution to the development and future of the energy industry in the course of his or her career. The winner's achievements are the product of a long and varied career of service, creativity, and insight and this individual will have won widespread recognition and respect on the global stage."

Ms. Hollis, who is the chair of the Washington, D.C., office of Duane Morris, practices energy transactional and regulatory law both domestically and internationally. In 2010, she received the Paul Nordstorm Service Award for her contributions to the legal profession and the community from the Energy Bar Association and the Charitable Foundation of the Energy Bar Association. Recently she was named one of the 50 Key Women in Energy worldwide.

She began her energy law career as a trial lawyer at the Federal Power Commission from 1974 to 1975. She was the first director of the Office of Enforcement of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, establishing the office and its policies and procedures from 1977 to 1980. Those policies and procedures remain in place today. Over the course of her career, she has played a key role in the formation and implementation of energy law and policy.

When asked several years ago about her fondest DU memory, she said it was the first day of law school. "It was so exciting and thrilling to be at a school I admired," she said.

And speaking of being thrilled, we at Denver Law generally and the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program more specifically are thrilled for her and appreciative of her many contributions to us as well as the energy sector nationally and internationally. Leaders such as Sheila Slocum Hollis inspire all of us to be the best professionals we possibly can be.

Don C. Smith
Director
Environmental and Natural Resources Law