Environmental Law Clinic Director Michael Harris leads suit against Christo’s "Over the River" Project

Our very own Professor Michael Harris, Director of the Environmental Law Clinic, is leading several law students in a suit against Christo’s "Over the River" project. Last November, the project was approved by the Bureau of Land Management, which allows the project to hang 5.9 miles of aluminum-coated material over a 42 mile stretch of the Arkansas River in southern Colorado.

On behalf of a grassroots, all-volunteer citizen group, Rags Over the Arkansas River (ROAR), the suit was filed February 1st, 2012 by third-year law students Mason Brown and Justine Shepherd under the supervision of Professor Harris.

According to the suit, the project will be built almost entirely within federally designated Arkansas Canyonlands Area of critical environmental concern that will take 28 months to construct and 12 months to remove. The project will include intensive construction practices to implement, including heavy equipment normally found in mining and road construction (i.e. hydraulic drills, various types of excavators, cranes, grouters, water tanks, grout mixers, support trailers, steel rock anchors, and anchor frames). The group opposes the project due to environmental issues and dangers to the residents and visitors to the area.

For more information please click here.

Denver Law Professor Mike Harris Asks, "Why don't we teach environmental justice in the rural West?"

Professor Mike Harris, Director of the Denver Law Environmental Law Clinic, recently posed an interesting question: Why isn't environmental justice taught in the rural west?

The question Professor Harris poses in his High Country News column is well worth considering. The full text can be accessed by clicking here.

Michael Harris, Director of the Denver Law Envionmental Law Clinic, Comments on "Shingle Mountain, Colorado"

Michael Harris, Assistant Professor at Denver Law and Director of the Environmental Law Clinic, writes in a recent issue of the High Country News about "Shingle Mountain, Colorado," a 30 foot pile of old roofing shingles that is causing concern in north Denver.

In "Welcome to Shingle Mountain, Colorado," Professor Harris notes that "if properly managed, shingle recycling presents very few, if any, environmental concerns.

"But when such recycling is not properly managed, you get a situation like Shingle Mountain."

Old asphalt shingles, Professor Harris points out, are a potential fire hazard and may contain both polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and asbestos.

To read his full posting and watch a video about what action the Environmental Law Clinic is taking to remedy the mountain, please click here.

Editor's note: DU Law students Stephanie Fairbanks (left) and Eric R. Wilson (center) meet with former city council candidate Juanita Gable (right) near Shingle Mountain (in the background).

Environmental Law Clinic Efforts Associated With Coal-Fired Power Plant Legal Action Featured in Denver Newspaper

The efforts of the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in relation to a controversial coal-fired power plant in the southeast Colorado town of Lamar are featured in the latest issue of the Denver weekly newspaper Westword.

In "Black Out: Lamar Gets Steamed Over a Troubled Coal Plant -- Right in the Middle of Town," (Sept. 30-Oct. 6, 2010), Westword reports on the involvement of the Environmental Law Clinic (ELC) and WildEarth Guardians along with several Lamar citizens in the filing of a lawsuit against the plant's operators under the U.S. Clean Air Act.

ELC Director and Professor Mike Harris said, "There's always a little bit of a disconnect between what the legal claims are in a case like this and what it's about from the perspective of people living in the shadow of a coal-fired power plant. But the case is still about building a coal-fired plant in the middle of Lamar, less than a mile from five schools."

The lead student ELC attorneys who handled the case last year were Allison Vetter and Ahson Wall. This year's lead student attorneys are Myra Gottl and Todd Likman, who are scheduled to file the last of the summary judgment briefs today. Professor Harris said that all of the student attorneys have done "a wonderful job" on the case.

Environmental Law Clinic Director Mike Harris Authors "Top Ten" Paper on Social Science Research Network

A new law journal article, "Environmental Deliberative Democracy and the Search for Administrative Legitimacy: A Legal Positivism Approach," written by Prof. Mike Harris, Director of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law Environmental Law Clinic, was recently listed on the Social Science Research Network's Top 10 download list in the category of democratic theory.

The abstract for the paper says:

"An emerging body of scholarship suggests that legitimizing environmental lawmaking will require the inclusion of greater public discourse within the context of administrative decision-making. In this article, I examine this claim through the lens of modern legal positivism. It is argued that legal positivism provides the tools necessary to test for and identify the specific structural deficiencies that undermine the legitimacy of the administrative state as a lawmaking institution, and more importantly, to determine what legal changes to agency practice and procedure must be implemented to correct those deficiencies. I reject, however, that the appropriate rule of recognition to measure bureaucratic legitimacy in the American system is the U.S. Constitution. Instead, it is proposed that legitimacy of the administrative state ultimately relies on fashioning rulemaking procedures to address American’s innate distrust of official power. My own view of such a reformed regulatory state is one where regulators continue to function as the technical and scientific experts, and in making policy determinations weigh the expert knowledge with the informed opinion of electorate and peer officials in the political branches of our government."

Prof. Harris' paper will be published in the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, Vol. 44 2010.

Prof. Harris is one of the country's top environmental clinicians. Students who study at the Sturm College of Law have the option of participating in the Environmental Law Clinic, which Prof. Harris directs.

To see the full-text of the article, please click here.

Professor Mike Harris, Director of DU's Environmental Law Clinic, is Contributing to High Country News "Green Justice Report"

Professor Mike Harris, Director of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law Environmental Law Clinic, is now writing a regular column for High Country News Green Justice Report.

A recent contribution was entitled "Tackling Environmental Justice on the Front Range." Prof. Harris has also written about "Open Space Justice." High Country News is considered one of the American west's leading publications in terms of covering environmental and natural resources issues.

Prof. Harris' career has focused exclusively on the practice of environmental law, much of it working directly on litigation to protect public health and natural resources. He has published and spoken widely on legal issues associated with environmental litigation.

Click here to see a listing of all of Prof. Harris' columns.

Environmental Law Clinic-LLM International Scholar Program Launched

The Environmental Law Clinic (ELC) at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law has extended its field of action. And it is an impressive extension to be sure.

For the past 15 years, the ELC has represented local, state, and national environmental community groups on domestic environmental issues. Beginning this fall (2009) the ELC will maintain on its docket a project of international importance.

Working closely with the LLM program in Natural Resources and Environmental Law, the ELC has created the "Environmental Law Clinic-LLM International Scholar" program to work on the international docket. Ms. Leandra Zanqueta (prospective May 2010 LLM graduate) has been selected as the inaugural scholar.

Working under the orientation and supervision of Prof. Michael Harris, Director of the ELC, Ms. Zanqueta, who is a native of Brazil, will research and write about developing legal strategies in the international sphere regarding the impacts of mega dam projects (those higher than 15 meters or more than 3 million cubic meters) in Latin America.

The construction of dams is a priority for many Latin American countries because these projects have the potential to provide the necessary energy, drinkable water, and infrastructure to support economic development. However, the implementation of some projects is resulting not only in enormous environmental impacts, but also serious human rights violations. These violations include the forced relocation of communities, and the failure to consult affected communities and allow their participation in decision-making processes. The ELC will work with the Mexico City-based Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA) to coordinate the work on this issue.

Everyone in the LLM program wishes Ms. Zanqueta and Prof. Harris great success. Congratulations on this important new venture!

Environmental Law Clinic Director Prof. Mike Harris Creating Groundbreaking "Colorado Urban Project"

University of Denver College of Law Prof. Mike Harris is in the process of establishing the groundbreaking "Colorado Urban Project," an effort that will address environmental and wildlife issues related to the projected rapid population growth in Denver and along Colorado's front range.

As Prof. Harris, who also directs the DU Environmental Law Clinic, explained in the latest issue of the Sturm College of Law Alumni Magazine ("Can the Law Protect Our Environmental Future? The Colorado Urban Project", Summer 2009):

"Working on air quality in Los Angeles is a thumb-in-the-dike proposition. You're focusing on damage control. But here in Denver, we've got all of our population growth in front of us. We can get out ahead of these problems and really make a difference. If we can just come to terms with meaningful environmental planning in Colorado, we can assure a future with not only economic growth, but with sustainable, healthy neighborhoods as well."

Prof. Harris is working along three fronts in the creation of the Colorado Urban Project:

• Establishing a clinic for students to gain practical experience;
• Building a corresponding curriculum; and
• Expanding relationships with local politicians, community groups, and environmental advocates.

The opportunity to work with visionary leaders like Prof. Mike Harris is yet another example of why the DU Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Graduate Program is the place to study today's "cutting edge" environmental and natural resources issues.