A Conference of Experts on the Chesapeake Bay to be Held at the University of Richmond School of Law
October 13, 2006
Key decision makers will discuss the pressing environmental issues facing the Chesapeake Bay at a major conference at the University of Richmond School of Law.
The conference, “Preserving the Chesapeake: Law, Ecology, and the Bay,” will be held Oct. 20, from 9 a.m. to 4 p. m. in the Law School’s Moot Court Room. The Robert R. Merhige, Jr. Center for Environmental Studies at the Law School is hosting the conference. The Merhige Center engages in research, instruction and public outreach on energy and environmental issues in the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond. Participants at the conference will include academic experts, government regulators, policy makers, non-profit groups, and lawyers who take on environmental cases for businesses and community groups. The Honorable L. Preston Bryant, Jr., Virginia’s Secretary of Natural Resources, is the keynote speaker.
The main focus of the conference will be on the progress made since the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement was signed six years ago, which aimed at restoring the waters of the Bay by 2010.
“Restoring the bay is a challenge for a generation,” says Professor Noah M. Sachs, the Faculty Director of the Merhige Center, “and there’s no denying that progress has been slow since 2000. The Bay is still plagued by phosphorous and nitrogen pollution, and suffers from reduced oxygen levels in the water. The causes have been well known for thirty years: overdevelopment, pollution of our rivers, and run-off from farming and suburban land use. We have a long way to go.”
Sachs says this conference is convening all the experts so they can work together on solutions before the 2010 deadline and beyond.
“This is not a problem that can be solved through regulation alone,” says Sachs. “We need the input and support of the business community and scientists, we need changes in how and where we site new real estate developments in the watershed, and we need litigators who will go to court when government or businesses are not living up to their obligations. This conference gets all those key players talking to each other.”
Included among those key players will be Virginia’s Secretary of Natural Resources, L. Preston Bryant, Jr., who will deliver the keynote address at 11:45 a.m. Before joining Governor Tim Kaine’s cabinet, Bryant served in the House of Delegates where he sponsored landmark legislation to preserve over a million acres of wetlands.
The conference will also feature Former Governor Gerald Baliles, who will join a panel at 9:30 a.m. to provide a historical perspective on Bay protection efforts. Governor Baliles was instrumental in negotiating the 1987 Chesapeake Bay Agreement, and he currently serves as the Director of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.
Other panelists include:
- Dean Rodney Smolla, University of Richmond School of Law
- Gerald McCarthy, Executive Director, VAEnvironmental Endowment
- Russell Baxter, Deputy Director,VA Dept. of Conservation and Recreation
- Professor Joel Eisen, University of Richmond School of Law
- Professor Jonathan Cannon, University of Virginia School of Law
- Professor Erin Ryan, William and Mary School of Law
- Michael Burke, Chesapeake Bay Program Office, EPA
- Kathy Frahm, Director, VA Dept. of Environmental Quality
- Joseph Tannery, VA Staff Attorney, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
- David Evans, Partner, McGuire Woods LLP
- Mark Smith, Environmental Scientist, EPA
- Professor Carl Tobias, University of Richmond School of Law
- Nikki Rovner, Deputy Secretary of Natural Resources
- Timothy Hayes, Partner, Hunton & Williams LLP
- Clyde Wilbur, Principal, Greely & Hanson
- Alexandra Dunn, General Counsel, National Assoc. Clean Water Agencies
“Preserving the Chesapeake” is co-sponsored by the George E. Allen Chair in Law, the Virginia State Bar, and the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. This conference is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required. Please call (804) 287-6463 to register. For general information, call (804) 289-8740. Virginia MCLE Accreditation has been requested for 5.5 credits (0.0 ethics).