The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) administers approximately 245 million acres of our public lands and yet, for most of our nation’s history, these lands seemed largely destined to end up in private hands. Even when the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 ushered in an important era of better managing public grazing districts and “promoting the highest use of the public lands,” such use of our public lands still was plainly considered temporary, “pending its final disposal.” It was not until 1976 with the passage of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) that congress adopted a policy that the “public lands be retained in Federal ownership.” In the 40 years since Congress enacted FLPMA, the BLM has experienced a remarkable transformation from an agency once focusing almost entirely on livestock grazing and mineral development to one that has fully embraced a multiple use mandate—including managing large tracts of public lands for conservation and even wilderness protection purposes. Many of the nation’s prominent environmental or natural resource laws, within last few years, have celebrated their 40thanniversaries, often provoking critical dialogues about their past and future. It is now time to acknowledge and celebrate the remarkable transformation of the BLM over the last 40 years since FLMPA’s enactment in 1976.As the Trump Administration’s priorities unfold, we address the implications of potential policy shifts and other emerging issues in these critical areas.
Schultz Lectureship in Energy – 2016 Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Electrical Power Sector
Paul L. Joskow, President, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, 2016
Electricity generation accounts for about 30% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. While emissions have declined by about 20% in the last ten years, much of this reduction is due to the fortuitous availability of cheap natural gas which has provided incentives to substitute less CO2 intensive natural gas for coal as a generation fuel. The sector faces many challenges to meet long run 2050 goals of reducing emissions by as much as 80% from 2005 levels. These challenges include the diversity of federal, state and municipal regulation, the diverse and balkanized structure of the industry from state to state and region to region, the failure to enact policies to place a price on all carbon emissions, the extensive reliance on subsidies and command and control regulation to promote renewables and energy efficiencies, uncertainties about aggressive assumptions about improvements in energy efficiency beyond long-term trends, pre-mature closure of carbon free nuclear generating technologies, integrating renewables efficiently into large regional grids, methane leaks, and transmission constraints. The lecture discussed these challenges and suggests policies to reduce the costs and smooth the transition to a low carbon electricity sector.
Martz Summer Conference 2016 Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lesson Learned from Shared Experiences
Water scarcity is increasingly dominating headlines throughout the world. In the southwestern USA, the looming water shortages on the Colorado River system and the unprecedented drought in California are garnering the greatest attention. Similar stories of scarcity and crisis can be found across the globe, suggesting an opportunity for sharing lessons and innovations. For example, the Colorado River and Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin likely can share many lessons, as both systems were over-allocated, feature multiple jurisdictions, face similar climatic risks and drought stresses, and struggle to balance human demands with environmental needs. In this conference we cast our net broadly, exploring several salient topics including: trans-boundary cooperation, water marketing, Indigenous water rights, environmental and social water needs, and drought coping.
This public event ias informed by three invitation-only meetings held immediately before the conference: an “Indigenous Water Justice” symposium; a “Social Dimensions of Environmental Water Management” workshop; and a “Drought Crises in Federations” symposium.
Sponsored By: Canadian Research Council Complutense University of Madrid (Spain) Forum of Federations (Canada) International Joint Commission (USA and Canada) Living Rivers (USA) McMaster Water Network (Canada) Murray-Darling Basin Authority (Australia) Tropica
Moderated By: Doug Kenney
Speakers: Invited Speakers & Panelists Include (listed alphabetically): Elizabeth Anderson (Florida International University) Reed Benson (University of New Mexico) Oliver M. Brandes (University of Victoria) Srinivas Chokkakula (Centre for Policy Research, In)
GWC Distinguished Lecture – 2016 In Love with the Wild: Thoughts About Public Lands in the 1st Century
Bill Hedden, Executive Director, Grand Canyon Trust
Bill Hedden provided a report from the field, a description from an activist and stakeholder of what it’s like to live surrounded by deep, wild public lands. The lecture included a personal description of what the public lands can mean to an individual life. Followed by a broader scope and look ahead related to public lands issues, asking how our societal relationships with these lands must evolve in the 21st century. Hedden believes it is necessary to speak in new ways about these matters at a time when the very concept of public lands is once again under assault from the Congress and from state legislatures, attacked through well-funded disinformation campaigns, and, if all the rest isn’t clear enough, the land itself occupied by armed militias—our inheritance under threat from people who have not felt lucky to earn a living off of lands and resources belonging to all of us, but who feel resentful and determined to take the lands for themselves. Hedden notes the American people are in danger of losing something of inestimable value without really knowing what it is and, more importantly, without having a vision of what role this globally unique endowment might play in helping us find a way to live in harmony with our ever more stressed planet.
Martz Winter Symposium 2016 A Celebration of the Work of Charles Wilkinson: Served with Tasty Stories and Some Slices of Roast
We celebrated the work of Distinguished Professor Charles Wilkinson, a prolific and passionate writer, teacher, and advocate for the people and places of the West. Charles’s influence extends beyond place, yet his work has always originated in a deep love of and commitment to particular places. We honor Charles’s work in the same way he approached it, by starting with place and expanding to include the entire country. We closed by coming back home to Boulder, where we are fortunate to call Charles a friend, colleague, and mentor.
Sponsored By: Davis, Graham, and Stubbs
Schultz Lectureship in Energy – 2015 Energy: Threats and Opportunities-An Entrepreneur’s Perspective
Governor John Hickenlooper, State of Colorado
Governor John Hickenlooper outlined his vision for a path to cleaner, more efficient forms and systems of energy at the University of Colorado Law School on November 12. In the 8th annual John H. and Cynthia H. Schultz Lecture, Hickenlooper discussed his views on energy development in the state and challenges facing a sustainable energy solution due to the growing rate of global energy consumption—set to rise more than 56 percent by 2040. The bottom line: We need a “miracle solution,” and it needs to be more affordable, more reliable, more effective, and cleaner than today’s energy, he said.
Science for Security The Role of the Department of Energy in Nuclear Security and Nonproliferation
Dr. Ernest Moniz, United States Secretary of Energy
On August 31st, 2015, Dr. Ernest Moniz, United States Secretary of Energy visited Colorado Law to deliver his definitive remarks on the Iran nuclear deal, in a lecture titled Science for Security: The Role of the Department of Energy in Nuclear Security and Nonproliferation.
Martz Summer Conference 2015 Innovations in Managing Western Water: New Approaches for Balancing Environmental, Social, and Economic Outcomes
Innovations in Managing Western Water: New Approaches for Balancing Environmental, Social, and Economic Outcomes June 11th and 12th, 2015 Many aspects of western water allocation and management are the product of independent and uncoordinated actions, several occurring a century or more ago. However, in this modern era of water scarcity, it is increasingly acknowledged that more coordinated and deliberate decision-making is necessary for effectively balancing environmental, social, and economic objectives. In recent years, a variety of forums, processes, and tools have emerged to better manage the connections between regions, sectors, and publics linked by shared water systems. In this event, we explore the cutting edge efforts, the latest points of contention, and the opportunities for further progress.
GWC Distinguished Lecture – 2015 Expanding the Watershed: Certainty and Sustainability in 21st Century Water Resources Management
Mike Connor, Deputy Secretary, United States Department of the Interior
The Distinguished Lecture Series was designed as a cooperative venture between the Getches-Wilkinson Center and the Colorado Natural Resources, Energy, & Environmental Law Review, to bring to the University of Colorado each year a distinguished figure in the fields of natural resource, energy, and environmental law and policy. The Annual Distinguished Lecture Series provides a forum for thought–leadership, allowing the Distinguished Lecturer to reflect on their experience and provide insights on the current state of natural resources, energy, and the environment. The articles and transcripts resulting from these lectures will be published in the Review.
State-Local Conflict Over Fracking
Professor David Spence, University of Texas at Austin
The law is frequently called upon to resolve regulatory conflicts that arise when a majority mildly prefers policy X, and minority strongly prefers policy not X. Two emerging bodies of case law present this problem, both associated with the growing number of challenges to local restrictions on the use of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) to produce oil and gas. One set of cases involves claims that these local restrictions are preempted by state oil and gas law; the other involves claims that, where a local ordinance survives preemption, it amounts to a regulatory taking. This lecture explores how the distribution of the costs and benefits of fracking drive the politics that provoke preemption and takings conflicts in the first place, and how the decision rules courts use to resolve preemption and takings claims try to address those distributional concerns.