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The Florida State University College of Law’s Program in Environmental and Land Use Law has been engaging in a number of activities during the 2007-2008 academic year.

The Program and the College of Law’s Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law have presented two Distinguished Lectures in Environmental Law. On November 7, 2007, Professor Julian Juergensmeyer, Ben F. Johnson, Jr. Chair in Law, Georgia State University College of Law, delivered the Fall Distinguished Lecture, “Infrastructure and the Law: Florida’s Past, Present, and Future.” On February 20, 2008, Professor Jutta Brunee, Metcalf Chair in Environmental Law, University of Toronto, delivered the Spring Distinguished Lecture, entitled “All Together Now? Europe, the United States and the Global Climate Change Regime.” Articles based on these lectures will appear in future issues of the Journal.

The Program co-hosted a Panel on Innovative Financing of Public Infrastructure on November 6, 2007. Panelists included Professor Julian Juergensmeyer, Ben F. Johnson, Jr. Chair in Law, Georgia State University College of Law; Jim Nicholas, Emeritus Professor of Urban & Regional Planning and Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Florida; Mark Mustian, Tallahassee City Commissioner and partner at Nabors, Giblin & Nickerson; and Tom Pelham, Secretary, Florida Department of Community Affairs.

On November 14, 2007, the Program hosted its Fall Environmental Forum, entitled “Cleaning It Up: TMDLs and Water Quality Trading in Florida.” Speakers included William Green, co-founder of Hopping, Green & Sams; Daryll Joyner, Program Administrator of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Watershed Management; FSU alum Rebecca O’Hara, Legislative Director of the Florida League of Cities; and J. Allison Defoor, State Coordinator for EarthBalance. Lauren Moody, third-year Environmental Certificate Program student and President of the College of Law’s Environmental Law Society, introduced the Forum, and Professor Robin Craig moderated.

Several distinguished speakers have addressed the Program’s Environmental & Land Use Certificate Seminar. Professor Randall Abate from the Florida Coastal School of Law spoke to the seminar students on public nuisance claims for climate change impacts. Professor Royal Gardner from the Stetson Law School spoke on wetlands mitigation, while Professor Mary Jane Angelo from the University of Florida School of Law spoke on the use of environmental resource valuation in law.

In the fall, the Journal of Law Use and Environmental Law issued its weighty Spring 2007 volume (Volume 22:2), containing proceedings from the Program’s Spring 2006 Symposium on the Law and Policy of Ecosystem Services. Volume 23:1 will be published shortly and will contain Professor Daniel Farber’s (Sho Sato Professor of Law, University of California, Berkley) article on climate change compensation, based on his Fall 2006 Distinguished Lecture. This volume will also contain papers presented on the 13th Annual Public Interest Environmental Conference.

Students in the Program have been active as well. In Fall 2007, Darrin Dest participated in an externship at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, while Shaun Amarnani and Eric Reinerman both completed externships at the Department of Community Affairs. In Spring 2008, Ellen Wolfgang is pursuing a full-time externship with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.

Finally, the College of Law’s Environmental Law Society, under the leadership of President Lauren Moody, has been quite active within the law school, on the wider university campus, and within the community. Ms. Moody and Asaf Naor helped to run the Second Annual Campus & Community Sustainability Conference, “Getting to GREEN,” which took place October 14-16, 2007. In the Fall, the Environmental Law Society also hosted an Alternative Transportation Week at the law school during the week of November 5-11. The Society is organizing and paying for travel and accommodations, and providing scholarships to cover conference fees, so that students in the Program can attend the Public Interest Environmental Conference at the University of Florida from February 28 to March 1, 2008. Finally, the Environmental Law Society will be participating in the FSU Campus Earth Week from March 31 to April 5, encouraging recycling and proper disposal of hazardous wastes across campus.

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April 2008

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