UT College of Law to welcome authors, academics, scientists, environmentalists and attorneys to the Sixth Annual Great Lakes Water Conference on December 1  

The University of Toledo College of Law will host a conference on December 1 that will bring together experts from across the country and from Canada to examine some of the issues most compelling to the Great Lakes region.

The sixth annual Great Lakes Water Conference will feature speakers from a broad range of backgrounds to talk about climate change, wetlands regulation and the most recent developments in the effort to unite the Great Lakes region on a common water policy. Speakers will include representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Wildlife Federation, Climate Action Network Canada, and more.

“Leaders in law, policy and science will tackle some of the toughest issues threatening the Great Lakes,” said Kenneth Kilbert, environmental law professor at The University of Toledo College of Law. “For persons interested in the future of our region, this conference is a must-attend event.”

The conference will also feature two keynote speakers. Peter Annin, former Newsweek journalist and environmental reporter who has recently authored the book The Great Lakes Water Wars, will kick off the conference at 8:30 a.m. Vicki Thomas of the U.S. EPA’s Great Lakes National Program Office in Chicago will kick off the afternoon session at 1:30 p.m. with a talk about the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy to Restore and Protect the Great Lakes.

The three panels will explore three diverse topics, beginning with climate change, one of the most hotly debated and crucial issues in our nation and the world. Panelists will discuss the impacts of global warming upon the Great Lakes region, the dispute over the United States’ regulation of greenhouse gas emissions currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, and Canada’s contrasting approach.

The second panel will address the legal landscape of wetlands regulation following a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Rapanos v. United States, in which a Michigan land developer successfully challenged the federal government’s authority to prevent development of his land under the auspices of the Clean Water Act. Panelists will discuss what the government and developers are doing in the wake of Rapanos.

The third panel will continue the Great Lakes Water Conference tradition of updating the community on developments in the effort to unite the Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces in a common water policy, including a strategy to prevent large-scale diversions of Great Lakes water to other parts of the nation and the world. Sam Speck, Director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, will be on hand to talk about recent agreements to implement the policy and what happens next.

The conference, free to the public, gives Ohio attorneys the opportunity to earn 4.5 CLE credits for $45. To register or for more information, contact Kathleen Amerkhanian, Director of Law Communications, at 419.530.2712.