At the Center
The Conservation Law Center provides legal counsel without charge to conservation organizations, works to improve conservation law and policy, and offers law students clinical experience in the practice of law and the profession's public service tradition.
Featured News
November 14, 2011
Weeks Elected Chairman of IN Sustainable Natural Resources Task Force
Prof. W. William Weeks, Director of the Conservation Law Clinic, has been elected the Chairman of the Indiana Sustainable Natural Resources Task Force. The Task Force, mandated in Public Law 106-2011, includes legislators and conservation leaders, and is charged with assessing Indiana policy and law with respect to the natural resources of the state, delivering a report card on the state's performance to the Governor and legislature by fall 2012, and making recommendations for the long term conservation of the natural resources of Indiana.
Great Plains Wind Corridor Comments
October 25, 2011
The CLC, in collaboration with American Bird Conservancy (ABC), recently submitted comments on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's initial plan to fast-track wind energy projects within a 200-mile-wide corridor through the Great Plains from Canada to the Texas coast. The corridor roughly follows the migratory path of the federally endangered Whooping Crane. Wind energy facilities built and operated in the Great Plains region will impact several species, including the Whooping Crane, that are listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). A consortium of commercial energy companies — including BP and Iberdrola Renewables — have asked the FWS to issue "incidental take permits," which would allow the wind facilities to kill, harm, or harass ESA-listed species. The large geographic scope and the number and diversity of species that may be impacted by the projects make this proposed application of the ESA unique.
Although wind power is likely to be an important part of the solution to climate change, wind projects can have devastating impacts on wildlife and must be carefully designed, sited, studied, operated, monitored, and mitigated to avoid and minimize such impacts. In their comments to FWS, CLC and ABC made recommendations on the species that need to be protected, the alternative processes for issuing incidental take permits, and the impacts that need to be evaluated in the associated environmental impact statement.
For further information, contact CLC staff attorney Jeff Hyman at jbhyman@indiana edu.
CLC Awarded $150K Grant by Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust
March 31, 2011
The Conservation Law Center was awarded a $150,000 grant by the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust (NMPCT) over a two year period to expand its freshwater conservation work, focusing particularly on the Wabash and White Rivers in Indiana. This grant is the third grant awarded to the CLC by the NMPCT.
CLC Prevails in IKEC v Citizens Groups; IKEC Appeals
January 20, 2011
The Conservation Law Center is representing three Indiana environmental groups in litigation filed by the Indiana-Kentucky Electric Corporation (IKEC), the operators of the Clifty Creek power station in southern Indiana. The groups -- Save The Valley, Hoosier Environmental Council, and Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana -- are defending a 2005 opinion by the Indiana Court of Appeals that non-profit corporations and other organizations can rely on the doctrine of "associational standing" to challenge actions of state agencies when, for example, they issue the permits corporations need to discharge pollution into the environment. "Associational standing" is well-established in the federal court system and in most states and is critical for environmental organizations' watchdog role, but IKEC is fighting to overturn the Court of Appeals' 2005 decision that brought Indiana into line with the majority rule. With staff attorney Jeff Hyman in the lead, CLC and Clinic interns prevailed against IKEC in the trial court. After voluminous briefing and a hearing on the case, Hon. Judge Michael Keele of the Marion County Superior Court dismissed IKEC's petition and complaints in their entirety in October of 2010. IKEC subsequently filed an appeal in the Indiana Court of Appeals, and appellate briefing is now in progress.
Litigator of the Year Award Bestowed on
CLC Staff Attorney Jeffrey B. Hyman by HEC
November 29, 2010
CLC Staff Attorney, Jeffrey B. Hyman, has been named the Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC) "Litigator of the Year" for his talents and dedication, especially in regards to the IKEC v. Citizens Groups case. This honor is bestowed to one person per year, by Indiana's largest environmental organization. Mr. Hyman was presented the award on Saturday, November 6th at HEC's Annual Forum.
Efroymson Family Fund Makes New
$1 Million Grant to the Conservation Law Center
October 25, 2010
The Efroymson Family Fund, a CICF Fund, has made a new one million dollar grant to the Conservation Law Center. The grant will be paid over four years, and includes incentives for other donors in the form of one-to-one matching grants for up to $250,000.
This is the second landmark contribution the Efroymson Family Fund has made to the Conservation Law Center; the Fund made a founding grant of one million dollars in 2005. CLC President and Director Bill Weeks said, "We are honored and deeply appreciative. The Efroymson Family Fund, already the author of the pioneering grant that founded our organization, has looked at the first five years of our conservation law work and provided the grant that will catalyze our next five years."
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