Editor's note: Due to concerns about the coronavirus, the organizers of the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference have decided to cancel this year's gathering in its entirety. For more information, see the message on the conference website.
Oregon Law’s student organization Land, Air, Water will host the oldest and largest public interest environmental conference in the world at the University of Oregon from March 5 to 8.
Last year, the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference brought together more than 1,500 activities, attorneys, students and community members from more than 50 countries to share ideas, experience and expertise. This month they expect just as many participants to show up to explore this year’s theme, "Move: Migration on a Changing Planet."
The massive conference is planned by 21 Oregon law students and brings in more than 150 volunteers from the UO and community at-large.
“We currently have panelists from Pakistan, Germany, Ecuador, Croatia and the Democratic Republic of Congo among other nations,” said Robert Mellinger, one of the co-coordinators for the conference. “Recently, global awareness has shifted to issues of migration. With leaders from all over the world gathering here at the University of Oregon, we will look at how changes to the environment have impacted the movement of humans and other life on earth.”
With that goal in mind, the conference lineup includes more than 300 presenters, 100 panels and three film screenings. From the various events, organizers hope participants leave with an understanding of the work that public interest environmental law attorneys are doing to address a full variety of issues around the country and world.
The conference will also honor attorneys, activists and allies who have made important contributions to environmental law.
This year, attorney Robert Bilott will receive the David Brower Lifetime Achievement Award. The award is presented to an attorney or activist who has had a lifetime of environmental activism.
Bilott, who is expected to deliver an acceptance speech, is the author of the book "Exposure: Poisoned Water, Corporate Greed, and One Lawyer's Twenty-Year Battle Against DuPont.” The book has garnered international attention and inspired the major motion picture, “Dark Waters,” starring Mark Ruffalo as Bilott. There will be a free screening of the film and a book signing with Bilott during the conference.
“We are excited to welcome our guests, especially our David Brower Lifetime Achievement awardee Mr. Bilott,” Mellinger said. “He is a world-renowned litigator, environmental advocate and author. And for more than 29 years, he has been on the forefront of environmental cases with national implications.”
In addition to Bilott, the conference will bring in notable keynote speakers, such as Daniel Cordalis, a member of the Navajo Nation and a practicing natural resources and Indian law attorney; David Bookbinder, chief counsel at the Niskanen Center, a think tank in Washington, D.C.; and Sergio Avila-Villegas, a conservation scientist and wildlife researcher with the national Sierra Club.
Attendees can also look forward to timely panels like “Native American Water Rights and Other Environmental Issues,” “Why the Environmental Movement Should Be More Inclusive of Queer People and Practical Tips for Making That Happen,” and “Legal Responses to Climate Change Refugees.”
The conference is open to the public; however, certain events require registration.
—By Rayna Jackson, School of Law Communications