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Events
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On March 9-10, 2006, VJEL held its sixth annual spring symposium on "Energy and the Environment: Transmitting Ideas for Change." The Symposium, held on the VLS campus, began with a dinner and keynote speeches by Scudder Parker and Brian Dubie on Thursday, March 9. On March 10, panels discussed energy issues concerning sustainability, renewable energy sources, carbon constraints and nuclear energy. Symposium presenters discussed these matters as they relate to Vermont, the nation and the world.
The symposium was sponsored by the Vermont Journal of Environmental Journal, the Vermont Law School, and the VLS Institute for Energy and the Environment.
Brian Dubie, Keynote Speech (Mar. 9, 2006).
Brian Dubie was the Vermont Lieutenant Governor (2003-2007). Dubie also chairs the Governor's Homeland Security Advisory Council, chair of the Governor's Commission on Healthy Aging, and the Governor's liaison for International Relations.
Scudder Parker, Keynote Speech (March 9, 2006).
Scudder Parker was a 2006 Vermont Gubernatorial Candidate. Parker served four terms in the Vermont Senate, two as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Parker then worked thirteen years in the administrations of Governors Madeleine Kunin, Richard Snelling, and Howard Dean as the Director of the Energy Efficiency Division at the Public Service Department. His work also helped lead to the creation of Renewable Energy Vermont and the Biomass Energy Resource Center. Most recently, Parker was the public policy coordinator for Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. [Introduction to Parker (pdf) (8.6KB)]
Panel Discussion, Energy Sustainability: Efficiency & Conservation (Mar. 10, 2006).
Moderator: Professor Mark Latham, Vermont Law School Professor
Kevin Doran, Research Associate, University of Colorado School of Law. Kevin is an attorney and research fellow at the University of Colorado School of Law's Energy & Environmental Security Initiative (EESI). He has practiced law, consulted, taught, lectured, and published concerning matters in energy law and policy and international law. [presentation pdf (1.5MB)]
Steven Meyers, President, Rational Energy Network. Steven is currently president and founder of the Rational Energy Network, a consulting practice offering technical, financial, strategic, and market analysis. He is former Vice-President of Product Development of Invensys PLC, and Vice-President of Enron Energy Services. [presentation ppt (611KB)]
Sandy Levine, Senior Attorney, Conservation Law Foundation. Sandra's work focuses on clean energy, land use, transportation and natural resource protection. She has been involved with utility regulation in Vermont for 20 years. Her advocacy targets transmission, rate design and regulatory matters throughout New England to foster efficiency, conservation and renewable energy. Her prior experience includes representing ratepayers as Special Counsel for the Vermont Public Service Department, and as a private attorney, representing AARP in utility proceedings. Sandra also taught at Vermont Law School, and was a law clerk at the Vermont Supreme Court.
Rich Cowart, Director of the Regulatory Assistance Project. Richard is one of the nation's most experienced regulatory commissioners, he served as Commissioner and Chair of the Vermont Public Service Board (PSB) for thirteen years (1986-1999). He was elected President of the New England Conference of Public Utility Commissioners, and Chair of the NARUC Committee on Energy Resources and the Environment. He also served for four years as Chair of the National Council on Competition and the Electric Industry, an association of state and federal officials and legislators responsible for power sector reform in the U.S. [presentation ppt (7MB)]
Panel Discussion, International Energy Issues (Mar. 10, 2006).
Moderator: Professor Tseming Yang, Vermont Law School Professor
Peter Garforth, Principal, Garforth International llc. Peter Garforth is principal of Garforth International llc, assisting companies and policy makers to develop effective, competitive approaches to reducing the economic and environmental impact of energy use. Previously, as vice-president of Strategy at Owens Corning he sponsored an award-winning worldwide energy management program that reduced energy costs by tens of millions of dollars. He has also run a consulting business in Brussels.
Ambuj Sagar, Research Associate, Harvard University, Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs. Dr. Ambuj Sagar is a Senior Research Associate in the Energy Technology Innovation Project (ETIP) in the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, as well as the Assistant Dean for Strategic Planning at the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences (DEAS) at Harvard. His current research mainly focuses on various aspects of energy technology development and deployment, global climate change, and high-tech innovation, with a particular focus on India. [presentation ppt (1.9MB)]
Panel Discussion, Nuclear Energy Discussion: Pros and Cons of Nuclear Energy (Mar. 10, 2006).
Moderator: Professor Mark Mihaly, Vermont Law School Associate Professor and Acting Director of the Environment Law Center.
John Marshall, Managing Partner and CEO, Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC. For nearly three decades, John has appeared regularly before the Vermont Public Service Board in a variety of matters, ranging from its approval of the sale of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station to the siting of a 52-mile, high-voltage, direct-current transmission line and a natural-gas pipeline in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. In addition to the Public Service Board work, John's public-utility practice has included appearances before the Department of Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
David Mears, Professor of Law and Assistant Director of the Environmental and Natural Resource Law Clinic, Vermont Law School. Following graduation from law school, Professor Mears worked as an assistant attorney general in the Texas Office of the Attorney General and then as a senior attorney with the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission. He left Texas to serve as the energy and environmental policy director with the Texas Office for State-Federal Relations in Washington, DC, then served both as a trial attorney and counselor for state and local affairs with the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division. In 1998, he was appointed senior assistant attorney general in the Washington Office of the Attorney General, Ecology Division.
Howard C. Shaffer III, Nuclear Engineer. Howard currently is involved in Public Outreach, focusing on placing nuclear power issues in the larger social and political context, and explaining technical issues for the public. He spent thirty years devoted to the nuclear power industry, as a Startup Engineer and Systems Engineer, with various positions in Emergency Plans for plants. In 1970 he participated in the Vermont Yankee startup, and in 1979 returned from four years in Taiwan on the Chin Shan plants startup. At Yankee Atomic Electric Company in Massachusetts, he principally served Vermont Yankee and Seabrook plants. He also was in Washington during 2001 as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Congressional Fellow, serving on the Energy Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science. [presentation ppt (1.3MB)]
Brian Cosgrove, Manager of Government Affairs, Entergy Nuclear Corp. Brian is a native of St. Johnsbury and a graduate of St. Michael's College with a B.A. in English Literature. His background includes journalism, teaching, marketing and political campaig n management. He currently is Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee's manager of government affairs. [presentation ppt (15MB)]
Panel Discussion, Vermont State Energy Issues (Mar. 10, 2006).
Moderator: Professor Michael Dworkin, Vermont Law School Director of the Energy Institute and Professor.
Jonathan Lesser, Partner, Bates White, LLC. Dr. Jonathan Lesser is a Partner with Bates White, LLC. He has more than 20 years experience working for electric utilities, government, and academia as an economic consultant. Prior to joining Bates White, Dr. Lesser was President of New England Economics Group. Previously, he has served in senior management roles as the Director of Regulated Planning with the Vermont Department of Public Service, Senior Managing Economist at Navigant Consulting, Inc., and Senior Economist and Manager, Economic Analysis, at Green Mountain Power Corporation.
Aaron Adler, Special Counsel for the Vermont Department of Public Service. Adler received an exceptional service award in 2000 from the Governor for helping to create the nation's first energy efficiency utility. He formerly was counsel to the Vermont Environmental Board, which oversaw the state's Act 250 program. He chairs the Town of Brookfield Planning Commission. He received a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1986 and a B.A. in History, summa cum laude, from Brandeis University in 1982. [presentation ppt (885KB)]
Blair Hamilton, Policy Director, Vermont Energy Investment Corporation. Blair Hamilton has more than 30 years of experience in the energy efficiency and renewable energy fields, with expertise ranging from basic energy materials research to energy policy analysis and program management. His most recent accomplishment was leading the formation of the nation's first energy efficiency utility, Efficiency Vermont. In 2002, he was recognized with a lifetime achievement award from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. [presentation ppt (5.2MB)]
Chris Dutton, President and CEO, Green Mountain Power. Christopher L. Dutton was named GMP's President and Chief Executive Officer and elected to GMP's Board of Directors on August 6, 1997. He had been Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of GMP since 1995 and was the Company's General Counsel and Vice President for the previous ten years. [presentation ppt (534KB)]
Panel Discussion, Future of Transportation Policy (Mar. 10, 2006).
Moderator: Joe Griffo, Staff Member, Vermont Journal of Environmental Law
Harold Garabedian, Assistant Director of the Division of Air Quality, Director of Laboratory Service for the Department of Environmental Conservation, and Technical Director of the "E" "Vermont" Project, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources. E Vermont is public-private partnership of government and private entities interested in the development of electric and advanced technology vehicles. E Vermont was established in 1995 to demonstrate the performance of electric and advanced technology vehicles in areas of cold climate, hilly terrain and rural settlement patterns. Additional responsibilities have included developing and assessing energy policies and strategies, along with conventional and alternative energy generation technologies in both the transportation and electric utility sectors. Mr. Garabedian holds an appointment to the International Joint Commission's International Air Quality Advisory Board, through which he provides analyses and advice on transboundary air pollution to the governments of the United States and Canada. [presentation ppt (164KB)]
Gina Campoli, Environmental Policy Manager, Vermont Agency of Transportation Policy and Planning Division. Gina Campoli has worked in Vermont state government for over 23 years. For 14 years she coordinated inter-agency planning related to regulatory affairs and land use policy for the Agency of Natural Resources Planning Division. She is currently the Environmental Policy Manager at the Vermont Agency of Transportation. Ms. Campoli holds a BA from Williams College in American and Environmental Studies and an MS from UVM in Historic Preservation.
Drew Hudson, Vermont Public Interest Research Group Environmental Advocate. Drew Hudson is the Vermont Public Interest Research Group's Field & Communications Director. For the last 7 years he has worked for the State PIRG's and their affiliates in Maryland, Georgia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Washington DC as field organizer and advocate on environmental and public health campaigns. At VPIRG he directs our efforts educate the general public on top priority campaigns, and develop our members into trained activists who work effectively alongside VPIRG staff in the fight for the public interest. He is a graduate of the Greencorps field organizing program and New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study. [presentation ppt (3.6MB)]
Jason Salmi Klotz, Closing Comments (Mar. 10, 2006).
Jason Salmi Klotz is the 2005-2006 Editor-in-Chief of the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law.
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