2010 Idaho Law Review Symposium
Challenges Facing the West in Adopting Alternative and Renewable Energy Resources
April 9, 2010
Boise, Idaho
The 2010 Idaho Law Review Symposium bought together an interdisciplinary panel of legal, scientific, and business experts to discuss issues related to the sustainable development of alternative and renewable energy sources in the west. Topics included: (1) the impacts that energy regulation and environmental laws have on the development of alternative energy sources, (2) the challenges faced in the transmission and transportation of renewable energy, and (3) how new energy sources can be used to create sustainable communities.
The 2010 Idaho Law Review Symposium continued the tradition of bringing together a select group of scholars and professionals for an informed interdisciplinary discussion centered on a topic of growing national importance. By exposing members of the academic, business, technological, and legal communities to diverse viewpoints and multifaceted experiences, our goal is to provide a forum for open discourse which will provide participants with valuable information applicable to their own business and legal situations.
Symposium Presentations
Introduction
Graham Cease and Katie Murdock, Law Review Symposium Editors
Lee Dillion, College of Law Associate Dean of Boise Operations
Alternative and Renewable Energy Sources – The Applicable Legal Framework
This panel will provide an overview of the different alternative and renewable energy sources being developed in Idaho and the West—and then examine—in greater detail, their economic, social, and environmental impacts. Review the pertinent laws and regulations that will have a significant impact on the development of these energy sources.
Panelists:
Erika Eaton Malmen, Perkins Coie
Robert Nielson, Center for Advanced Energy Studies
Teresa Hill, Stoel Rives
The Environmental/Energy Law Intersection
This panel will cover the impacts that environmental laws have on the development of alternative energy sources. Moreover, this panel will explore the divide between environmental and energy law, and the possibilities of a merger between the two fields.
Panelists:
Sandra Snodgrass, Holland and Hart
Hadassah Reimer, Holland and Hart
Amy Wildermuth, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law Professor
Lincoln Davies, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law Professor
Keynote Address by Attorney General Lawrence Wasden
Transmission and Waste Management Issues
With the development of these new energy sources, transmission and waste management issues arise. This panel will take a look at the laws that impact these issues and examine solutions to actual and potential transmission and waste management problems.
Panelists:
James Holtkamp, Holland and Hart
Dr. David Solan, Boise State University Energy Policy Institute
Marta Adams, Deputy Attorney General, State of Nevada
Sustainability
As our country begins to develop these new energy sources, how do we create sustainable communities with these sources? This panel will look at current statutes and common law and examine how these laws may impede or assist in creating sustainable communities with these alternative energy sources.
Panelists:
Dr. Jerrold Long, University of Idaho College of Law Professor
Dr. Robert Smith, University of Idaho Associate Vice-President
Michael Robinson-Dorn, University of Washington College of Law Professor
Kelsey Nunez, Givens Pursley