Emmett Environmental Law Policy Clinic

Students at the Emmett Environmental Law & Policy Clinic work on a variety of timely, complex, and novel projects that provide a sophisticated and challenging setting in which to teach students a wide range of practical lawyering skills. Some of the Clinic’s recent major projects address:

City of Boston’s Climate Adaptation Planning. A team of clinic students assisted the City of Boston in an ongoing collaboration to aid the City’s creation of a climate adaptation plan. On August 30, 2011, the Clinic issued a white paper, "Legal Options for Municipal Climate Adaptation in South Boston."   It analyzes legal options available to the City to respond to the effects of climate change, with a particular focus on the impacts of sea level rise in South Boston.  

Solar Energy Licensing. The Clinic continued to represent two renewable energy companies in proceedings before the Massachusetts Board of State Examiners of Electricians.  The Board has adopted a new interpretation of the electrical licensing statute, under which it claims that all aspects of a solar photovoltaic installation project must be performed only by licensed electricians.  The Clinic is defending these small businesses’ ability to continue performing the financial, planning, and other non-electrical parts of the job. The Clinic has also launched an action for declaratory judgment and injunction against the Board in Massachusetts Superior Court.

Hydraulic Fracture Mining. During the 2010-2011 school year, the Clinic launched a multi-faceted investigation of legal frameworks for governing the rise of hydraulic fracture mining across shale-rich regions of the country. In May 2011, the clinic released "An Ohio Landowner's Guide to Hydraulic Fracturing."  This guide is intended to help landowners who are approached by a natural gas company to negotiate a lease for the right to extract natural gas by hydraulic fracturing from their property.  It includes suggested lease provisions that can help protect the health, property, and environment of the landowner from the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing. In addition, the Clinic examined legal theories that might allow surface owners in West Virginia to protect themselves against some of the more harmful or intrusive practices associated with hydraulic fracturing. The Clinic’s findings will be published in the Buffalo Environmental Law Journal.

Please visit the website of the Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic here