Newsletter Fall 07 - .pdf - Florida Coastal School of Law

Coastal Law Student Wins Florida Bar Environmental Law Writing Competition
Jef Close (‘07) won first place in the 2007
Frank E. Maloney Memorial Writing Contest,
sponsored by the Environmental and Land Use
Law Section of the Florida Bar and open to all of
the law schools in Florida. Jeff received a check
for $500 and free admission to the Annual
Environmental Law Update conference at Amelia
Island Plantation in August. A redacted version of
Jef’s article, Seeking to Slow Down Sprawl and
Save What Is Left of Florida After Aviall: A
Legislative Problem with a Legislative Fix, has
been accepted for publication in an upcoming
issue of the Florida Bar Journal.
Jef is one of Florida Coastal’s first
Environmental Law Certificate recipients. He
graduated in May ‘07 with a 3.94 GPA in his
environmental certificate course work, which
included earning the top grades in Environmental
Law Practice and Procedure and Ocean and
Coastal Law. A native of Montgomery, Alabama,
Jeff holds a B.S. from the University of Alabama.
Four Coastal Law Students Publish Articles in Environmental Law Journals
Kelley Jancaitis ('07). Kelley's paper, Florida
on the Coast of Climate Change: Responding to
Rising Seas, has been accepted for publication
in the Spring 2008 issue of Environs
Environmental Law and Policy Journal (UC
Davis Law School).
H. French Brown, IV ('07). French's paper,
Rebirth of CERCLA § 107 Contribution
Actions: New Life for PRPs that Conduct
Voluntary Cleanups After Aviall, has been
accepted for publication in the Spring 2007
issue of the Buffalo Environmental Law Journal.
Joanna Wymyslo ('08). Joanna's paper,
Standing for Endangered Species: Justiciability
Beyond Humanity, has been accepted for
publication in the Fall 2007 issue of the
University of Baltimore Journal of
Environmental Law.
April Williams ('07). April's paper, "Project
Jeopardizes South Carolina Wetlands," was
published in the June 2007 issue of The
SandBar, a bi-monthly publication of the
National Sea Grant Law Center at the
University of Mississippi Law School that
analyzes recent developments in ocean and
coastal law.
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WHAT’S NEW
Florida Coastal Faculty Approves New
Environmental Law Certificate Program
In December 2006, the faculty approved the
Environmental Law Certificate program, which
graduated its first five candidates in May 2007.
The 15-credit certificate program requires
students to complete classroom credits, a skills
component, and an advanced writing
requirement component in environmental law.
Florida Coastal Faculty Approves New
Environmental Law Externship Program
In March 2007, the faculty approved the
Environmental Law Externship program, which
includes externship placements in government
agencies, private law firms, and public interest
environmental organizations for the summer,
fall, and spring semesters. For information
about student placements in the summer and fall,
please see p. 6 of this newsletter.
FACULTY HIGHLIGHTS
Professor Randy Abate
ProfessorAbate’s article, Climate Change,
the United States, and the Impacts of Arctic
Melting: A Case Study in the Need for
Enforceable International Environmental
Human Rights, was published in August as the
lead article in a special joint symposium issue of
the Stanford Environmental Law Journal and
the Stanford Journal of International Law.
Professor Abate accepted an invitation to
serve as a brief grader in August for the Latin
American Rounds of the International
Environmental Moot Court Competition hosted
by Stetson University College of Law. Teams
from law schools in Guyana, Mexico, the
Dominican Republic, and Brazil participated in
these rounds of the competition.
Professor Abate's book, DIRECTORY OF
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW EDUCATION
OPPORTUNITIES AT AMERICAN LAW SCHOOLS,
will be published by Carolina Academic Press
in December 2007. The book provides a
school-by-school and topical description of
environmental law resources (e.g., courses,
faculty, clinics, journals, specialized curricular
programs, conferences, etc.) at AALS member
and fee-paid law schools in the U.S.
Professor Abate's article, Automobile
Emissions and Climate Change
Impacts: Employing Public Nuisance Doctrine
as Part of a "Global Warming Solution”in
California, has been accepted for publication in
the February 2008 issue of the Connecticut Law
Review.
Professor Michael Lewyn
Professor Lewyn published Five Myths
About Sprawl, at 23 Harvard BlackLetter L.J. 81
(2007).
Professor Lewyn published How
Government Regulation Forces Americans Into
Their Cars: A Case Study, at 16 Widener L.J.
839 (2007).
Professor Lewyn published Planners Gone
Wild: The Overregulation of Parking at 33 Wm.
Mitchell L. Rev. 613 (2007).
In Feburary 2007, Professor Lewyn
delivered a presentation, "How Zoning Causes
Sprawl," at Widener University School of Law-
Harrisburg’s conference on "Squaring the Circle
on Sprawl.”
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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Energy Development Work in Central America
by Yvette G. Retamoza
Last summer, I was fortunate to intern with
International Business Connection Ltd. (IBC), a
development company that specializes in Energy
Infrastructure in emerging markets. Their latest
project, and the project I worked on, is Cutuco
Energy Central America (CECA), which is
currently developing a Liquefied Natural Gas
(LNG) importing terminal,
a 525MW power plant, and
a water desalinization plant
in La Union, El Salvador.
CECA’s mision is to
provide El Salvador and
Central America with a
reliable supply of low-cost
electricity and natural gas to
meet a growing energy need
in Central America and to
help diversify the energy
matrix in this region.
Prior to coming to law
school, I worked in a law
firm specializing in energy
and environmental law and
worked on the permitting
process for a LNG terminal
in Oregon. This opportunity
with IBC and CECA was
unique in that I would be
traveling most of my
summer to Central America and around the U.S.,
working closely with energy executives in the area
of project development. Although I did not have a
specific agenda of everything I wanted to learn,
my general goal was to learn as much as possible
about international environmental and energy law
and to pay very close attention to how a project of
this size is developed (while at the same time
keeping my fingers cross that my one year of law
school would help me to understand just what was
going on).
IBC and CECA do not have a formal
internship program. In fact, I was their first intern,
Yvette Retamoza, pictured here in Puebla, Mexico, is a
2L at Florida Coastal School of Law. She can be reached
at ygretamoza@fcsl.edu
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which meant that immediately upon joining the
team I had to get up to speed on every aspect of
the project. This “crash course” included learning
about LNG (such as the various types of natural
gas, how it is transported, and how it is regasified);
learning how electricity is generated and sold;
learning how to negotiate and contract with
suppliers/distributors; and
learning about project
finance. Perhaps more
importantly, I needed to
learn and understand some
of the relevant laws of El
Salvador, which meant
reading statutes and
regulations in Spanish.
Luckily, I had a whole
summer to firmly grasp
most of the details of the
project, but first I needed to
understand the basic
concepts so that I could
understand the legal issues
surrounding this project.
One interesting hurdle
was (and still is) that
because this is El
Salvador’s first LNG
terminal, no law currently
exists governing and
regulating LNG. This meant working with the
Salvadorian Minister of the Economy and the
Presidential House to ensure that a comprehensive
natural gas law is passed. This included
participating in discussions providing guidance on
what important criteria should be reflected in a
natural gas law. Seeing how a law is developed
was perhaps one of the most interesting
experiences of my internship.
Another interesting issue I worked on was
assisting in developing and executing a public
relations and government relations strategy.
Developing such a plan can be challenging in

many respects, but it was also a very useful
learning tool because it forced me to think about
and address every aspect of the project. I soon
learned that public relations, government relations,
and legal/regulatory strategies are all interrelated
on a project of this scale.
My internship also enabled me to witness first
hand how government agencies play an important
role in project development by attending a public
hearing in connection with a different project IBC
is developing in Oregon. In this hearing, the
county listened to testimony from the energy
company executives and their lawyers and from
proponents and opponents of the project. The
company was then given
the opportunity to
comment and respond to
testimony in a follow up
hearing. This experience
(although 10 hours long
in a non air conditioned
high school auditorium on
a 100 degree day) not
only showed me how
passionate proponents and
opponents are about this
project, and energy
projects in general, but it
also taught me how
government agencies
react to such passion and
how crucial their role is in
project development.
Overall, I had an
amazing internship
experience that I would
not change for a second. I
have always been
interested in international
The view from Yvette’s ofice window in El Salvador.
affairs and have wanted to
pursue a career in
international development. Through this
opportunity I have learned a lot about energy and
environmental law issues throughout the U.S. and
Latin America and was able to explore the nontraditional
side of law. In addition, it has shown
Admittedly, much of my me the different perspectives in the international
development field and the important roles lawyers
can play. After graduation, I hope to pursue the
energy project development side of international
development.
One final notable experience was participating
in meetings where I observed the art of business
negotiation with potential business partners and
suppliers of LNG that would be imported to the
Cutuco LNG terminal.
time in these meetings involved me learning all
the acronyms of the business being tossed around,
but seeing how high level executives interact with
one another and conduct business was an
invaluable experience.
Prior to my internship, I had a glamorous
vision of what business travel was like. Although
I did enjoy the excitement of seeing new places,
eating at nice restaurants, and meeting interesting
new people, the reality of business travel can also
include getting lost in the Mexico City airport;
experiencing flight delays that make the flight
from Washington, D.C. to Portland, Oregon last
for 13 hours; learning how to avoid catching
travel-related illnesses; and seeing several
different meeting rooms rather than hiking a
volcano or relaxing on the beach.
I have also learned that project development can
be challenging and takes a lot of patience. At
times it may seem as
though you’ve been
waiting years for approval
of a permit application, or
you might feel like the
hours and hours of
negotiations were
pointless because the
meeting ended with no
deal.
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Ninth Annual Northeast Florida Environmental Summit
On November 2, 2007, Florida Coastal
School of Law and Jacksonville University will
co-host the Ninth Annual Northeast Florida
Environmental Summit, Rising to the
Challenge: Mitigation and Adaptation
Strategies to Combat the Impacts of Sea Level
Rise. This year’s conference will be held at
Florida Coastal School of Law’s new law school
building in Jacksonville, Florida. The Summit
will present a comprehensive assessment of the
legal and policy challenges posed by the
probable impacts of sea level rise and will
discuss strategies to mitigate the causes and
effects of those impacts. The Summit will
feature several nationally recognized speakers,
including the luncheon keynote speaker, Dr.
Orrin Pilkey, James B. Duke Professor Emeritus
of Geology, Earth, and Ocean Sciences at Duke
University. The closing keynote speaker will be
Professor Robin Kundis Craig of Florida State
Law School. Other lectures and panel
discussions will include experts in several fields
relating to sea level rise, including law, science,
business, policy, planning, and grassroots
activism.
For additional information and to register,
please visit the Environmental Summit ’07
website, http://www.fcsl.edu/env_summit/.
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Environmental Law Externships and Summer Research Projects
Summer 2007 Placements
Holland + Knight (Jacksonville)–Mark Silberstein
Lewis, Longman & Walker (Jacksonville)–Joanna Wymyslo
Upchurch, Bailey & Upchurch (St. Augustine)–J.R. Woodward
Jacksonville Environmental Quality Division–Lee White
Summer 2007 Research Projects
Holland + Knight (D.C.)–Joanna Wymyslo
National Sea Grant Law Center (Univ. of Mississippi)–Brian Shrader, Kate Mohr
Fall 2007 Placements
General Counsel, St. Johns Riverkeeper (Jacksonville)–Joanna Wymyslo
Gray Robinson (Jacksonville)–J.R. Woodward
Public Trust Environmental Law Institute (Jax Beach)–Angela Oertel, Kate Mohr
Jacksonville Environmental Quality Division–Catrina Humphrey
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