for immediate release
NEWS/September 14, 2000
CONTACT:  Peter Lee Miller
Director of Media Relations
(802) 763-8303, Ext. 2309

Vermont Law Review Symposium: The Environmental Effects of War

Cyber Warfare and Nuclear Weapons Among Issues to Be Examined

South Royalton, VT: "The Environmental Effects of War," a surpassingly important topic that has only begun to be addressed, will be considered on Friday, October 27, 2000, at Vermont Law School.  This symposium will bring together leading experts in the field for discussion and debate.

"The Environmental Effects of War" will take place from 8 AM-4:30 PM in the Jonathon B. Chase Community Center.  A $10 admission fee will be charged for non-students; students may attend free of charge. Pre-registration is not required.  The event will be hosted by The Vermont Law Review, a student-run publication of Vermont Law School.  Co-sponsors include the Environmental Law Institute, Washington, DC; the George Washington University Law School; and Vermont Law School's Environmental Law Center.

Topics and presenters will include:

Topic:  Environmental Effects of Nuclear Weapons.  The focus of this presentation will be the 1996 World Court advisory opinion on the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons, especially the court's treatment of international law norms designed to protect the environment in time of war.  The proposed national missile defense and relevant U.S. domestic environmental law will also be discussed.

Presenters:

- Michael Matheson, acting legal adviser, U.S. Department of State. Matheson has been principal deputy legal adviser for the Department of State for many years.  He was one of two lawyers who argued the nuclear weapons case before the World Court on behalf of the United States.

- Stephen Dycus, professor, Vermont Law School.  Professor Dycus, an internationally recognized authority on national security and the law, addressed this topic in his 1996 book, National Defense and the Environment.

Topic:  Cyber Warfare and the Environment.  The U.S. engaged in cyber warfare against Slobodan Milosovic last year in the Balkans, and we can be certain that future adversaries will employ this new weapon of war. Implications of the threat to critical infrastructure and the environment will be examined.

Presenters:

- William M. Arkin, journalist.  Arkin, one of the nation's most respected experts on weaponry, is consultant to Human Rights Watch, the International Committee for the Red Cross, and the Defense Department, and has authored more than 10 books on military matters, including The U.S. Military Online.

- Jim Makris, director of emergency planning, Environmental Protection Agency, was responsible for that agency's preparations for Y2K.

Topic:  Environmental Effects of Internal Conflicts.  Since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, armed conflicts have mostly taken the form of civil wars, guerrilla insurgencies, or ethnic struggles.  While existing legal norms do not apply easily to such cases, the environmental damages, including the impacts of refugees, can be severe and can persist for generations.

- Presenter: Carl Bruch, attorney and director of the Environmental Law Institute's Africa Program.  In 1998, he helped organize the First International Conference on Addressing Environmental Consequences of War. With Jay Austin of the ELI, he has authored a number of articles on different aspects on preventing, mitigating, and punishing wrongful environmental damages of armed conflict, including The Environmental Consequences of War: Legal, Economic, and Scientific Perspectives, to be published in October.

Topic:  Environmental Planning for Armed Conflict.  Much unnecessary damage to the environment could be avoided by careful, advance planning for weaponry, tactics, and rules of engagement.  The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) offers a useful model, but to date it has not been applied in this arena.

- Presenter:  Laurent R. Hourcle, associate professor, George Washington University Law School.  Hourcle, a retired Air Force colonel, was the Pentagon's top environmental lawyer for a number of years.  He has written extensively in this field.

Topic:  Organizing the Military for Environmental Protection.  Only recently have U.S. military leaders begun to regard a clean, healthy environment as a critical national interest worth fighting to protect. A Pentagon office is now tasked exclusively to protect the environment from military activities that would unnecessarily degrade it.

- Presenter: Curtis Bowling, Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Force Protection). Bowling's responsibilities include international environmental compliance and cleanup efforts, and international defense environmental cooperation. In his prior assignment in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Bowling was the deputy for environmental quality. Other positions he has held include assistant deputy environment, safety and occupational health in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, and deputy director of environmental quality, Headquarters Air Force.

Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits are available to symposium attendees for a fee of $50.  For more information about CLE credits or the symposium in general, please contact the symposium editors, Sean Flynn at sflynn@vermontlaw.edu or Brian Maddox at bmaddox@vermontlaw.edu. For nearly three decades, the Environmental Law Institute has played a pivotal role in shaping the fields of environmental law, policy, and management, domestically and abroad. Today, ELI is an internationally recognized, independent research and education center.  For more information, please refer to http://www.eli.org.

The George Washington University is the largest institution of higher education in the nation's capital.  The university offers comprehensive programs of undergraduate and graduate liberal arts study as well as degree programs in medicine, law, engineering, education, business/public management and international affairs.  For more information, please refer to http://www.law.gwu.edu

Vermont Law School is one of a handful of independent, private law schools in the United States and is the only law school in Vermont.  VLS offers a traditional Juris Doctor (J.D.) curriculum that emphasizes the public-serving role of lawyers, a Master of Studies in Environmental Law (M.S.E.L.) degree for lawyers and non-lawyers alike, and a post-J.D. degree, the LL.M. in Environmental Law.  The law school also features innovative experiential programs and is home to the Environmental Law Center.  For more information please call (802) 763-8303, Ext. 2314, or refer to http://www.vermontlaw.edu/

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Peter Lee Miller
Director of Media Relations
Vermont Law School
P.O. Box 96, Chelsea Street
South Royalton, VT  05068
(802) 763-8303, Ext. 2309
pmiller@vermontlaw.edu