The Clean Air Act at a Crossroads: Turning 40, Confronting Climate Change 

April 22 and 23, 2010
Council Chamber
Lewis & Clark College

Sponsored by
Lewis & Clark Law School and
Environmental Law

 

Save the Date!

Lewis & Clark's annual national environmental conferences have received outstanding reviews from speakers and audience alike for their interesting content and participatory approach.  This year, we'll focus on one of the most important pollution control statutes - the Clean Air Act - and look at its potential role in mitigating climate change. 

Why this Conference? 

In 1970, the Clean Air Act ushered in an era of command and control pollution regulation, and for forty years served as the dynamic ground for innovative field-trials to solve public health and welfare problems.

Over the years, the Clean Air Act has been implemented, and amended where necessary, to respond to changing threats, new technologies, and evolving policy perspectives.  Today, the Clean Air Act is the primary existing law that addresses air pollution, including carbon dioxide emissions.  As Judge Ed Carnes of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals cautioned, however, “[n]avigating through the intricacies of the Clean Air Act is no task for the uninformed or the short-winded.”  Sierra Club v. Johnson, 436 F.3d 1269 (11th Cir. 2006).

By examining the history and current incarnation of our original command and control environmental statute, symposium participants will gain insights into effective regulatory frameworks and reflect on some of its clearest failures.  Through moderated discussions, the symposium will examine the basic building blocks of the Clean Air Act and review these successes and failures over the years.  Informed by this retrospective, the symposium will then discuss current issues and future tensions in air regulation, including whether and how the Clean Air Act will play a role in preventing catastrophic global climate change.

Speakers

The speaker list for the conference is still being compiled.  This web page will be updated regularly as the conference takes shape.  Stay tuned!