The University of Detroit Mercy Law Review is hosting a symposium entitled, "The Public Trust Doctrine: An Ancient Tool for Protecting the Great Lakes from New Hazards," this Friday, October 16.
Some of the leading voices on the public trust doctrine will be giving presentations, including Prof. Jim Huffman of Lewis & Clark (author of Speaking of Inconvenient Truths — A History of the Public Trust Doctrine) and Prof. Melissa Scanlan of Vermont Law (author of Blueprint for the Great Lakes Trail). My colleague Prof. Nick Schroeck will be speaking about micro-plastics pollution and the public trust doctrine, and my presentation will explore how the public trust doctrine fits with state sovereignty and property rights to shape the law of water.
For all the details, see the program flier. The event is free and open to the public, but you must register in advance. I plan to live blog from the event, so if you can’t make it, check back at Great Lakes Law for summaries and insights from all the presentations.
And if you are in town for the symposium, come out to the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center’s Blue Water Bash. This annual event will recognize U.S. Senator Gary Peters as Great Lakes Legislator of the Year. And there are two superb winners of the GLELC Excellence in Environmental Journalism Awards for 2015 - Tom Henry of the Toledo Blade and Jim Lynch of the Detroit News. There is also music by the Gasoline Gypsies. Purchase tickets online at Shop.GLELC.org. I hope to see you there!