Professor Patrick Parenteau of Vermont Law School received the 2016 Kerry Rydberg Award for Environmental Activism on Saturday, March 5, at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) at the University of Oregon. Parenteau is the third VLS faculty member to receive the award since 2001.
The Kerry Rydberg Award "is presented annually to an advocate who embodies Oregon alum Kerry Rydberg's courage, self-reliance, commitment, talent, and dedication to representing citizens at the grassroots level in environmental matters."
"This is well deserved," said Associate Dean Melissa Scanlan, director of the Environmental Law Center (ELC) at VLS. "Pat is a passionate advocate for the environment, nationally recognized for his expertise on climate change, environmental policy and litigation, endangered species and biological diversity, and water quality and wetlands. He is an inspiration to our students, and I and the greater Vermont Law School community congratulate him on this honor."
Formerly director of the ELC and of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC), Parenteau frequently is asked to testify before Congress, and the press regularly seeks his comment on national issues.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Parenteau held various positions with the National Wildlife Federation, including vice president for conservation, and served as regional counsel for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Boston and commissioner of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation. In the 1990s, he served as special counsel to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the spotted owl exemption proceedings under the Endangered Species Act. In 1993, he returned to Vermont to assume the directorship of the Environmental Law Center, a position he held through 1998. In 2003, he helped found and directed the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, where he now serves as senior counsel. In 2015, Parenteau was elected to the American College of Environmental Lawyers (ACOEL).
Kerry Rydberg Award recipients are nominated and voted on by previous winners. Past Rydberg awardees include VLS faculty Jack Tuholske in 2010 and Karin Sheldon in 2001. For more information about the Kerry Rydberg Award, visit pielc.org.
Founded in 1978, the Environmental Law Center at Vermont Law School offers more than 64 courses related to the environment and environmental law, more than any other law school in the United States. In addition to the traditional academic year, the ELC organizes and hosts an annual Summer Session, where degree and non-degree students from around the world immerse themselves in environmental law and policy. For more information about the Environmental Law Center, including degrees and clinical training, visit vermontlaw.edu/ELC.
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Vermont Law School, a private, independent institution, is home to the nation's largest and deepest environmental law program. VLS offers a Juris Doctor curriculum that emphasizes public service; three Master's Degrees—Master of Environmental Law and Policy, Master of Energy Regulation and Law, and Master of Food and Agriculture Law and Policy; and four post-JD degrees —LLM in American Legal Studies (for foreign-trained lawyers), LLM in Energy Law, LLM in Environmental Law, and LLM in Food and Agriculture Law. The school features innovative experiential programs and is home to the Environmental Law Center, South Royalton Legal Clinic, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, Energy Clinic, Food and Agriculture Clinic, and Center for Applied Human Rights. For more information, visit vermontlaw.edu, find us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.
image courtesy of Ken Rumelt