Attorneys and legal scholars with the nation’s top-ranked Environmental Law Center (ELC) at Vermont Law School (VLS) are available for comment on the recently released 1,700-page National Climate Assessment produced by 13 federal agencies. ELC experts continue to examine the report’s findings, which the Trump administration claims are fraudulent and “not based on facts.”

Available for immediate comment are:

Jennifer Rushlowjrushlow@vermontlaw.edu

Rushlow is director of the ELC and associate dean for environmental programs at VLS. Her environmental law expertise includes climate change, clean energy, environmental justice, food law and policy, and transportation. An experienced litigator, she argued and won a landmark climate law case before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Kain v. Department of Environmental Protection, 474 Mass. 278 (2016), and was named a 2016 Lawyer of the Year by Mass Lawyers Weeklyfor her work on the case. Before joining the faculty at VLS, Rushlow served as a director and senior attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation. Her advocacy has been regularly covered by the media, including NPRTheBoston GlobeE&E NewsInsideClimate News, and Civil Eats

Patrick Parenteaupparenteau@vermontlaw.edu

Parenteau is senior counsel at the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC) and professor of law at VLS. A fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers and recipient of the Kerry Rydberg Award for excellence in public interest environmental law, Parenteau is nationally recognized for his expertise on climate change, environmental policy and litigation, endangered species and biological diversity, and water quality and wetlands. He frequently has been asked to testify before Congress, and the press regularly seeks his comment on national issues, including climate change, the Clean Power Plan, and carbon rules. He has been interviewed by The New York TimesCNNNPRBloomberg BNA, and Vice, among other media.

 John Echeverriajecheverria@vermontlaw.edu

Echeverria is a professor of law at VLS, where he teaches Legal Adaptation to Global Warming, Public Law, and a wide range of environmental and natural resource law courses. He has written several books and scholarly articles on environmental and natural resource law topics, and published pieces for more general audiences in The New York TimesThe Washington Post, and The Christian Science Monitor. As an attorney, he has represented state and local governments, environmental organizations, and planning groups in a variety of legal matters at all levels of the federal and state court systems. He is a recipient of the Jefferson Fordham Advocacy Award from the American Bar Association in recognition of outstanding excellence within the area of state and local government law over a lifetime of achievement. 

 For more information about the Environmental Law Center, visit vermontlaw.edu/ELC.