ALEI hosts an Agricultural and Environmental Law Conference each November. This event attracts agricultural professionals, attorneys, educators, environmentalists, farmers, policymakers, and students to discuss the complex intersection of environmental regulation and agriculture in Maryland. ALEI prides itself on hosting an event that brings farming and conservation experts together in a forum that allows for an exchange of ideas and education for conference attendees on current legal topics of interest.

2019 Agricultural and Environmental Law Conference in Annapolis, MD, image by Edwin Remsberg

The 2020 Conference will be Delivered Online!

Due to ongoing uncertainty related to the global pandemic, ALEI is moving its annual conference online. We hope you will join us in this new endeavor!

The conference will be offered over the course of three weeks with six sessions as follows:

November 2, 2020

Pivoting in a Pandemic: Risk Management During COVID-19 from the Perspective of Maryland’s Dairy Farms

2 p.m – 2:50 p.m

Presenters:

Katie Dotter-Pyle, Co-Owner and Farmer, Cow Comfort Inn Dairy and Creamery

Lindsay Reames, Director of Sustainability and External Relations for Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association

Nicole Cook, Environmental and Agricultural Faculty Legal Specialist, Agriculture Law Education Initiative

Brooks Long, Co-Owner and Farmer, Deliteful Dairy

This panel will focus on the impact of COVID-19 on Maryland’s dairy industry and how dairy farmers managed the risks to their farms during the pandemic including what lessons they learned about navigating supply chain disruptions, loss of markets and changing markets, worker issues, insurance and disaster relief programs.

A Fresh Look at Clean Air: Maryland Ambient Air Quality Study Roundtable (Nutrient Management Credits Available)

3 p.m. – 3:50pm

Presenters:

Samantha Campbell, President, Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment

Margaret Todd, Research Assistant, Agriculture Law Education Initiative

Holly Porter, Executive Director, Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc

Suzanne Dorsey, Ph.D., Assistant Secretary, Maryland Department of the Environment

An explanation of the motivation behind the ambient air project, updates on the data collection process, potential next steps of the project.

November 9, 2020

The Conowingo Dam Settlement- Litigation, Opposition and Re-Licensing

2 p.m. – 2:50 p.m.

Presenters:

Charles “Chip” MacLeod, Clean Chesapeake Coalition

Jonathan May, Assistant Attorney General, Maryland Department of the Environment

Denise Keehner, Assistant Secretary, Maryland Department of the Environment

This panel will focus on the Conowingo Dam settlement and specifically touch upon the litigation, settlement, opposition to the settlement and the status of the relicensing of the Dam.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, et. al. v. EPA- A Case to Require a Watershed Wide Effort to Reach 2025 Bay Restoration Goals (Nutrient Management Credits Available)

3 p.m. – 3:50pm

Presenters:

Jon Mueller, Vice-President of Litigation for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Robert Whitescarver, Farmer and former NRCS representative

This panel will focus on the lawsuit the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and others, including Whitescarver, have filed against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its alleged failure to require Pennsylvania and New York to develop implementation plans that will achieve the 2025 Bay restoration goals.

November 16, 2020

Waters of the US: From Obama to Trump Understanding How the Rule Impacts Agriculture in the Mid-Atlantic (Nutrient Management Credits Available)

2 p.m. – 2:50 p.m.

Presenters:

Deidre Duncan, Partner, Hunton Andrews Kurth

Don Parish, Senior Director of Regulatory Relations, American Farm Bureau Federation

Matt Pluta, Choptank Riverkeeper and Director of Riverkeeper Programs

This panel will highlight changes from the 2015 Waters of the US Rule to the changes made recently under the Trump administration.

Developing Topics in Agricultural, Environmental, and Food Law

3 p.m – 3:50 p.m.

Presenters:

Kelly Nuckolls, Policy Specialist, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

Paul Goeringer, Senior Faculty Specialist and Extension Legal Specialist, ALEI, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Maryland, College Park

The panelists will highlight this year’s developing legal issues in agricultural, environmental, and food law from courtroom decisions, law, and policy and will let attendees know what issues to watch in 2021.

Registration is now open! This year’s conference is free of charge! Donations are highly appreciated! (donations are not tax-deductible)

Click here to register:https://alei2020conference.eventbrite.com

If you have any questions, please contact us at umaglaw@umd.edu