Conservation Law Center seeks applications for a Senior Staff Attorney to join our team based in the beautiful Midwestern college town of Bloomington, Indiana. This is an exciting opportunity to join a growing public interest law firm working on some of the most important and challenging conservation issues in the US and beyond. The Senior Staff Attorney will be involved in all aspects of CLC’s work, including advocacy and litigation on the organization’s substantive focus areas, and helping teach students in the Conservation Law Clinic at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law. While CLC engages in multiple kinds of conservation advocacy, roughly one-third to one-half of CLC’s work involves litigation. The Senior Attorney will be expected to contribute to CLC’s ongoing projects while also developing their own base of clients for CLC. This full-time position is open to practicing attorneys with seven or more years of experience.

Sycamore Land Trust Director Christian Freitag to Succeed W. William Weeks as President and Director at Conservation Law Center

The Conservation Law Center, a non-profit environmental law firm based in Bloomington, has hired Christian Freitag to succeed W. William Weeks as president and director of the organization. The Conservation Law Center provides legal counsel without charge to conservation organizations, works to improve conservation law and policy, and offers law students clinical experience in the practice of law and the profession's public service tradition.

CLC Submits Comments Urging Fish and Wildlife Service to Strengthen Regulation of Private Oil and Gas Operations on National Wildlife Refuges

Peter Murrey and Clinic interns submitted comments on behalf of the American Bird Conservancy to the Fish and Wildlife Service urging the agency to strengthen proposed rules governing private oil and gas drilling in these sensitive areas.

CLC awarded Friends of the White River annual award

Director Bill Weeks spoke at Friends of the White River annual meeting this February. CLC has been assisting FOTWR in negotiations with the DNR about tree removal on the White River levee.

At the event, President Dan Valleskey presented the organization's annual award to CLC. The hand-made carved paddle represents FOTWR's gratitude for CLC's legal council.

CLC Submitted Comments on Proposed Stream Protection Rule

On October 26, the CLC submitted comments on the Office of Surface Mining’s proposed Stream Protection Rule on behalf of the Hoosier Environmental Council. The proposed rule updates surface coal mining regulations in light of new information on coal mining’s effects on ecosystems and the difficulty of replacing healthy streams impacted by mining. The proposed rule would allow companies to mine through streams if avoiding the streams is not practicable and the applicant demonstrates that she can replace the form and function of the impacted stream. However, the rule allows states with primary authority over surface coal mining to develop their own standards to measure stream function.

Indiana Organizations, Water Laws, Conservation, WaterCLC AdminOctober 27, 2015Surface Mining, Coal, Streams, Protection, Client WorkComment

CLC is Assisting The Nature Conservancy with Clearing Mineral Rights Encumbrances

The CLC is assisting The Nature Conservancy in clearing mineral encumbrances from properties in the Wabash River watershed for conservation. Many property owners do not own the mineral rights beneath their property. This means the mineral rights owner can use the surface to reach any coal, oil, or natural gas beneath the property. We are clearing abandoned rights of titles and working with owners with current rights to secure the release of the surface rights so the property can be committed to conservation use without the risk of mining or drilling occurring in the future.

CLC Challenges Indiana DNR's Authorization to Destroy Mature Hardwood Forest and Habitat Along the White River Levee

On behalf of Friends of the White River, CLC has challenged the Indiana Department of Natural Resources’ decision to authorize the permanent destruction of more than seven acres of mature hardwood forest and other high-quality riparian habitat along Indianapolis’s White River levee.