On January 9, 2003, members of the Environmental and Energy Management program participated in a symposium with Chairman of the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality James Connaughton. The symposium was sponsored by the Environmental Law Institute and Resources for the Future (RFF), and was conducted at the RFF headquarters building in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Connaughton covered a wide range of current environmental issues facing the federal government, including water quality issues such as the emerging Total Daily Load (TMDL ) program, the newly established water quality standard for arsenic, and changes to the wetlands regulatory program of the Corps of Engineers. He also discussed major air quality management issues, such as the new 8-hour ozone standards and the new 2.5 micron particulate matter standard. In addition, Mr. Connaughton discussed with the audience a number of important cases being considered by the U.S Supreme Court.
A big item of discussion, due to the fact that action was pending at the time of the meeting , focused on guidelines to be issued by the Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency to implement a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision governing the extent of federal jurisdiction over “isolated wetlands.” These two agencies (Corps of Engineers and EPA) jointly announced that new guidelines to implement the Supreme Court decision just a few days after the symposium, showing once again the benefits of environmental graduate studies conducted in Washington, D.C.