For Immediate Release: May 16, 2011

ELI Announces Winner of Sixth Annual “Endangered Environmental Laws” Student Writing Competition

(Washington, DC) — Holli Brown, a second-year student at Vermont Law School, has been named winner of the sixth annual ELI-ABA-NAELS “Endangered Environmental Laws” Student Writing Competition. Ms. Brown will receive a $2000 cash award and publication in the Environmental Law Reporter (ELR®), ELI’s flagship journal and the most often cited law review covering environmental and natural resource issues.

Ms. Brown’s entry, “The Attack on Frack: New York’s Moratorium on Hydraulic Fracturing and Where It Stands in the Threat of Takings,” examines whether a state moratorium on hydrofracking could result in a compensable taking of private property under the Fifth Amendment.

“We are pleased to recognize this timely article, which raises thought-provoking questions about challenges to New York’s moratorium on hydrofracking,’ said ELI Senior Attorney Jay Austin. “Ms. Brown’s submission, like those of the other students who participated in the competition, explores cross-cutting environmental law issues in light of recent events.”

The annual competition—co-sponsored by ELI’s Endangered Environmental Laws Program, the Constitutional Law Committee of the American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, and the National Association of Environmental Law Societies—invites law students to analyze issues at the intersection of constitutional and environmental law. All entries received during the 2010-11 academic year were subject to a rigorous evaluation process overseen by judges from ELI, ABA, and NAELS. The winning article will be published in ELR® News & Analysis in the fall of 2011.

ELI’s Endangered Environmental Laws Program seeks to defend U.S. environmental law by advancing principles such as broad citizen access to federal courts, uniform minimum federal environmental standards, and leeway for state innovation in environmental protection. For more information, see www.endangeredlaws.org.

The Environmental Law Institute® is an independent, non-profit research and educational organization based in Washington, DC. The Institute serves the environmental profession in business, government, the private bar, public interest organizations, academia, and the press. For further information from the Environmental Law Institute, please contact Brett Kitchen at 202-939-3833 or pressrequest@eli.org.
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