Published on February 11, 2025 by Morgan Black
Share this on:
On Jan. 31, Samford University Cumberland School of Law hosted the inaugural Cumberland Law Land Use and Natural Resources Law Center Symposium, in partnership with Cumberland’s Continuing Legal Education department. This year’s conference focused on environmental regulation in a diminished administrative state. The half day conference highlighted the development of private governance, environmental markets, and taxation policies to fill environmental regulatory gaps.
Panelists included a who’s who of environmental law experts from across the globe:
Dean Blake Hudson, Cumberland School of Law
State Regulatory Gap Filling for Decarbonization
Professor Tracey Roberts, Cumberland School of Law
The Tax Trench Deepens: Taxation as One of the Few Remaining Congressional Pathways to Regulation
Professor Rodolfo Salassa Boix, Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
European Tax Strategies for Shipping Emissions Reduction to Protect Human Health and Biodiversity
Professor Ángel Urquizu Cavalle, University Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
The Promotion and Development of a Clean and Sustainable Energy System in the United States and the European Union: Financial and Tax Measures to Promote the Production and Storage of Renewable Hydrogen
Professor Anastasia Telesetsky, California Polytechnic State University
Environmental Insurance and Clubs as a Non-Regulatory Tool for Governance
Professor Heather Elliott, The University of Alabama School of Law
Markets as Regulatory Alternatives: Challenges in Creating Markets for the Priceless and Unpriced
Professor Michael Vandenbergh, Vanderbilt Law
The Growing Role of Private Environmental Governance Tools and Concepts
Rusha Smith, Freshwater Land Trust
The Role of Land Conservation – NGO Activity
Mitch Reid, Alabama Nature Conservancy
Tackling Existential Environmental Challenges in Today’s Geopolitical Landscape
“We are excited to launch this annual symposium focusing on important emerging environmental issues,” said Blake Hudson, dean of Cumberland School of Law. “The level of expertise presented at this year’s conference, representing academic institutions and non-governmental organizations from around the globe, was remarkable. Especially in these tumultuous times, it’s important that Cumberland be a trusted resource for creative and impactful ways to improve our environment through collaborative mechanisms.”
Through Cumberland School of Law’s Land Use and Natural Resources Center, faculty and students address critical environmental issues from water quality to land development to the forest industry and urban sprawl.
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks with the second highest score in the nation for its 98% Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.
