Florida State Law’s Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law Symposium on Sea Level Rise and Property Rights
8:30 – 12:30, April 23, 2010
FSU College of Law, Room R-103

Even assuming conservative predictions, sea level rise undoubtedly will result in significant threats to the resiliency and long-term sustainability of coastal communities. As the seas continue to rise, waterfront areas along the Gulf of Mexico are undergoing tremendous population growth. Thus, escalating seas present alarming potential for causing physical and economic harm to millions of people around the region. Nevertheless, no Gulf States have implementable, meaningful, comprehensive plans, policies or regulations directly addressing sea level rise.

In the fall of 2009, a partnership of federal programs, including Sea Grant, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Northern Gulf Institute and the U.S. Geological Survey awarded a research grant to a team of researchers analyzing federal and state constitutional and statutory takings jurisprudence and theories to aid in the creation of innovative land use planning policies for adaptation to sea level rise. The team was pleased to partner with the Florida State University School of Law for this symposium both to present their early foundational research and to discuss their research plans moving forward. The team was joined at this symposium by two of the premier land use and environmental scholars in the country, Florida State’s own Professors of Law, Robin Craig and Donna Christie. All of the papers will be published in FSU’s Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law in early 2011.

8:30am: Welcoming Remarks

• J.B. Ruhl, Matthews & Hawkins Professor of Property, Florida State University College of Law
• Stephanie Showalter, Director, National Sea Grant Law Center/Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Legal Program

8:45am - 10:15am: Panel 1

• Thomas Ruppert, Coastal Planning Specialist, Florida Sea Grant College Program, Investment-Backed Expectations and Notice Provisions in Coastal Areas
• Timothy M. Mulvaney, Visiting Associate Professor of Law, Texas Wesleyan School of Law, Municipal Exactions at the Water’s Edge
• Donna Christie, Elizabeth C. & Clyde W. Atkinson Professor, Florida State University College of Law, Judicial Takings

10:15 - 10:30am: Coffee Break

10:30am - 12:30pm: Panel II

• Niki Pace, Research Counsel, Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Legal Program, University of Mississippi School of Law, Living Shorelines vs. Armoring: the Regulatory Dilemma in the Gulf of Mexico
• Richard McLaughlin, Endowed Chair for Marine Policy and Law, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Rolling Easements in Coastal Texas and Their Possible Application in Other Gulf States
• Robin Craig, Attorneys’ Title Professor and Associate Dean for Environmental Programs, Florida State University College of Law, Public Trust and Public Necessity Defenses to Takings on the Gulf Coast
• James Wilkins, Director, Louisiana Sea Grant Law and Policy Program, Louisiana State University, Governmental Liability for Failing to Protect Citizens from Known or Impending Hazards

12:30pm - 1:30pm: Working Lunch for Panelists and Associates