West Virginia University has a new LLM program in Energy & Sustainable Development Law. At the moment, the program is open only to those with a U.S. law degree.  The degree program capitalizes on a wide and deep range of expertise at WVU Law in a one of the nation's most energy-rich states.  (Full bias  disclosure: I direct the program.)

All students in the program are required to take both the Energy Law Survey and the Environmental Protection Law course. This is because we firmly believe that all lawyers connected to the energy sector need to have a firm grasp on both energy law issues and  envirnonmental law issues. Both courses touch on each other's area, but having both courses as a base will lead to better prepared professionals, whether the graduate wants to work for industry, an NGO, or a regulator. 

We also require some form of experiential learning, a portfolio of written work, and a Research Paper or Field-Work Project. Full details of the program are here.  For this venue, and in my area of interest, I will note our business offerings.  I teach my Energy Business: Law & Strategy course, details here, in addition to my

As someone who has focused his research, scholarship, and teaching on business law and energy law, it's long been my argument that energy is the key to long-term prosperity and quality of life.  Access to energy is critical, as are sustainable practices to ensure access to energy goes along with, and is not in lieu of, access to clean air and clean water.  See, e.g., my article: North Dakota Expertise: A Chance to Lead in Economically and Environmentally Sustainable Hydraulic Fracturing.

As I often do, this morning I visited the Harvard Business Law Review Online to see what topical issues were taking center stage.  A quick look reveals that three of the eight articles under the U.S. Business Law heading were energy related.  The articles are worth a look.  Here's a quick link to each:

The Regulatory Challenge Of Distributed Generation, by David B. Raskin

Investing in U.S. Pipeline Infrastructure: Could the Proposed Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act Spur New Investment?by Linda E. Carlisle, Daniel A. Hagan & Jane E. Rueger

Why Are Foreign Investments in Domestic Energy Projects Now Under CFIUS Scrutiny?, by Stephen Heifetz & Michael Gershberg

As my friend and colleague Marie