University Times

Making the Pittsburgh region a leader in green development and sustainable energy development is the goal of a symposium being sponsored by the School of Law’s Innovation Practice Institute (IPI) and the Pittsburgh Journal of Environmental and Public Health Law.

The symposium will bring together legislators, attorneys, scholars, industry experts and social innovators in a daylong forum Feb. 13.

The free event, “Building Sustainable Neighborhoods: Powering Sustainable Development in Allegheny County,” presented in conjunction with the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, will be held in the appropriately green Phipps Conservatory.

Rep. Mike Doyle will present the morning keynote talk, “The Transition to Renewable and Alternative Energy,” to set the tone for the day with a message that the transition will require sustained investment and commitment, said Tara Tighe, editor-in-chief of the Pittsburgh Journal of Environmental and Public Health Law.

“A lot of people think you can just flip a switch and it happens overnight. Because of that perception, sometimes it’s hard to get people to invest long-term in those sorts of goals. His talk is going to focus on how it is a long-term vision; how it is a process where we have to constantly weigh all of the different consequences and find a viable way to do it.”

In the afternoon keynote, Michael Krancer, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary, will focus on how the state can develop these energy technologies while preserving environmental resources, Tighe said.

The rest of the day will provide an overview of a wide range of related issues, including panel discussions on power grid infrastructure and integration, the sustainability of natural gas development, the role of university research in regional development, preserving historical roots in the face of innovation, green buildings and growing the green economy.

“What we hope will come out of this is a sort of blueprint for moving forward,” Tighe said.

Scheduled to participate are Pitt engineering faculty members Gregory Reed, director of the Power & Energy Initiative; John Metzger, director of the nuclear engineering program; Eric Beckman, co-director of the Mascaro Center, and Melissa Bilec, the Mascaro Center’s assistant director for education and outreach.

IPI executive director Justine Kasznica noted that IPI last year co-sponsored a symposium on Marcellus shale law.

“This year, we wanted to highlight the other side of energy development here in the region,” she said. “We want this conversation to continue as part of Pitt law’s commitment to energy and innovation.”

Kasznica said the Marcellus event was more academic in nature while this year’s program will bring the academic and non-academic community together with the opportunity for networking among participants who have similar aspirations and visions for the city. “The immediate outcome is in the relationships that can be built around common themes,” she said.

Tighe said, “Law is the missing link that pulls together all the players in the field from industry to policy-makers. It’s not just the technical advancement happening, it’s how the law and policies sector can bolster and help support innovation and tech development.”

Kasznica said, “We believe that lawyers play a central role — it makes sense that it’s Pitt law and it does make sense that the journal and the IPI are bringing these forces together into one room.”

Kasznica said the day’s sustainable neighborhoods theme is an apt one for the region. “The beauty of Pittsburgh is that it is a collection of unique neighborhoods,” she said. However, these neighborhoods often are disconnected, akin in some ways to different aspects of green innovation, which also can be disconnected from one another.

“The more we work to convene and break down the silos so there’s collaboration and conversation between and among these different pockets — that’s the way that we become sustainable neighborhoods,” she said.

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The free forum will take place 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Feb. 13 at Phipps Conservatory. Lunch is available for $10, free for students. Continuing legal education credit is available for $30 for a half-day or $60 for the full day.

Registration is required; go to  www.law.pitt.edu/events.

—Kimberly K. Barlow