Bennett W. Raley, the nation's top water official, will be the keynote speaker at the 24th annual CU-Boulder Natural Resources Law Center's summer conference on June 12.
Raley is the assistant secretary of the interior for water and science, a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior. His lecture, "Water Resources Allocation and Management in an Era of Scarcity," starts at 7 p.m. in the Lindsley Memorial Courtroom of the Fleming Law Building. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Raley graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder School of Law in 1983 and received his undergraduate degree from Colorado State University.
"Bennett has a long history of involvement in Colorado water law issues, having worked in some of Denver's most prestigious water law firms and from his time as general counsel to the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District," said Doug Kenney, research associate at the center and conference organizer.
The U.S. Department of the Interior recently released an initiative - "Water 2025" - that lays out how the federal government plans to work with federal, state, local and tribal agencies to prevent water shortages in the West, which includes many of the fastest growing communities in the nation, said Kenney. According to Kenney, the Bureau of Reclamation, which reports to Raley, would be the lead agency for this new effort.
The conference, "Water, Climate and Uncertainty," runs from June 11 through June 13 at the Fleming Law Building on the Boulder campus.
Leading political, legal, academic, scientific and resource management professionals will examine how climate variability and climate change affects water resources in the West, said Kenney.
Note to Editors: Members of the press are welcome to attend the conference without charge. To arrange, call Doug Kenney at (303) 492-1296.