Jean O. Melious, J.D.

Associate Professor

Department of  Environmental Studies
Huxley College of the Environment
Western Washington University
Arntzen Hall 208
Bellingham, Washington 98225-9085
Office: (360) 650-7377
Fax: (360) 650-7702
E-mail: jean.melious@wwu.edu

Background

I am an Associate Professor of Planning and Environmental Policy in Western Washington University's Huxley College of Environmental Studies.  I received a B.A. in government/environmental studies from St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York, an M.Phil. in Urban Design and Regional Planning from the University of Edinburgh, which I attended as a Marshall Scholar, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

I entered private practice in California following law school and am currently of counsel to Nossaman, Guthner, Knox & Elliott, where I was formerly a partner. I was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law at University of Western Ontario (Canada) before arriving at Western Washington University in 1996.

Research Interests

My research interests include endangered species law, transboundary environmental law and policy, land use law, and the relationship between law and science.

Recent Publications

Interdisciplinary Problem-Based Learning:  Linking Environmental Policy and Environmental Science (with Dr. Devon Cancilla), award-winning paper published in the Proceedings of the 13th Annual Conference on College Teaching and Learning, Spring 2002.

Enforcing the Endangered Species Act Against the States,  25 William and Mary Environmental Law & Policy Review 605-674, Spring 2001.

Supreme Court Overrules Federal Authority to Protect Isolated Wetlands Under the Clean Water Act, Planning & Law, January 2001.

"Guide Us On Our Way":  Parks, Atheists, Pat Robertson's Crusading Lawyers, and a 15-Foot Statue of Jesus Meet in the Seventh Circuit, Planning & Law, July/August 2000.

Contractual Ecosystem Management Under the Endangered Species Act:  Can Federal Agencies Make Enforceable Commitments? , Ecology Law Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 3 (1999) pp. 489-542 (with Robert D. Thornton).

Takings, Nuisance, and ‘Socialism for Hog Lots’: Invalidation of a Right-to-Farm Law, Land Use Law and Zoning Digest, Vol. 51, No. 8 (Aug. 1999), pp. 3-8.


Teaching

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