Professor of Law
B.S., University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire
J.D., University of Michigan
E-mail:
jcdernbach@widener.edu Phone: 717.541.1933
John C. Dernbach is Professor of Law at Widener's Harrisburg campus, teaching administrative law, environmental law, property, international law, international environmental law, sustainability and the law, and climate change. His research concentrates on environmental law, climate change, and sustainable development. Professor Dernbach received a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 1975, and a J.D. from the University of Michigan in 1978, where he served as Legislative Notes Editor for the Michigan Journal of Law Reform.
He has served as director of the policy office at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The Policy Office is responsible for developing and coordinating policy and regulatory initiatives for DEP, including the integration of sustainable development concepts into DEP programs.
Immediately following graduation from Michigan Law School, Professor Dernbach taught legal writing at Wayne State University (1978-79), served as a staff attorney to the American Lung Association of Michigan (1979-80), and coauthored a widely-used and influential legal writing text, A Practical Guide to Legal Writing and Legal Method (Aspen, 3rd edition 2007).
Over the next dozen years, Professor Dernbach worked on the development and implementation of nationally recognized programs for regulating coal and noncoal mining, municipal solid waste, and residual or industrial solid waste for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources. During this time he served as assistant counsel (1981-87), special assistant (1987-92), and Director of the Department's Advanced Science and Research Team (1992-93). He is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania.
Professor Dernbach joined the faculty at Widener in 1993 and was promoted to full professor in 2001. He has taught for Widener at the University of Nairobi in Kenya (1996), Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia (1999), and the Institute for Graduate Studies in Geneva, Switzerland (2003).
Professor Dernbach coauthored an amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency on behalf of eighteen prominent climate scientists. The brief argued that EPA had mischaracterized or misrepresented the relevant science in deciding not to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. On April 2, 2007, the Court held that EPA erred by not controlling greenhouse gas emissions. The majority opinion reflects the science described in the brief, and the dissenting opinions do not contradict it.
Professor Dernbach has written widely on environmental law and sustainable development. He is the editor of Stumbling Toward Sustainability (Environmental Law Institute, July 2002), a 32-chapter book assessing U.S. efforts on sustainable development in the ten-year period since the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development in Rio De Janeiro (or Earth Summit) in 1992. The book attracted 42 contributors from universities and law schools, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, and state government.
Professor Dernbach has written more than twenty articles for law reviews and peer-reviewed journals, and has authored, coauthored, or contributed chapters to ten books. He has lectured to local, state, national, and international audiences on environmental law and sustainable development. He received the President's Award for Outstanding Achievement from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Alumni Association in 2002.
Professor Dernbach is Chair of the American Bar Association Environment, Energy, and Resources Section's Committee on Climate Change and Sustainable Development. He is also a member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law and the Roundtable on Science and Technology for Sustainability of the National Academy of Sciences. He is former Senior Warden and co-chair of the environmental stewardship committee at St. Stephen's Episcopal Cathedral in Harrisburg. He is married with two daughters. He enjoys hiking, bicycling, and canoeing.
Selected Recent Publications and Briefs Articles and Briefs
- Committee on Climate Change and Sustainable Development: 2006 Annual Report, in ENV'T, ENERGY, AND RESOURCES L.: THE YEAR IN REVIEW 121 (2007) (with Marianne Tyrrell et al.).
- Stabilizing and Then Reducing U.S. Energy Consumption: Legal and Policy Tools for Efficiency and Conservation, 37 ENVTL. L. REP. (Envtl. L. Inst.) 10,003 (2007) (with the Widener University Law School Seminar on Energy Efficiency).
- Energy Efficiency and Conservation: The Most Cost-Effective Approach to Climate Change, INSIDE GREEN BUSINESS WEEKLY REPORT, Feb.21, 2007, at 14.
- ELR News & Analysis: Stabilizing and Then Reducing U.S. Energy Consumption: Legal and Policy Tools for Efficiency and Conservation Download the PDF
- Climate Scientists' Amicus Brief to U.S. Supreme Court -- Massachusetts v. EPA Download the PDF
- Achieving Sustainable Development: The Centrality and Multiple Facets of Integrated Decisionmaking, 10 Ind. J. Global Legal Stud. 247 (2003).
- Targets, Timetables and Effective Implementing Mechanisms: Necessary Building Blocks for Sustainable Development, 27 Wm. & Mary Envtl. L. & Pol'y Rev. 79 (2002).
Other
- A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO LEGAL WRITING AND LEGAL METHOD (Aspen, 3rd ed., 2007) (with Richard V. Singleton II et al.).
- TEACHER'S MANUAL, A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO LEGAL WRITING AND LEGAL METHOD (Aspen, 3rd ed., 2007) (with Cathleen Wharton et al.).
- U.S. Policy, in GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE AND U.S. LAW (Michael Gerrard, ed., American Bar Association, 2007).