Local Climate Action: From Climate Adaptation to Community Resilience: Start by Adding Climate to Municipal Bylaws

Local Climate Action: From Climate Adaptation to Community Resilience: Start by Adding Climate to Municipal Bylaws ^Featured

Written by Gregor I. McGregor, Esq.

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Local Climate Action: From Climate Adaptation to Community Resilience: Start by Adding Climate to Municipal Bylaws

Gregor I. McGregor, Esq. of McGregor Legere Stevens PC on November 15 will present on Local Climate Action to the Massachusetts Society of Municipal Conservation Professionals (MSMCP).

This will build on the popular 2022 and 2023 Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions (MACC) presentations on the subject and Mr. McGregor's presentation to the MA Municipal Lawyers Association (MMLA) last August.

Cities and towns need and want this valuable information, which includes reliable sources of actual wording to revise local Wetland Protection Regulations (without needing to amend the Home Rule Wetland Protection Bylaws) as well as to amend the Bylaws themselves to move a municipality from mere adaptation (reactive) to long-term resilience (proactive). Conservation Commissions have an important leadership regulatory role to play in this progress.

We need to move past mere climate adaptation (changing to fit the weather) and climate mitigation (ameliorating the impacts) to achieve climate resilience (planning and acting ahead to survive and thrive). This is critical to save money, time and people as climate change is upon us. We can and should predict what our cities and towns need to do respond and recover quickly and well. Fortunately, help is available now.

Attendees will receive information on the resource known as the Climate-Smart Wetland Regulations Provisions Website.

ABOUT THE MSMCP

The MSMCP serves and supports municipal conservation staff and works to raise the level of professionalism through exchanging information, sharing technical and scientific information, promoting professional staffing for all cities and towns within the Commonwealth, and encouraging dialog among contiguous and regionally related Conservation Commissions and their staff. In addition, MSMCP collaborates with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) and MACC through joint outreach and workshop programs. Visit MSMCP.org

Read 1758 times Last modified onMonday, 30 October 2023 12:33

Published in Climate Change

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Gregor I. McGregor, Esq.

GREGOR I. McGREGOR, Esq. is the founder and principal of New England’s oldest environmental law firm, McGregor Legere & Stevens PC., formed in 1975.

The firm handles all aspects of environmental law, land use, real estate, energy, and related litigation. Mr. McGregor enjoys Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating for attorneys (AV).

In over 50 years of legal practice, Mr. McGregor's court cases created precedents on Environmental Impact Statements under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), wetland and floodplain law under the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, hazardous waste cleanup liability and cost-recovery under the Massachusetts Superfund, reduced taxes for land conservation transactions, Article 97 open space and parkland protection, Home Rule environmental ordinances and bylaws of cities and towns, court enforcement remedies, and the constitutional doctrine of Regulatory Takings.

Before 1975, Mr. McGregor was an Assistant Attorney General of Massachusetts and the first chief of the Attorney General’s Division of Environmental Protection. In that capacity he advised and represented the Commonwealth during the formative years of Massachusetts environmental statutes, agencies, regulations, enforcement and cases in court.

Mr. McGregor is editor of the two-volume treatise on Massachusetts Environmental Law, published by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc. (MCLE). He is co-chair of MCLE’s annual Environmental, Land Use, and Energy Law Conference and MCLE’s Real Estate and Environmental Law Curriculum Advisory Committee. He received from MCLE in 2013 its Scholar-Mentor Award recognizing his dedication to legal scholarship and leadership.

Mr. McGregor co-chairs the Environmental and Renewable Energy Law Section of the Real Estate Bar Association for Massachusetts (REBA) and serves as a member of the REBA Board of Directors. He is an active member of the Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association (MMLA), which honored him for his career contributions and advocacy on the Home Rule Doctrine. At a National CLE Conference in Vail, CO, Mr. McGregor for many years co-chaired an annual seminar on Environmental Law, Land Use, Energy & Litigation for attorneys from across the United States.

The firm is a founding member of the Environmental Law Network (ELN), an alliance of specialty law firms, in the United States and abroad, sharing legal expertise and practical experience for the benefit of their clients.

Mr. McGregor is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School.

View Attorney McGregor's Case List >>