Water quality, economics focus of Libby Lecture in Natural Resource Policy 

Editor’s note: The Libby Lecture in Natural Resource Policy has been postponed due to travel complications. The event will be held at an undetermined date later this semester. 

Catherine L. Kling will present the University of Maine’s third annual Libby Lecture in Natural Resource Policy at 3 p.m. Sept. 19.

The Cornell University professor will present the lecture, “Improving Water Quality: Are Economics and the Environment Always at Odds?” in the McIntire Room of the Buchanan Alumni House.

The event is free and open to the public. A reception with refreshments will follow the talk.

Kling will describe trends in water quality and the benefits and costs of regulations associated with the Clean Water Act. She also will discuss the gaps in knowledge needed for a more accurate understanding of the efficiency of water quality regulations. 

Kling is the Tisch University Professor in the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management and the faculty director at the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future at Cornell University.

She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, chair of the academy’s Water Science and Technology Board and has been a member of six National Research Council studies. She served as president of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, has held editorial positions at 10 economics journals, and is an elected fellow of multiple environmental economics associations. Kling also served 10 years on the EPA Science Advisory Board.

The annual Libby Lecture in Natural Resource Policy was established with a gift from Lawrence W. Libby ’62 and Lois Murdock Libby ’63. The annual lecture is a collaborative event coordinated by the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

More information about the lecture is online. For additional information about the lecture, speaker, or to request a reasonable accommodation, call 207.581.1212 or email libby-lecture-group@maine.edu.