Burke Griggs
- Contact
- Robert J. Dole HallRoom 2241700 SW College AveTopeka, KS 66621-1117785.670.1666
- Degrees & Certifications
- Stanford University, Bachelor of Arts
- Yale University, Master of Arts
- Yale University, Master of Philosophy
- Yale University, Doctor of Philosophy
- Teaching
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- LW 742 1, Water Law
- LW 798 1, Legal History Seminar
- Career Accomplishments
Presentations
"The Emerging Legal Landscape of Water, Energy, and Critical Minerals," 2024 Eugene Kuntz Conference on Natural Resources Law and Policy (Kuntz Conference), Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, November 22, 2024.
"Common Patterns in Oil and Gas Ownership," Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law, 41st Annual Oil & Gas Law Short Course, Houston, Texas, October 21, 2024.
"Split Estates," Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law, 41st Annual Oil and Gas Law Short Course, Houston, Texas, October 21, 2024.
"Regulatory Considerations for the Management of Mine Waste and Impacts on Local Communities," Regional Critical Minerals Sustainability Workshop, San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina, October 8, 2024.
"Property and Regulatory Considerations for Re-mining/Re-processing Byproducts for Critical Minerals and Rare Earth Elements," Regional Critical Minerals Sustainability Workshop, San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina, October 7, 2024.
Co-presented, "Texas v. New Mexico, No. 141 Original: SCOTUS, Interstate Water Compacts & Federalism," National Judicial College, Webinar, October 3, 2024 (with Professor Buzz Thompson of Stanford Law School).
Panelist, "Water and Sustainability: A Holistic View," webinar hosted by The Conversation, June 28, 2023 (discussed problems of groundwater depletion and the recent Supreme Court case involving the Navajo Nation's efforts to secure water supplies).
- Excerpt, "Solving Water Challenges is Complex – Learn How Law, Health, Climate and Indigenous Rights All Intersect in Developing Solutions", The Conversation, July 19, 2023.
"Land and Water 101 ("LAW 101")," 2022 Selected Topics and Miscellany CLE, Washburn University School of Law, Topeka, Kansas, June 23, 2022.
Panelist, Discussed the Legal History of the Colorado River Compact, Tick Segerblom's Virtual Water Conference, Dam the Status Quo, Las Vegas, Nevada, December 13, 2021.
"The Opportunity for a 'Second Founding' of American Water Law," American Geophysical Union's Fall Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, December 13, 2021 (invited speaker).
"Water Justice in Indian Country," Teach-In on Racial Justice and the Law, Boston University School of Law virtual event, September 8, 2020.
"Effective Property: Integrating Hydrogeological Science into American Groundwater Law," American Geophysical Union Chapman Conference, Quest for Sustainability of Heavily Stressed Aquifers at Regional to Global Scales, Valencia, Spain, October 22, 2019.
"Updates in Water Law: Current Issues," 2019 Selected Topics and Miscellany CLE, Washburn University School of Law, Topeka, Kansas, June 27, 2019.
"Fear and Loathing in Kansas Water Law," Governor's Conference on the Future of Water in Kansas, Manhattan, Kansas, November 11, 2018.
"Water Law Issues Update," Washburn Law Out West CLE, Rebein Brothers Trial Lawyers, Dodge City, Kansas, June 26, 2018.
"Playing the Analogy Game in Natural Resources Law: Updates from the Field," 2017 Global Land & Resources Colloquium, University of Oklahoma College of Law, Norman, Oklahoma, October 21, 2017.
"Water Law Issues Update," Washburn Law Out West CLE, Rebein Brothers Trial Lawyers, Dodge City, Kansas, May 11, 2017.
Panelist, "Science and the Courtroom: How Groundwater Modeling is Changing the Game," University of Denver Sturm College of Law, Tenth Annual Water Law Review Symposium, April 7, 2017.
"Interstate Water Litigation: A Fifty-Year Selectrospective," University of Denver Sturm College of Law, Tenth Annual Water Law Review Symposium, April 7, 2017.
"Water Law Issues Relevant to Oil and Gas Production in Kansas," 2017 Spring Oil, Gas & Mineral Law CLE, Kansas Bar Association, Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas, March 3, 2017.
"Emerging Water Resources Conflicts," National Agricultural Leaders Summit, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, January 6, 2017.
"Cooperative Federalism in Water: A Tale of Two Western River Basins," Governor's Conference on the Future of Water in Kansas, Manhattan, Kansas, November 15, 2016.
"The Ownership of Riparian Land on or Adjacent to the Navigable Rivers of Kansas," Kansas Society of Land Surveyors Annual Conference, Dodge City, Kansas, October 20, 2016.
"Litigating the Groundwater Revolution: The Infamous Past, the Maddening Present, and the Uncertain Future of Interstate Groundwater Dispute Resolution," CLE presentation, University of New Mexico School of Law, Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 19, 2016.
"Pasts without Precedent: The Serial Anomalies of Western History and the Recurrent Problem of the Common Law of Western Natural Resources," University of New Mexico School of Law, Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 19, 2016.
"Beyond Boundaries: Western Groundwater in the Age of Depletion," The Geological Society of America, Denver, Colorado, September 27, 2016 (with Anne Castle).
"An Introduction to Kansas Water Law," Kansas State University / Washburn Law School Inaugural Agribusiness Symposium, Exploring the Business of Agriculture, Kansas Farm Bureau, Manhattan, Kansas, September 20, 2016.
"Interstate Groundwater Litigation and the Equitable Apportionment of Interstate Aquifers," American Bar Association, Annual Water Law Conference, Austin, Texas, March 29, 2016.
"Should We Adjudicate the Water Rights to the Ogallala Aquifer?" Governor's Conference on Water and the Future of Kansas, Manhattan, Kansas, November 19, 2015.
"Injury and Impairment in Kansas Water Law," Kansas Water Authority, Hutchinson, Kansas, August 20, 2015; Kansas Water Congress, Lawrence, Kansas, August 6, 2015.
"Kansas v. Nebraska & Colorado, No. 126 Original: Its Causes, its Judicial Resolution, and its Actual Consequences," University of Kansas School of Law, Lawrence, Kansas, April 7, 2015.
"The Issue of Procedural Control in Achieving Sustainable Reductions in Groundwater Consumption," Groundwater Allocation Dispute Resolution Workshop, Stanford Law School, Stanford, California, November 5, 2014.
"Fifty Years of Interstate Water Litigation," American Water Resources Association, Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., November 4, 2014.
"A Past without Precedent: The Serial Anomalies of Western History and the Recurrent Problem of the Common Law of Natural Resources," Dedman School of Law, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, December 4, 2014; University of Kansas, Hall Center for the Humanities, Nature and Culture Seminar, Lawrence, Kansas, October 24, 2014.
"General Stream Adjudications as a Property and Regulatory Model for the Ogallala Aquifer," University of Wyoming College of Law, Symposium on the Big Horn River General Stream Adjudication, Riverton, Wyoming, September 11, 2014."Business Perspectives on Key Elements of a Sustainable Groundwater Regime," Business Water Forum: Forgotten Groundwater, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, May 29, 2014.
"Beyond Natural Drought: Water Rights in the Age of Permanent Depletion," Association for Law, Property and Society, 5th Annual Meeting, Vancouver, British Columbia, May 2, 2014.
"The Law of the River: The Future of Interstate Compacts and Trans-boundary River Management in the American West," Stanford Law School, Stanford, California, April 17, 2014 (panelist with Barton H. "Buzz" Thompson, Jr., David Hayes, and Leon Szeptycki).
"Western Water Transfers and Western Water Publics," Rethinking the Rural-Urban Divide in the Modern West: An Interdisciplinary Conference, Bill Lane Center for the American West, Stanford University, Stanford, California, April 5, 2014.
"Quantitative Approaches to Reducing Legal Conflicts over Groundwater," Water in the West Project, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, California, April 2, 2014.
"Interstate Water Litigation in the West and the Interdisciplinary Imperative," University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, February 28, 2014.
"Water Wars and Civil Insurgencies: the Current State of Interstate Water Litigation in the American West," Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, California, December 6, 2013.
"Dealing with Overdraft in the Ogallala Aquifer: the Kansas Approach," American Groundwater Trust Forum, Tulare, California, November 18, 2013.
"Oil and Water Do Mix: Legal Issues with Water and Oil and Gas Production, Including Hydraulic Fracturing and Coal-bed Methane Production in Kansas," Kansas Bar Association,
2013 Oil, Gas, and Mineral Conference, Dodge City, Kansas, March 8, 2013 (repeated at Southwest Kansas Royalty Owners' Association Annual Meeting, Hugoton, Kansas, April 27,2013)."Kansas v. Nebraska & Colorado: Groundwater's Challenge to the Enforcement of a Judicial Decree," National Judicial College, University of California-Davis King School of Law, October 19, 2012.
"Irrigation Communities, Political Cultures, and Competing Water Publics in the Age of Depletion," Bill Lane Center for the American West, Stanford University, Ogden, Utah, October 13, 2012.
"The Federal Role in Interstate Water Relations," National Waterways Conference Annual Meeting, Tunica, Mississippi, September 20, 2012.
"Hydrologic Time, Regulatory Distance, and Unsustainable Groundwater," National Ground Water Association, 2012 National Ground Water Summit, Anaheim, California, May 7, 2012.
"Federalism, the Republican River Compact, and the Serial Crises of State Water Law," American Bar Association, Annual Water Law Conference, San Diego, California, February 23, 2012.
Legislative Testimony
Testified before the Kansas Legislature's Joint Committee on Water, August 30, 2022.
- Quoted, "Kansas Water in Peril from Depleted Aquifers, Sediment-Filled Reservoirs, Fertilizer-Induced Algae," (requires subscription) Topeka Capital-Journal, September 6, 2022.
"An Overview of Kansas Water Law," Kansas House Water Committee, January 26, 2021.
"Injury to and Impairment of Water Rights Under Kansas Law," Joint Committee on Energy and Environmental Policy, Kansas Legislature, March 15, 2016.
"Report on the Republican River Compact Litigation," Joint Committee on Energy and Environmental Policy, Kansas Legislature, October 14, 2012.
"Conservation as a Beneficial Use of Water: Testimony in Support of SB 510," Joint Committee on Energy and Environmental Policy, Kansas Legislature, September 20, 2010.
Professional Service
Subject Matter Expert, Environmental and Natural Resources Law for the United States Department of Commerce, Commercial Law and Development Program (CLDP)
- Attended the Panorama Minero Conference, San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina, October 9-10, 2024.
- Participated in the Regional Sustainable Critical Minerals Workshop in San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina, in cooperation with the International Technical Assistance Program (ITAP) at the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Energy Resources (ENR) at the U.S. Department of State, 7-10 October 2024.
Member, Kansas-Missouri Environmental Justice Working Group, named by the United States Department of Justice, 2022.
Member, "Faculty Network for the National Judicial College's Dividing the Waters Program, 2017-.
Honors and Awards
Recipient of the 2024 Clyde O. Martz Teaching Award by the Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law (FNREL) (Recognizes excellence in teaching natural resources law as the primary criterion. Consideration is also given to the fostering of a broad understanding of the law, the mentoring of students, and displaying an innovative style and other notable qualities in the classroom).
Received a Fulbright U. S. Scholar award in Law and Sustainability at the NOVA School of Law in Lisbon, Portugal for the 2023-2024 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
