Jon Kyl

A discussion with US Senator Jon Kyl on sustainable water use and US public policy.

The Armchair Sessions are a series of public seminars on climate change and governance within the Climate Law and Governance hub in The Dickson Poon School of Law.

These Sessions compliment the formal and public Climate Law and Governance Lecture Series. They are intimate, informal, discursive, and provocative; and given by international and local distinguished experts on their experience of cutting-edge issues in the field. The Armchair

Sessions are for staff and students of King’s College London, and represent the interdisciplinary research and teaching interests relating to climate change and sustainability within the School of Law.

Arguably the old Western saying "Whiskey's fer drinkin', water's fer fightin" is just as applicable today in the context of sustainable resource use. In arid areas like the Southwest deserts of the United States, adequate water is deemed the first issue of sustainability. Yet relentless population growth coupled with long term drought has put enormous pressure on water supplies, and this has necessitated groundbreaking changes in US public policy.

This seminar will focus on three US case studies of efforts to assure adequate water supplies, being (1) The Arizona 1980 Groundwater Management Act; (2) A Drought Contingency Plan for managing shortages in Colorado River water among California, Arizona, Nevada and Mexico; and (3) Indian water rights settlements. In so doing, this seminar will demonstrate the interplay among competing stakeholders including federal, state and local governments, Indian Tribes and private entities to illustrate the practical issues in reaching consensus and making public policy for sustainability.

Senator Jon Kyl currently serves as Senior Of Counsel at Covington and Burling, LLP and is a Visiting Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He is also a Distinguished Fellow in Public Service in Arizona State University’s College of Public Programs and Distinguished Scholar of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.

Previously, Kyl served eighteen years in the U.S. Senate after serving for eight years in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was elected unanimously by his colleagues in 2008 to serve as Republican Whip, the second-highest position in the Senate Republican leadership, a position he held until his retirement in 2013. He has also held membership of the US Judiciary Committee and the Finance Committee.

In 2010, TIME magazine recognized Senator Kyl as one of the “World’s 100 Most Influential People”, and as one of the 10 best senators in 2006. Capitol Hill’s newspaper, The Hill, identified him as one of the “25 hardest working lawmakers.” In 2012 The New York Times called Kyl “the emissary of the Republican leadership, a gatekeeper of conservatism, and a bridge between his party’s most ardent conservatives and more pragmatic centrists.”

Before his public service, Kyl practiced law at Jennings, Strouss & Salmon in Phoenix and served as Chair of the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.

A light lunch will be provided.