Professional Activities
American Bar Association
Member, Section on Environmental, Energy and Resources (SEER); Vice Chair, SEER Committee on Climate Change, Sustainable Development, and Ecosystems
Pennsylvania Bar Association, Section on Environmental, Mineral and Natural Resources Law
Chester County Bar Association
Founding member, Environmental Law Committee
Center for Climate Strategies, Senior Advisor
Delaware Valley Environmental Inn of Court, Master
Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson School of Law, past Adjunct Professor, teaching biodiversity and land conservation, and climate-change law and policy
Pennsylvania Environmental Resources Consortium
Chair, Climate Change and Energy Committee
Recognition & Accomplishments
Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, environmental law, 2008-2010; national ranking, climate change law, 2009-2010
The Best Lawyers in America, environmental law, 2009-2010
Recipient, Pennsylvania Bar Association Environment and Energy Law Section's 2010 Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession, for his "extensive academic and professional work and scholarship in the field of environmental law, climate change, and sustainable development"
Publications
Mr. McKinstry has written and spoken extensively on environmental topics before academic, professional, and industry groups. He is the editor and co-author of the Biodiversity Conservation Handbook: State, Local, and Private Protection of Biological Diversity (ELI 2006), and he has authored numerous published articles on climate-change law, biodiversity and land conservation law, market-based mechanisms for environmental regulation, habitat banking, ecosystem restoration practices and federal lands, municipal waste regulation, environmental audits, site remediation, wetlands regulation, and coastal zone management.
Co-author, "Making the States Full Partners in a National Climate Change Effort: A Necessary Element for Sustainable Economic Development," Environmental Law Reporter News & Analysis, 40 E.L.R., June 2010
Co-author, "The New Climate World: Achieving Economic Efficiency in a Federal System for Greenhouse Gas Control Through State Planning Combined with Federal Programs," 34 N.C. J. Intl L. & Commercial Reg. 102, 2009
Co-author, "Developing a Comprehensive Approach to Climate Change Mitigation Policy in the United States: Integrating Levels of Government and Economic Sectors," Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review, 39 E.L.R., 2009
"Energy Projects Make Sense," The Arizona Republic, March 21, 2009
Co-author, "Federal Climate Change Legislation as if the States Matter," 22 Nat’l Res. & Env. No. 3 at 3, 2008
Co-author, "EBA Climate Change Primer: Financing a Renewable Energy Project," 29 Energy L.J. 195, 2008
Co-author, "Developing a Comprehensive Approach to Climate Change Policy in the United States that Fully Integrates Levels of Government and Economic Sectors," 26 U. Va Envtl L.J. 227, 2008
Co-author, "The Implications of the New 'Old' Federalism in Climate Change Legislation: How to Function in a Global Marketplace When States Take the Lead," 20 PAC. McGeorge Global Bus. & Dev. J. 61, 2007
Co-author, "Coordination and Planning Tools that can be Applied to Biodiversity Conservation," 16 Widener L.J. 879, and 37 E.L.R. News & Analysis 10070, 2007
Co-author, "Legal Tools that Provide Direct Protection for Elements of Biodiversity," 16 Widener L.J. 879, 2007
Blog for Philadelphia Inquirer concerning Mass. v. EPA, 2007
Contributing author, "White Paper on the Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change," The Pennsylvania State University Rock Ethics Institute, 2006
"Putting the Market to Work for Conservation: The Evolving Use of Market-Based Mechanisms to Achieve Environmental Improvement in and Across Multiple Media," 14 Penn State Envtl. L.Rev. 151, 2006
Co-author, "Incentive-Based Approaches to Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in Pennsylvania: Protecting the Environment and Promoting Fiscal Reform," 14 Widener L. J. 205, 2004
"Local Solutions for Global Problems: The Debate over Causes and Effects of Climate Change and Emerging Mitigation Strategies for States, Localities and Private Parties," 12 Penn State Envtl. L.Rev.1, 2004
"Laboratories for Local Solutions for Global Problems: State, Local and Private Leadership in Developing Strategies to Mitigate the Causes and Effects of Climate Change," 12 Penn St. Envtl. L.Rev. 15, 2004
"Regulation of Non-Hazardous Waste Under RCRA," chapter 15, The RCRA Practice Manual Second Edition, ABA Section of N.R. & Energy & Envtl Law, 2004
Speaking Engagements
Mr. McKinstry has presented at numerous forums on climate-change policies and has testified before legislatures. His presentations include:
Moderator, "Lessons Learned from On-the-Ground Projects," Bio-Sequestration and Climate Law and Policy Conference, The Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School and the American Bar Association, New York, October 23, 2009
"Financing Climate Change Response for Local Governments," Financing Renewable Energy in the Mid-Atlantic Symposium, University of Maryland Environmental Finance Center, September 22, 2009
"Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Who Will Regulate, How Will it be Done, and Who Will Pay?" ABA National Convention, Chicago, July 31, 2009
Co-course planner and presenter, "Climate Change Law for Pennsylvania Lawyers," Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Mechanicsburg, May 28, 21, and 13, 2009, respectively
"Developing a Comprehensive Approach to Climate Change Mitigation Policy in the United States: Integrating Levels of Government and Economic Sectors," Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review, ELI and Vanderbilt University Law School, April 10, 2009
"Integrating State and Regional Programs into an Emerging Federal System for GHG Regulation: The Critical Role of State Planning," ABA SEER Annual Environmental Law Conference, Keystone, Colorado, March 13, 2009
Presenter, testimony before the North Carolina Legislative Commission on Climate Change, January 13, 2009
Workshop participant, "How Ecosystem Services Can be Incorporated in Law & Politics," Multistate Working Group, Chicago, December 8-9, 2008
"The New Climate World: Achieving Economic Efficiency in a Federal System for Greenhouse Gas Control Through State Planning Combined with Federal Programs," Conference on state climate-change law at University of North Carolina School of Law, November 15, 2008
Presenter, 6th Annual Wall Street Energy Briefing (Ballard Spahr seminar), New York City, October 29, 2008
Presenter before the Arkansas Climate Planning Committee, September 8, 2008
"Climate Change, Trading and Green Investment Opportunities," Wharton Club Green Business Summit, Falls Church, Virginia, June 2008
Presenter, Tulane University Law School 13th Annual Environmental Conference, April 5, 2008
"A Climate of Disruption: Legal Measures for Adaptation and Mitigation," Journal of International Law Symposium, Michigan State University College of Law, February 15, 2008
"New Old Federalism, Fitting State Climate Action into a Federal Framework," Yale University, December 4, 2007
"Ethical Issues in Carbon Sequestration," Petrobras, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2007
"Carbon: The Elephant in the Power Sector," BSAI's 5th Annual Energy Investment and Development Seminar, New York, October 2007
"Climate Change Litigation Relating to Federal Agencies and Regulations," CLE International Climate Change Law Conference, September 2007
Co-course planner and presenter, "Climate Change Law for Pennsylvania Lawyers," Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Philadelphia, Mechanicsburg, and Pittsburgh, 2007
"Advising Clients about Doing Well and Doing Good," BSAI CLE for Clients on Global Climate Change and New Business Opportunities, Philadelphia, April 2007
"Filling the Void: Individual, Private Sector and State Responses to Global Climate Change," University of Virginia Environmental Law Review, Charlottesville, 2007
"Mass v. EPA," Pennsylvania Bar Institute Twelfth Annual Environmental Forum, Harrisburg, 2007
"Common Ground Lobby Talks: Climate Change, Climate Justice," WPSU-TV program, 2007
Presentation on climate change before Charlestown Citizens Forum carried on local access TV, 2006
"The Business of Climate Change," Pacific/McGeorge Institute for Sustainable Development and Center for Collaborative Policy, McGeorge Law School, University of the Pacific, Sacramento, 2006
Presenter, SEERIL Section Biennial Conference, International Bar Association, Rome, Italy, 2006
Presenter, Pennsylvania Bar Institute Eleventh Annual Environmental Forum, Harrisburg, 2006
Keynote speaker, "Global Warming 2006: An Activist's Primer," Climate Change Campaign, Penn Future, Felician Sisters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Province, and Pennsylvania Interfaith (co-sponsors), Pittsburgh, 2006
"Two Views on Global Warming," Pennsylvania Chapter of the Sierra Club, Philadelphia Free Library, 2006
DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory in Pittsburgh, with video link to the NETL facility in Morgantown, West Virginia, January 2005
"K-12 Clean Energy: Buying Clean Energy for Schools," NSEA/NSF Workshop, Radnor, Pennsylvania, 2005
Presenter, Eleventh Conference of the Parties Under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, Pennsylvania State University Rock Ethics Institute Workgroup Meeting, Montreal, 2005
"Why State Climate Change Programs Matter," testimony to the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, 2005
Presentation of Environmental Priorities to the Rendell Administration Joint Conservation Committee, Pennsylvania General Assembly, 2003
Community Activities
Chester County (Pennsylvania) Greenhouse Gas Task Force
Member, Steering Committee
Montgomery County (Pennsylvania) Greenhouse Gas Reduction Task Force
Past Co-chair; member, Implementation Advisory Committee
Montgomery County Advisory Committee on Climate Change
Montgomery County Blue Ribbon Panel on Climate Change, past Co-chair
PADCNR Carbon Management Advisory Group, past member
PADCNR Ecosystem Management Advisory Committee, past member
Board Memberships
Pennsylvania Environmental Council
Pennsylvania Resources Council, Director (and past President, 1989-1991)
Past Board Member:
Children's Country Week Association (1994-2001)
Clearwater Conservancy (2002-2005)
East Bradford Township Environmental Committee (Chair and member) (1989-2001)
The Nature Conservancy, Pennsylvania Chapter (2001-2007)
Pennsylvania Institute for Conservation Education (2002-2006)
Westtown School (1997-2009)