FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Legal scholar to discuss Muskie's environmental advocacy

LEWISTON, Maine -- Robert F. Blomquist, professor of environmental law at Valparaiso University School of Law, will discuss the late Edmund S. Muskie and his influence on modern American environmental legislation (Wednesday) Sept. 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the Muskie Archives at Bates College. The public is invited to attend without charge.

Muskie, former Maine governor, U.S. senator and secretary of state under President Jimmy Carter, graduated from Bates in 1936. He was a member of the U.S. Senate's Environmental and Public Works Committee and the leading congressional proponent of effective national environmental standards that became the core of the Clean Air and Clean Water acts.

While Muskie's environmental advocacy in Congress is well documented, Blomquist has chosen instead to focus on the early origins of Muskie's environmental advocacy while he was a state legislator and governor of Maine. Since 1997, Blomquist has been conducting research in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives on the Bates campus and has published a series of articles on Muskie's achievements in the Maine Law Review and the Columbia Law Review.

Dedicated in 1985, the Edmund S. Muskie Archives at Bates College, documents Muskie's career in public service from his first election to the Maine House of Representatives in 1946 to his appointment as U.S. secretary of state in 1980, as well as his activities after leaving public office. The archives also holds a permanent collection of memorabilia from Muskie's personal and public life. Visit the Muskie Archives online at www.bates.edu/muskie_archives/

Blomquist's talk is sponsored by the Office of the Dean of the College at Bates College. Call 207-786-6354 for more information.