Biography

Director, Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program; Executive Director, Center for Ocean Solutions, Woods Institute for the Environment

Margaret "Meg" Caldwell '85 has dedicated her career to environmental law, having worked as an attorney, professor, and board member in the field. Her scholarship has focused on the environmental effects of local land use decisions, the use of science in environmental and marine resource policy development and implementation, and developing private and public incentives for natural resource conservation. In addition to her role as lecturer in law, Caldwell directs the Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Policy Program at the law school. Caldwell also has an appointment with the Woods Institute for the Environment where she serves as executive director of the Center for Ocean Solutions. The center is a collaboration between Stanford, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute whose core mission is to increase the impact of the natural, physical and social sciences on ocean policy and management.

Caldwell is a regular in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento alike, working with elected officials, ocean and coastal agencies and their stakeholders to tackle major challenges with practical approaches. She has testified in Congress regarding reauthorization of the National Marine Sanctuaries Act and the ecological and economic impacts of the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster. She also served as a Senior Consultant to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, providing both oral testimony and written reports to the Commission on recommendations to reform federal oversight of offshore oil exploration and drilling.

A well-respected figure in environmental law, she was selected as the chair of the California Coastal Commission and served on that body for nearly three years. While chair of the Commission, Caldwell also served on the board of the California Coastal Conservancy. She was appointed by the California secretary for natural resources to the Marine Life Protection Act Blue Ribbon Task Force for the central, north central, and south coast study regions and is currently serving on the Blue Ribbon Task Force for the north coast. Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1994, Caldwell was an instructor at San Jose State University and the University of California, Davis; counsel for MicroCLEAN, Inc.; a member of the City of Saratoga Planning Commission; and an associate in the environmental law group of McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen.

Courses & Programs

Courses

• California Coast: Science, Policy and Law
• Environment and Energy Workshop
• Land Use

Programs

• Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program (ENRLP), Senior Lecturer in Law

Publications & Cases

Recent Publications View All

• Ryan P. Kelly & Margaret R. Caldwell, Clean Water Act Failing in New Climate, San Diego Union Tribune, Oct. 30, 2011.
• R. P. Kelly, M. M. Foley, W. S. Fisher, A. Feely, B. S. Halpern, G. G. Waldbusser, M. R. Caldwell, Mitigating Local Causes of Ocean Acidifi cation with Existing Laws, 332 Science 1036 (2011)
• Margaret E. Peloso & Margaret R. Caldwell, Dynamic Property Rights: The Public Trust Doctrine and Takings in a Changing Climate, 30 Stanford Environmental Law Journal 51 (2011)
• Ocean Research & Resources Advisory Panel, Ocean Acidification Task Force Summary of Work Completed and Recommendations for ORRAP to Convey to the IWGA (2011).
• Heather Tallis, with Margaret R. Caldwell and other authors, New Metrics for Managing and Sustaining the Ocean's Bounty, Marine Policy (2011), doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2011.03.013
• Margaret R. Caldwell, Written Testimony of Margaret R. Caldwell ... As Submitted on September 3, 2010. Testimony before the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.
• Margaret R. Caldwell, Written Testimony, Hearing on Economic and Environmental Impacts of the Recent Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico Before the Committee on Environment and Public Works, U.S. Senate, May 11, 2010
• Meg Caldwell, Pacific Islands Seek Ecosystems Approach (a video discussion), Center for Oceans Solutions, Stanford University, March 26, 2010.
• Michael Osmond, Satie Airame, Margaret Caldwell, John Day, Lessons for Marine Conservation Planning: A Comparison of Three Marine Protected Area Planning Processes, 53 Ocean & Coastal Management 41 (2010).
• Deborah A. Sivas and Margaret R. Caldwell, A New Vision for California Ocean Governance: Comprehensive Ecosystem-Based Marine Zoning, 27 Stanford Environmental Law Journal 209 (January 2008).

Affiliations & Honors

Professional Affiliations

• Member, Earth Systems, Program Advisory Committee
• Faculty Advisor, Interdisciplinary Program in Environment Resources (IPER)
• Faculty Mentor, Haas Center for Public Service Fellowships Program
• Member, Haas Center for Public Service Fellowships Program Fellowship Selection Committee
• Goldman Fellow Faculty Advisor, Goldman Honors Program, Center for Environmental Science and Policy
• Member, San Francisco Baykeeper Advisory Council