Joe Feller

The late Joe Feller was a Professor of Law, and a Faculty Fellow of the Center for the Study of Law, Science, & Innovation at the Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law.

His areas of expertise included Environmental Law, Public Land Law, Water Law, Property, Law and Science.

For the last 18 years, Professor Feller had engaged in a broad range of activities aimed at reforming the management of federal public lands in the western United States. These activities included administrative protests and appeals, litigation in the federal courts, submission of comments on proposed agency decisions and rules, testimony at public hearings and before legislative committees, and participation in collaborative groups. Professor Feller represented several regional and national environmental organizations in cases before administrative law judges, the Interior Board of Land Appeals, federal district court, the Court of Federal Claims, and the United States Supreme Court. Among his successful litigation was a path-breaking case requiring compliance with environmental laws in the renewal of grazing permits on federal public lands. Professor Feller also represented national and regional environmental organizations in litigation to overturn new grazing regulations that attempt to reverse many years of progress in federal public land law. Before undertaking the study of law, Professor Feller earned a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California at Berkeley and was an Assistant Professor of Physics at Columbia University. After graduating from Harvard Law School, he served as a clerk for Judge Joseph Sneed on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He then worked in the Office of General Counsel of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, where he served as the principal attorney for promulgation of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter (PM-10) in 1986 and 1987. Since 1988 he had taught at Arizona State University, where he was a Professor of Law.

Professor Feller published numerous articles on a variety of topics, including articles on public lands policy, state impeachment procedures, the interplay of federal and state environmental statutes, grazing management, air quality standards, and water law.