JIM B. BLACKBURN

Environmental Lawyer
Professor of Practice, Rice
Co-Director of SSPEED Center

Mr. Blackburn is an environmental lawyer, a Rice faculty scholar at the Baker Institute and Co-Director of the SSPEED Center. He has authored The Book of Texas Bays in 2004 and A Texan Plan for the Texas Coast in 2017. Blackburn received the Distinguished Alumni Laureate Award from Rice University in 2018 the Good Egg Award from the International Crane Foundation for litigation to protect the endangered whooping crane in 2015. Blackburn was among the founders of the Trinity Edwards Springs Association (TESPA), a Texas Hill Country non-governmental organization dedicated to protecting springs and groundwater, and he also founded the Bayou City Initiative (BCI), a Houston-based NGO focused on community recovery and long-term flood protection post Harvey.