The Section awards the Buck J. Wynne Memorial scholarship at each of the State's law schools for the high grading student in introductory environmental law classes. The scholarship award is $1,000. The Committee coordinates the scholarship program with the law schools.
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Buck J. Wynne
This scholarship is in memory of Buck J. Wynne, a prominent environmental attorney who died in 1996. The State Bar of Texas Environmental and Natural Resources Law Section established the scholarship to recognize his outstanding contribution to the practice of environmental law in Texas and to encourage students to dedicate themselves to this area of law.

Mr. Wynne obtained his law degree from Southern Methodist University in 1984. After practicing law for several years, he was appointed Chairman of the three-member Texas Water Commission, a predecessor to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state's principal environmental regulatory agency. While Chairman, Mr. Wynne earned the respect of both the regulated community and the environmentalist community. He then served former President George Bush as Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency Region 6, where he was responsible for administration of the federal environmental programs in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. During his tenure in federal and state government, Mr. Wynne assisted in the development of the U.S./Mexico integrated border environmental plan and multi-media enforcement activities targeted for particularly vulnerable ecosystems along the U.S./Mexico border and the Texas/Louisiana Gulf Coast. Mr. Wynne also assisted in the development of major state environmental and natural resources legislation in Texas, including hazardous waste policy, oil spill response, and the creation of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, the predecessor to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. In private practice, Mr. Wynne concentrated on environmental and public law with an emphasis on environmental policy regulations and dispute resolution.

His contribution to environmental law and policy in the State of Texas was significant and his untimely death was a loss to the environmental law community. Recognizing that one attorney can be the source of significant development in an area of the law, the Section urges all students in environmental law courses to take a serious interest in the subject matter, to strive to become critical and fair thinkers, and to commit themselves to excellence in performance in these courses.

Click here to see prior years scholarship recipients.