Environmental Law and Policy
Past Offerings
Environmental Law and Policy (2504): Environmental law is critically important, endlessly fascinating, and highly intertwined with many of today's top legal and policy challenges, including addressing legacy pollution, climate change, siting and permitting energy and other large infrastructure projects, and the sustainable management of our natural resources. This course, open to law school students and graduate students from other schools, will provide a survey of major federal and state environmental laws and policies, including how they are structured, implemented, and enforced; how they intersect with adjacent administrative, constitutional and other statutory frameworks; how effectively (or not) they address today's top environment challenges; and how different governmental branches, regulated industry, non-profit advocacy groups, and private citizens have shaped--and continue to shape--U.S. environmental law and policy. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation, Exam.
Sections
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2025-2026 AutumnSchedule No Longer Available
Environmental Law and Policy (2504): Environmental law is critically important, endlessly fascinating, and highly intertwined with many of today's top legal and policy challenges, including addressing legacy pollution, climate change, the clean energy transition, and the sustainable management of our natural resources. This course will provide a survey of major federal and state environmental laws and policies, including how they are structured, implemented, and enforced; how they intersect with adjacent administrative, constitutional and other statutory frameworks; how effectively (or not) they address today's top environment challenges; and how different governmental branches, regulated industry, non-profit advocacy groups, and private citizens have shaped--and continue to shape--U.S. environmental law and policy. As part of the class, students will engage in a series of situational case studies designed to provide a better sense of the real-world issues faced by environmental lawyers and to teach students the skills and tactics needed to solve those issues. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation, Exam.
Sections
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2024-2025 AutumnSchedule No Longer Available
Environmental Law and Policy (2504): Environmental law is critically important and endlessly fascinating. In this course, we will look at the major statutes and policies used, at both the federal and state levels, to protect humans and the environment against exposure to harmful substances, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Superfund, and the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act. This class will also examine the National Environmental Policy Act and the challenges of climate change. The class will look not only at the substance of these laws and policies, but also at enforcement challenges, alternative legal mechanisms for advancing environmental policies, the roles of market mechanisms in addressing environmental problems, and constitutional restrictions on environmental regulation. As part of the class, students will engage in a series of situational case studies designed to provide a better sense of the real-world issues faced by environmental lawyers and to teach students the skills and tactics needed to solve those issues. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation, Exam.
Sections
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2023-2024 SpringSchedule No Longer Available