Environmental Law and Policy 1 LAW 426

Description

This course examines the scientific, economic, and ethical foundations of environmental law and policy and introduces the student to many of the major biodiversity conservation and pollution control regulatory programs. The role of courts in policing environmental regulation and decision-making is also covered. The course will take an interdisciplinary approach, looking at history, economic theory and analysis, and other disciplines. The course covers the common law origins of environmental protection, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and Superfund. The course examines the substance of the Acts and uses them as vehicles for exploring complex statutory schemes, administrative policy-making, market environmental controls, the interplay of federal and state environmental programs, benefit-cost analysis, risk analysis, and environmental litigation. This is the first semester of a two-semester course sequence. While it is required for students concentrating in Environmental and Energy Law, it is open to all students. The course can be taken without the second semester course.

Schedule