Course Description
State, federal, and international legal response to problems of air pollution, water pollution, solid waste, pesticides, noise, and radiation. Emphasis on public regulation, but some consideration given to private remedies.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate law students will not be doing any extra work beyond that required of the Juris Doctor students. J.D. students are post-baccalaureate students and the workload expected of them is the same workload expected of post-baccalaureate graduate students.
Athena Title
Environmental Law
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in JURI 5280E or JURI 7280E
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
A. Identify and compare/contrast (1) the history, (2) statutory triggers (and exemptions), (3) basic definitions of key terms, (4) major requirements/prohibitions/liabilities of these federal and state statutes: the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Comprehensive Environmental Resource, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, the Freedom of Information Act, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), and other federal statutes as time allows as well as select articles of Chapter 5 Water Resources of the Georgia Code and the Georgia Open Records Act and local watershed protection ordinances. B. Identify and assess the strategies used by the regulated community, governmental agencies, non-governmental environmental advocates, and other key actors, including consumers and the public, to influence environmental regulation, and apply these to emerging environmental challenges; C. Understand the application of cooperative federalism and administrative law in the context of the federal environmental laws listed above; D. Identify emerging environmental challenges and potential regulatory or other responses; E. Identify, assess, and apply strategies local government use to address the issue of environmental protection; F. Understand and apply the constitutional underpinnings and limitations on environmental regulation; G. Understand the concept of environmental justice and strategies for addressing it; H. Identify, evaluate, and apply accurate and compelling sources of information in assessing an environmental issue, law, and/or case.
Topical Outline
Introduction to course learning objectives and requirements Students take pre-test Introduction to Environmental Values and Policies A Structural Overview of Environmental Law: Sources *Common Law *Regulatory Legislation (statutory historical perspective, impact on common law) *Continuation of Regulatory Legislation (standing to sue, environmental federalism, constitutional authority,) Approaches to Regulation and The Regulatory Process Researching environmental issues Complete environmental federalism, constitutional authority, approaches to regulation and the regulatory process National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Freedom of Information Act and the Georgia Open Records Act Clean Water Act *Statutory Authorities *Effluent Limitations on Point Source Discharges Water Quality-Based Controls and TMDLs *Wetlands Protection and Section 404 and future directions of the CWA Local Land Use Protection of Water Resources Regulatory Takings Clean Air Act Global Climate Change Considerations Citizen Suit Provisions/Enforcement Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)/Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) Overview of the Endangered Species Act from A Regulator’s Perspective ESA: Regional Habitat Conservation Plans Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice Presentations on paper topics Students take Post-Test (take home)
Syllabus
Public CV