Environmental Legislation and Policy

The natural environment and technology are inextricably linked. The natural environment provides both the initial inputs as well as the ultimate disposal locations for the technologies that drive today's economy. As a result of the close relationship between the environment and human technology, technology has at times been cast as both the ultimate villain and the ultimate hero in environmental policy circles. This class introduces students to many features of the relationship between technology and the natural environment over time. It explores past (for the most part) environmental policy issues, such as acid rain and ozone depletion, through the lens of specific technologies that were important to both policy and business interests. It introduces some of the environmental strategies that are being used by both policy-makers and business to affect technology development and adoption today (e.g., Energy Star, TQEM). And it delves into the climate change debate, an ongoing issue on the environmental policy agenda in which harnessing the forces of technological innovation will be crucial to environmental progress.

This course focuses on the entire process of real estate development, beginning with the acquisition, entitlement and development of land all the way through to construction completion, marketing, leasing and management of the finished project. Major elements of development covered in this course include site assessment, market feasibility, design aesthetics, environmental constraints, the entitlement process, financial structuring, project management, marketing/leasing and deal making. This course is a must for those with an interest in the real estate development process. The class is typically composed of graduate students with backgrounds in Business, Planning, Architecture, Engineering and Law.

Drawing on the tools of economics and finance, we study the business and public policy issues that these changes have raised in energy markets. Topics include the development and effect of organized spot, futures, and derivative markets in energy; the political economy of deregulation; climate change, environmental impacts and policies related to energy production and use; privatization of publicly owned energy assets; market power and antitrust; and the transportation and storage of energy commodities. We examine the economic determinants of industry structure and evolution of competition among firms in these industries; investigate successful and unsuccessful strategies for entering new markets and competing in existing markets; and analyze the rationale for and effects of public policies in energy markets.

The global crisis in oceans resources is one of the major issues in both international law and environmental law for the 21st century. In this course, students will participate in weekly class discussion of materials relating to the history of ocean resource management and other aspects of ocean law (navigation, pollution, jurisdiction offshore, naval security, etc.), with most of the course concentrating on the UN Law of the Sea Convention and its implementation since 1982. We will analyze through study of treaties and commentaries the character and operations of various regional ocean organizations in which, under many multilateral agreements, environmental protection, fisheries and whaling, exploitation of marine genetic resources, and other issues have been addressed. One segment of the course will consider the various mechanisms and institutions of dispute settlement in ocean conflicts. Visiting speakers from practice and the international judiciary occasionally participate. Grading is based on class participation, including an oral report, and a paper.

This class provides an overview of the most important legal tools in the United States for the protection of biodiversity. The course begins with a short overview of the history of wildlife law in the United States. It then turns to a detailed examination of the most important statute for protecting biodiversity in the United States, the Endangered Species Act. The course wraps up with an overview of the most important habitat protection statutes (particularly wetlands protection under the Clean Water Act), constitutional limits on biodiversity protection, and a glimpse at emerging issues such as control of invasive species and international environmental law. Though the class focuses on the legal structure for protecting biodiversity, it will also explore important policy questions such as the role of science and politics in decisionmaking, the meaning and value of diversity, and assessments of the success or failure of the ESA.