Boalt School of Law

This course will explore the key commercial, legal, economic and policy issues affecting the development and financing of infrastructure projects, with special emphasis on practical concerns related to investments in alternative energy and other power generation facilities. Many of these topics will be raised in the context of comparative, real-world case studies of different types of energy and infrastructure projects: (1) a wind power plant (including monetization of tax credits and use of bank debt), (2) toll roads in California and Mexico (using bank debt, long term bonds, and government support), (3) an offshore oil and gas project in Brazil (using bank debt, foreign equity, and multilateral and export credit support), (4) a Chilean airport privatization (using capital markets), and (5) divergent financing strategies and market approaches of energy companies like Calpine, Enron Europe and BP Amoco, among others.

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.

Mr. Frank will moderate eight panel discussions by outside speakers on key California environmental law and policy issues. One of the sessions will focus on the law of global warming/climate control. Other topics may include environmental federalism (i.e., the respective California and federal roles in environmental regulation); the clash between environmental regulation and private property rights; the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA); and coastal resource regulation and preservation in California. The guest speakers will include academics, practicing environmental attorneys, and non-legal experts (e.g., scientists and economists.)

This will be a survey course covering the core of federal public lands law, including the National Forest Management Act, the General Mining Law of 1872 and related laws, the Taylor Grazing Act and FLPMA. This course will also explore aspects of the federal public land system and the agencies that administer it, including the National Forest system, the National Park system, the National Wildlife Refuge system, and the Wilderness Act, as well as elements of state public lands law, including the public trust doctrine.

The most common source of environmental litigation is soil and groundwater pollution. The three principal bodies of law governing these disputes are the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (42 U.S.C. §§ 9601, et seq.) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (42 U.S.C. §§ 6901, et seq.), as well as certain common law claims. This class is designed for two kinds of students: those interested in working in the environmental field and those that would like to develop a subspecialty in what will otherwise be a practice emphasizing some other area of law. CERCLA, RCRA and Common Law Claims (formerly known as Environmental Pollution) is designed to immerse students in the complexities of litigation involving soil and groundwater contamination. We will identify practical, realistic approaches to environmental advocacy and achieving results in the courtroom. Upon completion of the course, students will have a sophisticated appreciation of the tactical intricacies of litigation involving soil and groundwater pollution comparable to most lawyers with three or four years of experience. This course explores three universal stages of the litigation process, all in the context of soil and groundwater pollution: (i) analyzing potential theories of liability and available defenses; (ii) determining the appropriate sources of recovery; and (iii) selecting the desired remedy. Within each stage, the class will focus on the peculiarities of the law governing soil and groundwater contamination, as well as the strategic considerations unique to the environmental arena. Students will be exposed to the latest developments regarding CERCLA, RCRA and certain relevant common law schemes.

The course emphasizes western water law with special attention to California. We deal at length with public rights in water, the public trust, area of origin claims, federal and Indian reserved rights, interstate controversies, environmental assessment, and the limitations of the takings clause on reallocations of water use. Water pollution and water quality are addressed only peripherally. The course thesis asserts that water is a distinctive species of property, a community resource that can never be fully privatized and that must be used in the public interest. We explore this remarkable idea.