Environmental Law

The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) hosts and facilitates the creation of CALI Lessons, a library of over 950 interactive legal tutorials written by law professors and geared towards law students. CALI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit consortium of law schools, law libraries and related organizations. Almost every United States law school is a member of CALI and they make up the bulk of our membership.

This Outline summarizes the basic black letter rules of Environmental Law in a way that allows students to appreciate how different parts of their course material fit together. Ideal for class preparation or as a review before exams. The Outline covers approaches to environmental regulations, constitutional issues in Environmental Law, the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act and other toxic substances statutes. The Outline also discusses the complex intersection of law, sciences such as biology, geology, and engineering, and important economic, ethical, and social issues. It also includes a glossary of environmental terms and practice exam questions.

Using Developing Professional Skills: Environmental Law as a supplement to your regular casebook makes it easy to integrate skills training into the classroom. The book contains nine exercises designed to develop skills in drafting, client interviewing and counseling, negotiation, and advocacy, in addition to providing an opportunity for students to hone legal research and analytical skills. Many of the exercises are intended to help students understand regulations and to effectively represent their clients in the administrative law context. Students spend a manageable two to three hours on tasks including: interviewing a client; e-mail correspondence; drafting comments in response to a notice of proposed rulemaking; drafting and responding to a citizen suit complaint or a petition for review of administrative action; preparing an outline of key arguments supporting a motion to dismiss; drafting a response to a motion for a preliminary injunction; and negotiating with a regulator. Each chapter prompts students to grapple with ethical issues and to apply the Model Rules of Professional Conduct as well. Developing Professional Skills: Environmental Law can be used as a supplement for Natural Resources courses as well as Environmental Law courses. Two of the chapters are directly relevant to substantive topics often taught in Natural Resources courses: Chapter 2 (The Endangered Species Act) and Chapter 3 (NEPA). Two other chapters cover topics and procedures that any student or practitioner of Natural Resources Law should know: Chapter 1 (The Federal Register) and Chapter 9 (Toxic Torts, involving contamination from an abandoned gold mine).

Environmental Law and Policy is a user-friendly, concise, inexpensive treatment of environmental law. Written to be read pleasurably rather than used as a dry reference source, the authors provide a broad conceptual overview of environmental law while also explaining the major statutes and cases. The updated text also describes initiatives launched by the Trump administration. The first part of the book provides an engaging discussion of the major themes and issues that cross-cut environmental law. The second part of the book examines the substance of environmental law, with separate sections on each of the major statutes. The third part of the book describes natural resources law, discussing endangered species conservation, wetlands protection, water and energy issues. Part four addresses environmental impact statements and the National Environmental Policy Act. The book has wide adoption, not only in law schools, but also in graduate and undergraduate classes outside law school.

Farber’s Environmental Law in a Nutshell provides an up-to-date foundation for understanding environmental law. Expert text includes coverage of the full range of environmental issues, from climate change and air pollution, to waste disposal and wetlands. Surveys the many statutory and common-law regulations shaping the world in which we live.

The stories in this book feature characters as diverse as community activists, small farmers, big businesses, dedicated scientists, skilled lawyers, strong-willed judges, and Presidents of the United States. Four of the ten selected cases established the field of environmental law, three others refined it, and the final three have sought to limit its effectiveness and reach. This selection mirrors the development of the field of environmental law, from the first, heady days of its creation to its current conflicts with other laws and values, including some embedded in the Constitution.

This book is designed to facilitate the introduction of international and comparative legal issues into the basic environmental law course, but could also be used in a seminar on the subject. It covers constitutional protection of the environment; the precautionary principle; intergenerational equity; international and comparative approaches to the regulation of air, water, and toxic substance pollution; global climate change; wildlife and biodiversity preservation; the law of the sea; and management of oceans and coastal areas. Once introduced to the challenges of effectively addressing environmental problems, students can easily appreciate the value of concerted international efforts to address those challenges.

This well received book, informed by its interdisciplinary framework, succinctly yet accurately traverses and illuminates the full gamut of international environmental issues, laws and policies challenging the world today. The fifth edition responds to important developments arising subsequent to the fourth edition, relating, inter alia, to sustainable development, climate change, and energy. These developments include the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of 2015, the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change that replaced the Kyoto Protocol, and the challenges posed by renewable energy and global poverty. In sum, the book offers an insightful analysis of the relevant treaties, customary law, and soft law instruments governing all areas of international environmental law.

The law of hazardous wastes and toxic substances is a specialized field involving the overlap of federal and state statutes, science, economics, and public policy. This text covers the regulation of the production, sale, use, and disposal of toxic substances, ranging from pesticides to chemicals to genetically-engineered animals. It also addresses the “cradle-to-grave” regulation of hazardous wastes under RCRA and the cleanup of these wastes under CERCLA, the Superfund law

Written in a conversational tone, this book familiarizes readers with the basic mechanics of the major environmental statutes, including, among others, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Endangered Species Act. It also includes a separate chapter on how these environmental statutes are enforced by the Government and through citizen suits.

The new edition adds dozens of recent decisions and key statutory changes. Virtually every principal case in the leading casebooks is cited or discussed, making it an excellent aid for students in any water law course. The revised book deals with changes in evolving areas like groundwater-surface water conflicts, public recreational uses, instream flow protection, federal water development, takings claims, and public interest concerns.