Environmental Law

Concern about environmental risks has spurred the growth of a complex array of laws and regulations over the past four decades. This course is designed to provide a general introduction to the theory and practice of environmental law, with an emphasis on the major pollution control statutes, especially the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. Some of the recurring themes of the course will be the balance between federal and state authority, the economic justifications for environmental regulation, the distributional effects of environmental policy, the choice of regulatory instruments, and the role of federal agencies. The political backdrop for the development of environmental policy, especially the role of interest groups, political affiliation, and public perceptions, will also be discussed.