RD 430: LAW AND NATURAL RESOURCES Michigan State University Fall 2001 Wednesdays, 12:40-3:20 p.m. in 313 Bessey Hall

Transcription

1 RD 430: LAW AND NATURAL RESOURCES Michigan State University Fall 2001 Wednesdays, 12:40-3:20 p.m. in 313 Bessey Hall INSTRUCTOR Michael Kaplowitz, J.D., Ph.D. Office: Department of Resource Development Fax: A Natural Resource Building Home: * TEACHING ASSISTANT: Joel Mishler, MSU-DCL Student DEPARTMENT ASSISTANCE: Ms. Cheryl Lowe, 302 Natural Resources, MATERIALS: Course materials, including word lists and lecture notes, will be available on a course website on BLACKBOARD.COM. Students may access and print out course materials from the rd430 site at BLACKBOARD.COM. See instructions below for more information. OFFICE HOURS Joel Mishler will be available by appointment, via and can be reached at (810) The INSTRUCTOR will generally be available to meet with students. Students should sign up for an appointment with the instructor (usually 15-minutes). Students should sign-up before/after class or they may send an request. REQUIRED TEXTS Plater, Z.J.B., R.H. Abrams, W. Goldfarb, and R.L. Graham Environmental Law and Policy: Nature, Law, and Society. 2d ed. St. Paul, Minn.: West Law Publishing Co DESCRIPTION The course will expose students to, as well as further their understanding of, the application of the U. S. legal and political systems on complex social conflicts with environmental and human health implications. To enrich students experience, this course is taught in some ways as it would be taught to first year law students. The case method is relied upon, in part, to present the meaning and legal reasoning of the natural resources law subfield. It is hoped that by gaining a vocabulary and better understanding of our legal system, students will be better advocates, consumers, and perhaps practitioners of the law. The course diverges from a traditional law school course s reliance on one, and only one, evaluation of students a final exam. The Resource Development Department offers other courses that focus on Michigan and other aspects of environmental law and policy. This course uses a standard "national" text, and is designed to provide students with a fundamental foundation of the theories of significant U.S. environmental and natural resources law. The course will cover the basic rules of law applicable to natural resource law and 1

2 management policy. Since the primary emphasis will be on the legal relationships of parties and their legal obligations, court cases will be the primary focus of class discussions rather than legislative enactment or executive implementation. TARGET AUDIENCE This course is intended for senior undergraduate, graduate, and professional students and is designed to provide students with an introduction to and overview of environmental and natural resources law and policy. TOPICS & OBJECTIVES 1) Introduction & Legal Primer: Introduction of Instructor(s); Review course requirements; Present Overview of U.S. legal system; Life cycle of a case. 2) Common Law: Basis in English law; Judge-made law; Torts; Nuisance; Trespass; Strict Liability; Remedies; Damages. 3) Toxic Tort: Complex tort law; Elements of proof; Causation proof difficulties; W.R. Grace; Multiple defendants; Joint and several liability; Law and science. 4) Legal Research Finding the Law: with Librarian Jon Harrison. Instruction and demonstration of how to do legal research; Students will legal research skills for their final paper. 5) Relationship of Federal & State Law: Federalism; Supremacy Clause; Preemption; Commerce Clause. 6) Administrative Law: Overview; Delegation of power; Organic acts; ultra vires acts; rulemaking; adjudication; pressuring agencies; Judicial review; deference; remedies; Overton Park; Citizen enforcement; FOIA. 7) Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act: Harm-based standards; Ambient standards; Harm to be avoided; Transboundary pollution; National ambient standards; TBELs; NPDES process; Water quality permits; Nonpoint source pollution. 8) Stop & Think/Roadblocks: NEPA; EIS; Right-to know; Endangered species act; God committee. 9) Market Access & Market Mechanisms: Using market-based strategies; emissions trading; Bubbles, offsets, and banking. 10) Remedial Liability: CERCLA; Superfund; liability rules; statutory liability; cleanup hazardous waste; Relaxed burden of proof; Individual liability; Identifying sites. 11) Public Trust Doctrine/Public-Private Rights: Rediscovery of doctrine; Public balancing; eminent domain; regulatory takings; wetland regulation; K & K; Lucas 12) Public Resource Management: Public lands; BLM, FLPMA, and grazing on public lands; Federal-State and Public-Private issues on the public lands, public land planning. 13) Land Use-based Environmental Protection Statutes: Federal Coastal Zone Management Act; State Hazardous Waste Facility Siting Statutes; Critical Area Protection Statutes; Comprehensive State and Regional Planning and Management, Zoning 2

3 COURSE OUTLINE & READING ASSIGNMENTS Date Topics Readings August 29 September 5 September 12 Introduction Common Law and Toxic Tort Asbestos Attorney (Guest Speaker) ; ; ; ; ; ; Handouts September 19 Law, Economics and Risk ; Exam Dates September 26 LEGAL RESEARCH* LEGAL RESEARCH* October 3 October 10 October 17 October 24 October 31 Federal and State Regulation and Wetlands Administrative law; Citizen enforcement; & Judicial remedy Harm-Based Standard-CAA Technology-Based Standards- CWA National Environmental Policy Act- Disclosure CERCLA-Remedial Liability and Brownfields ; ; ; Handouts ; # ; ; November 7 Enforcement and Compliance ; Handout November 14 Endangered Species Act #2 November 21 Public trust doctrine ; ; ; November 28 Public resource management ; December 5 Land use and zoning December 12 Scheduled Exam Period: 12:45-2:45 p.m. #3 * Students are required to attend one legal research session conducted by Jon Harrison, MSU Library. There will be two sessions scheduled during class time. Half of the class will be assigned to each session. 3

4 RESERVATION The instructor reserves the right to alter or amend this syllabus at any time. GRADING-COMPONENTS A. Attendance and Participation (10%) Attendance is mandatory. Attendance will be taken each class session and students must be in class for the full session to receive attendance credit. In the event of illness, family emergency, etc. please contact the instructor to make arrangements for an excused absence and/or make-up assignment. Each student is encouraged to participate in class. B. Exams (65%) There will be 3 exams during the semester. Each exam will cover four to five weeks of material and will count towards the student s final grade. Exams will be short-answer type questions (e.g., multiple choice) and will take place promptly at the beginning of the class period. Unexcused absences from quizzes will result in the grade of zero (0) for the missed quiz. C. Research Paper (10%) There will be one (1) small research paper required for the course. Once during the semester, on the week of their choice, students must: i) select one of three weekly pre-selected topics, ii) conduct additional legal research pertaining to that topic, and iii) prepare a brief research paper on that topic. Students are expected to prepare a two-page, single-spaced paper in Times New Roman with 12 point font and one-inch margins. While a research paper may also count as the weekly paper, it must be turned in at the beginning of the appropriate class to do so. In other words, a research paper on air pollution can count also count as that week s Weekly Paper. Otherwise, all research papers are due in to the instructor at 12:45 pm on December 11, D. Weekly Paper (15%) For 13 weeks, students are required to hand in a one page paper analyzing one of three pre-selected topics for that week (no paper due on Aug. 29 & Sept. 26). These weekly papers are to be handed to the TA and the beginning of class. Each weekly paper should be no longer then one (1) page, single-spaced, 12-pt font, with 1 margins. The papers should briefly and accurately summarize the readings/cases pertaining to one of the three pre-selected topics. Pre-selected paper topics will be available on the courses blackboard.com site. POLICY ON ABSENCES Students are expected to attend each class, submit assignments on time, and take exams at the regularly scheduled time unless an acceptable reason is offered. Acceptable reasons include illness, family emergency, or conflicts with other final exams (if verified by a note from the other instructor). Repeated absences will directly and indirectly harm students' performance and grade. 4

5 You are expected to notify the instructor as soon as possible if you cannot attend class, submit written assignments, or take an exam. If legitimate reasons are presented in a timely and reasonable manner, arrangements can be made to acquire class notes, submit work, and take exam. 5

6 INCOMPLETE WORK AND DEFERRED GRADES Unexpected circumstances may cause a student to request a grade of Incomplete (I) or Deferred (DF). Requests must be made in writing before the date of the final exam stating the reason(s) for the request and a plan for removal of the I or DF grade. University policy requires that work to remove an I be completed by the 5th week of the next semester in attendance or the grade automatically becomes a O. A DF grade (available only to graduate students) must be removed within two calendar years. MSU POLICY ON ACADEMIC INTEGRITY The principles of truth and honesty are recognized as fundamental to a community of teachers and scholars. The University expects that both faculty and students win honor these principles and in so doing protect the validity of University grades. This means that all academic work will be done by the student to whom it is assigned, without unauthorized aid of any kind. Instructors, for their part, will exercise care in the planning and supervision of academic work-, so that honest effort will be positively encouraged".(excerpted from A II-University Policy on Integrity of Scholarship and Grades). BLACKBOARD.COM To facilitate access to course materials & information, a course site has been created at Blackboard.com. To access Blackboard.com, please follow these steps: Go the Blackboard site at From this site, click on the link FIND A COURSE on the left side of your screen to get the Search for page. In the search box, type rd430 (small case). The search should bring back only one site...ours! From this screen, you can either go to the course (old user), or if you are a first time user, click on the link enroll for this class. Please note, once you are enrolled, you should be able to access the site more directly from the URL: If this link fails to work, you can repeat the process as outlined here. If you are enrolling for the first time, you will need to select a login name and password for yourself (pilot id and pilot password). You will also need an access code. The access code for rd430 fall2001 is Please note that the computer system will not allow duplicate names, so if asked, you may need to add a number or change your desired login name. From this screen, you should be taken to a user screen on which you will input your name, and other details about yourself. Make sure your is correct, we will be using to communicate with you. Once this enrollment procedure is complete, you should have access to the site. Directions on navigating the site are permanently posted on the main page, and you can also access them under course documents. If you have questions about the site or need updates for the information located within the site. If you have trouble, please contact the instructor or TA. 6