211 - 220 of 388 results for: LAW

(Formerly Law 746) This course will advance students' understanding of economic, legal, and political approaches to avoiding or managing the problem of global climate change. Beyond focusing on economic issues and legal constraints, it will address the political economy of various emissions-reduction strategies. The course will consider policy efforts at the local, national, and international levels. Theoretical contributions as well as empirical analyses will be considered. Specific topics include: interactions among overlapping climate policies and between new policies and pre-existing legal or regulatory frameworks; the role that jurisdictional or geographic scale can play in influencing the performance of climate policy approaches; and numerical modeling and statistical analyses of climate change policies. Elements used in grading: Class Participation, Written Assignments, Final Exam. Cross-listed with Economics ( ECON 159).

(Formerly Law 455) The supply of a reliable, low-cost and clean energy supply for the United States is a key determinant of current and future prosperity. Perhaps as a result, electric utilities are among the most heavily regulated of large firms. This statutory and regulatory framework is composed of a complex patchwork of overlapping state and federal rules that is constantly evolving to meet emerging challenges to the energy system. In this course, students will acquire a basic understanding of the law of rate-based regulation of utilities. We will then examine the history of natural gas pipeline regulation in the United States, concluding with the introduction of market competition into US natural gas markets and the advent of shale gas. Next, we will cover the basics of the electricity system, including consumer demand, grid operations, and power plant technologies and economics. We will then revisit cost of service rate regulation as it has been applied in the electricity context. Next we will examine reform of both rate-regulated and wholesale market-based structures, focusing on various attempts to introduce market competition into aspects of the industry and to strengthen incentives for utility investment in energy efficiency. Finally, students will examine various approaches to subsidization of utility scale renewable energy and the growth of distributed energy. Throughout, the course will focus on the sometimes cooperative, sometimes competing, but ever evolving federal and state roles in regulating the supply of electric power. Students will write two 1000 word response papers to questions related to readings and outside speakers in addition to taking a final exam. Elements used in grading: Class participation (20%), written assignments (40%), and final exam (40%).

(Formerly Law 603) This course provides an introduction to federal environmental law, regulation, and policy in the United States. The course emphasizes the cooperative and competing roles that the federal and state governments play in implementing environmental law in the United States. The course encourages students to adopt a comparative and dynamic view of environmental protection under U.S. law. We begin with a discussion of the property law roots of environmental law. Next we briefly touch on some aspects of U.S. administrative law that are essential to understanding the material that follows (students should feel free to take this class without having taken Administrative Law). This is followed by a discussion of the risk assessment and cost-benefit frameworks essential to understanding the current U.S. approach to environmental problems. We conclude this segment with a comparison of two approaches to chemical safety regulation - the U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act and the EU REACH directive. Next, we focus on three key substantive federal environmental statutes: the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. Next, we turn to the National Environmental Policy Act to understand how environmental concerns are included in the process of making agency decisions. The course concludes with a discussion of current EPA efforts to address emissions of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Special Instructions: Substantial participation is expected and class participation constitutes twenty percent (20%) of the overall grade for the course. In addition, students are expected to complete two 1000 word written assignments during the course that will constitute forty percent (40%) of the overall grade. Finally, an in-school exam will, similar in format and length to the written assignments, constitute the remaining forty percent (40%) of the overall grade. Elements used in grading: Class participation (20%), written assignments (40%) and final exam (40%).

(Formerly Law 338) This course focuses on the pragmatic (more than theoretical) aspects of contemporary land use law and policy, including: the tools and legal foundation of modern land use law; the process of land development; vested property rights, development agreements, and takings; growth control, sprawl, and housing density; and direct democracy over land use. We explore how land use decisions affect environmental quality and how land use decision-making addresses environmental impacts. Special Instructions: All graduate students from other departments are encouraged to enroll, and no pre-requisites apply. Student participation is essential. Roughly two-thirds of the class time will involve a combination of lecture and classroom discussion. The remaining time will engage students in case studies based on actual land use issues and disputes. This class is limited to 40 students, with an effort made to have students from SLS (30 students will be selected by lottery) and students from Earth Systems (10 students). Elements used in grading: Attendance, class participation, writing assignments, and final exam. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation, Final Exam. This course is cross-listed with Earth Systems ( EARTHSYS 238).

(Formerly Law 281) Natural resource management presents extremely difficult and contentious issues of law and public policy. Major debates continue to rage over issues such as the Endangered Species Act, whether the United States should permit drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and how to prevent the overfishing of the oceans. This course will focus on two major aspects of natural-resource management: biodiversity protection (including the Endangered Species Act, ocean fisheries management, and global protection of marine mammals) and public lands in the United States such as national parks and wilderness areas. The course also will examine the National Environmental Protection Act and the effectiveness of environmental impact assessments. Class sessions will include critical examinations of current law and policy and in-depth discussions of situational case studies that force you to consider how you would resolve real-life issues. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions. (This course will not examine either water law or energy law in any depth. Water Law will be offered again in the 2015-2016 academic year. Several other courses in the Law School deal with energy-law questions.) Elements used in grading: Class participation and final exam (open book).

One of the fastest growing economic sectors is the water field, and private water companies are playing an increasingly important role in improving water management around the world. In some cases, however, the involvement of private companies in the water sector has also proven controversial (e.g., when private companies have taken over public water supply systems in developing countries such as Bolivia). This course will look at established or emerging businesses in the water sector and the legal, economic, and social issues that they generate. These businesses include investor-owned water utilities, water technology companies (e.g., companies investing in new desalination or water recycling technologies), water-right funds (who directly buy and sell water rights), social impact funds, innovative agricultural operations, water concessionaires, and infrastructure construction companies and investors. Each week will focus on a different business and company. Company executives will attend the class session and discuss their business with the class. In most classes, we will examine (1) the viability and efficacy of the company's business plan, (2) the legal and/or social issues arising from the business' work, and (3) how the business might contribute to improved water management and policy. Each student will be expected to write (1) two short reflection papers during the course of the quarter on businesses that present to the class, and (2) a 15-page paper at the conclusion on the class on either a water company of the student's choice or a policy initiative that can improve the role that business plays in improving water management (either in a particular sector or more generally). Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation, Written Assignments, Final Paper. Cross-listed with Civil & Environmental Engineering ( CEE 273B).

(Formerly Law 774) This case study-oriented course will focus on the critical skills needed to evaluate, develop, finance (on a non-recourse basis), and complete standalone energy and infrastructure projects. The primary course materials will be documents from several representative projects - e.g., solar, wind, storage, carbon capture, transmission, combined heat & power - covering key areas including market and feasibility studies, environmental permitting and regulatory decisions, financial disclosure from bank and bond transactions, and construction, input, and offtake contracts. For virtually every clean energy project, legal documents and financial/business models tend to highly customized. By examining actual projects and transactions we can learn how developers, financiers, and lawyers work to get deals over the finish line--deals that meet the demands of the market, the requirements of the law, and (sometimes) broader societal goals, in particular climate change, economic competitiveness, and energy security. Elements used in grading: Class Participation (35 %), Lecture-based Assignment (15 %), Group Project (50 %). Absences affect grade. Also open to engineering graduate students. Cross-listed with Graduate School of Business ( GSBGEN 335).

This course offers an accessible survey of timely topics in environmental law and policy as the United States transitions presidential administrations. Taught by two practicing lawyers, the class introduces students from any background to the interactions between local, state, and federal environmental law as they apply to critical policy issues. We will analyze major changes in federal policy, providing historical context for the transformations now underway in the laws and institutions that shape environmental outcomes in the United States. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation, Final Paper. Cross-listed with Earth Systems ( EARTHSYS 108 & 208).

(Formerly Law 348) This course provides the legal, institutional, and economic background necessary to understand the financing and production of health services in the U.S. We will discuss the Affordable Care Act , health insurance (Medicare and Medicaid, employer-sponsored insurance, the uninsured), the approval process and IP protection for pharmaceuticals, and antitrust policy. We may discuss obesity and wellness, regulation of fraud and abuse, and medical malpractice. The syllabus for this course can be found at https://syllabus.stanford.edu. Elements used in grading: Participation, attendance, class presentation, and final exam. Cross-listed with Graduate School of Business ( MGTECON 331), Health Research & Policy ( HRP 391) & Public Policy ( PUBLPOL 231).