371 - 380 of 747 results for: LAW

Environmental law subsumes two major sets of issues. One set of issues, which is the subject of Environmental Law & Policy ( Law 2504), focuses on pollution containment (e.g., the Clean Air Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act). This course focuses on societal management of the natural world and natural resources (e.g., energy, water, and living species). Natural resource management presents extremely difficult and contentious issues of law and public policy. Major debates rage over whether farmers should do with less water in order to protect endangered fish species, how to equitably allocate water and energy, and whether federal land agencies should emphasize preservation, recreation, or resource extraction. This course is a survey course and will look at fish and wildlife protection (including the protection of endangered species), freshwater, energy, and public lands. A major goal will be to look at the flaws in current management and how that management can be improved. Class sessions will include both (1) critical examinations of current laws and policy and (2) in-depth discussions of situational case studies that force you to consider how you would address real-life issues. Students are expected to participate actively in class discussions. Elements used in grading: class participation and final exam (open book).

Freshwater is our most crucial natural resource, but it is facing mounting pressures from climate change and other factors. While public agencies traditionally dominated water management, private water companies are playing an increasingly important (and sometime controversial) role. In many cases, private companies are making critical contributions to meeting societal water needs (e.g., by developing new technologies and finding new ways to reduce water use). In other cases, however, the involvement of private companies has 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 and emerging businesses in the water sector and the legal, economic, and social issues generated by the private sector's involvement. These businesses include water technology companies (e.g., companies commercializing new desalination or water recycling technologies), venture capitalists, water funds (that directly buy and sell water rights), consulting firms, innovative agricultural companies, and large corporations (that increasingly are adopting corporate stewardship programs). The course will begin with two weeks of introduction to water and the private water sector. After that, each class will focus on a different water company. Company executives will attend each 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 on businesses that visit the class, and (2) a 10- to15-page paper at the conclusion of the class on an idea that the student has for a new water company, on an existing water company of the student's choice, or on a legal or policy initiative that can improve the role that business plays in improving water management (either in a particular sector or more generally). This course is open to graduate students from around the campus. 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 grid-scale clean energy projects. This course will be essentially the same as in the past four years (when it was cross-listed as GSB GEN 335). This course is highly multi-disciplinary, both in terms of substance and student mix. The course has consistently had a significant mix of business, engineering, law and earth science students. As in the past, the course will focus on the issues associated with the business of developing, financing, constructing and operating grid-scale clean energy projects. The course will focus on what a project developer or lender (i.e., in either case, the business person) needs to know to develop and finance successful projects. The project development business--far more than many other businesses such as tech, manufacturing, consumer, services, retail or transportation--inherently involves a VERY long list of highly-germane and critical legal issues. We address the legal issues from the perspective of what a business person needs to understand in order to navigate them and complete a project. 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. This class is limited to 36 students, with an effort made to have students from SLS, GSB, engineering and earth sciences. (All students need to be graduate students.) CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete and submit a Consent Application Form available on the SLS website (Click Courses at the bottom of the homepage and then click Consent of Instructor Forms). Students are encouraged to apply as early as possible. See Consent Application Form for instructions and submission deadline.

This interdisciplinary course integrates the legal, scientific, and policy dimensions of how we characterize and manage resource use and allocation along the California coast. We will use this geographic setting as the vehicle for exploring more generally how agencies, legislatures, and courts resolve resource-use conflicts and the role that scientific information and uncertainty play in the process. Our focus will be on the land-sea interface as we explore contemporary coastal land-use and marine resource decision-making, including coastal pollution, public health, ecosystem management; public access; private development; local community and state infrastructure; natural systems and significant threats; resource extraction; and conservation, mitigation and restoration. Students will learn the fundamental physics, chemistry, and biology of the coastal zone, tools for exploring data collected in the coastal ocean, and the institutional framework that shapes public and private decisions affecting coastal resources. There will be 3 to 4 written assignments addressing policy and science issues during the quarter, as well as a take-home final assignment. Special Instructions: In-class work and discussion is often done in interdisciplinary teams of students from the School of Law, the School of Engineering, the School of Humanities and Sciences, and the School of Earth, Energy, and Environmental Sciences. Students are expected to participate in class discussion and 2-3 Saturday field trips. Elements used in grading: Participation, including class session and field trip attendance, writing and quantitative assignments. Cross-listed with Civil & Environmental Engineering ( CEE 175A/275A).

Cities are on the front lines of solving many of society's sustainability problems, from advancing green buildings and clean energy, to preparing for the effects of climate change. With a diminishing role of the federal government on environmental policy and regulation, it is up to sub-nationals like states and cities to lead innovation and deployment of clean energy, resilience strategies, water management, and more. This class will explore the evolving role of cities in advancing sustainability from the lens of law, policy, planning, and governance. Some of the topics we will discuss in-depth include climate mitigation, clean energy, green buildings, climate adaptation and resilience, water supply and reuse, land use and transportation, and more. Case studies will focus on U.S. cities with some emphasis on California. Overarching themes across all content areas include legal constraints of city authority, governance, socioeconomic tradeoffs, and the roles of various types of institutions in developing, advancing, and advocating for local policy change. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation, Written Assignments, Exam. Cross-listed with Environment and Resources ( ENVRES 212).

While climate change is often considered an 'environmental problem', the risks and opportunities embedded in a changing climate go well beyond the natural environment. This course reframes climate as a macroeconomic challenge, one in which multilateral politics, global investment, and distribution of impacts must be understood and reconsidered. Based on readings and guest speakers, this interdisciplinary course traces the arc of climate past, present and future on the pillars of politics, finance, and infrastructure (both physical and institutional). Grounded in the latest climate science and the history of global climate negotiations, the bulk of the course investigates innovations at the intersection of finance, law and policy, with particular emphasis on risk management, legal liability, corporations, climate justice and resilience. The final sessions look to the future and consider how the next generation of leaders might solve the greatest challenge of our time. Elements used in grading: Students may take the course for 2 units (section 1) or 3 units (section 2). Section 1 and 2 students will receive grades for attendance, in class participation and guest-speaker questions. Section 1 students will complete a group presentation on the design of a financial, business, legal or policy intervention with the potential to reduce emissions on a large scale. Section 2 students will be required to write an individual research paper meeting the Law School's R paper requirements. This class is limited to 60 students, with an effort made to have students from SLS (30 students will be selected by lottery) and 30 non-law students by consent of the instructor. After the term begins, students accepted into the course can transfer from section (01) into section (02), which meets the R requirement, with consent of the instructor.

This course will introduce environmental justice as a social movement, including its central substantive concerns (the needs of humans in the built environment rather than the need to protect the environment from humans) and its methods (community-based political organizing rather than professionalized judicial or legislative action). The bulk of the course will then pursue a broader conception of environmental justice today by using social science research, theory, and case studies to investigate the civil rights and poverty aspects of environmental safety and natural resources. The course will include units on: (1) toxic exposure and public health disparities stemming from the disproportionate siting of locally-unwanted land uses in poor neighborhoods of color; (2) access to natural resources and basic public services, including clean water, wastewater disposal, and open space; (3) tools in environmental justice advocacy (including community-based lawyering, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Fair Housing Act, common law nuisance actions, and transactional lawyering); (4) environmental justice issues in Indian Country, and (5) environmental justice issues in climate change policy. Much of the course material, including student presentations, will be grounded in the experiences and advocacy histories of specific communities, both urban and rural, across the country. This class is limited to 25 students, with an effort made to have students from SLS (20 students will be selected by lottery) and 5 non-law students by consent of instructor. Special Instructions: Students on the waitlist for the course will be admitted if spots are available on the basis of priority and degree program. Course requirements will include class participation, in-class presentation, and either response papers (section 01) or a long research paper for R credit (section 02). A maximum of 10 students will be permitted to write the long research paper with instructor consent. After the term begins, students enrolled in the course can transfer from section (01) into section (02), which meets the R requirement, with consent of the instructor. Elements used in grading: Class participation, in-class presentation; response papers or a final research paper.

This is the South Africa Field Study component of Natural Resources Law and Policy ( LAW 2506). For details, see course description for Law 2506. This course will look at three issues covered in Natural Resources Law & Policy from a comparative perspective, focusing on Cape Town, South Africa, and the region surrounding it. First, we will look at the water challenges facing Cape Town, including (a) the supply limitations that led the city to warn in 2018 of a "Day Zero" when it would be forced to turn off everyone's taps and (b) the ongoing water equity issues facing the region's impoverished townships such as Khayelitsha. Second, we will visit with companies and law firms seeking to promote renewable energy projects to discuss the issues that they face. Finally, we will meet with environmental non-profits to examine South Africa's efforts to protect wildlife from poaching and other threats. Students might also participate in small, half-day conference with the University of Stellenbosch examining these and related sustainability issues. Elements used in grading: TBA. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete and submit a Consent Application Form available on the SLS website (Click Courses at the bottom of the homepage and then click Consent of Instructor Forms). See Consent Application Form for instructions and submission deadline.

This course explores the close relationship between energy and environmental law. We will work through the major energy sectors and, for each, discuss key environmental law and policy issues that are influencing energy production and use. Our focus will be on current issues. We'll explore environmental issues that are traditionally associated with the energy sector, including air emissions, waste disposal and cleanup, and oil spills, while also covering new environmental issues emerging from the energy sector including climate change-related regulatory and business risk issues, energy infrastructure permitting issues, and environmental pressure points on the utility industry and on renewable energy and conventional energy projects, more generally. Elements used in grading: Exam; one written assignment; class participation.