Prerequisites: None

Exam Type: In Class

This course is a survey of federal natural resources law with a particular emphasis on how courts resolve disputes in this area. Emphasis will be placed on ongoing legal disputes, including natural resources cases in the Supreme Court and the courts of appeals. The course will start with a review of the historical, constitutional, and administrative law underpinnings of modern day natural resources law. The remainder of the course will focus on the major federal natural resources statutes with an initial examination of two of the most fundamental and transformational statutes of modern natural resources law: the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act. The course will then move on to the major statutes governing public lands such as the National Forest Management Act, Federal Land Management & Policy Act, National Park Service Organic Act and laws addressing development of mineral resources on Federal lands. The course will conclude by turning to laws governing coastal and living marine resources such as the Coastal Zone Management Act, Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, and Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation Act. The course will weave in discussion of present-day controversies such as National Monument designations, and oil, gas, and mineral leasing and regulation on Federal lands.