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We have tried in this book to make environmental law come alive, to demonstrate for the student what environmental law is about and then place that subject matter in practice settings to show the range of what environmental lawyers actually experience. In teaching the environmental survey course, all three of us felt that our students could analyze well the policy aspects of environmental law, but were more guarded about their understanding of what practicing environmental law really feels like. We believe this focus of the book—making practice settings and practice problems a prominent feature for instructors and students—significantly distinguishes it from the many other commendable casebooks available on the topic of environmental law. Indeed, we would not have bothered to prepare a new addition to the array of environmental law casebooks if we did not believe ours would offer an alternative that is different in a meaningful and useful way.
The book begins with an introductory chapter, designed to provide the student’s first exposure to environmental law though the experience of environmental lawyers. Using a series of case studies, this introduction emphasizes the importance of thinking about environmental law in three dimensions: (1) the basic approaches employed by environmental law; (2) the diversity of practice settings in which environmental law arises as a driving factor; and (3) the breadth of policy issues facing the future of environmental law.
Following the introductory chapter, in Part I of the book we build a conceptual foundation in the substantive law for the student with a survey of five approaches to environmental law: (1) conservation of environmental amenities; (2) regulating environmental harms; (3) remedying environmental harms; (4) planning and information programs; and (5) public lands management. Rather than attempt to canvass every environmental law, we use one or two exemplary statutes for each theme in the typology and cover related statutes and materials in sufficient detail to further illustrate the relevant approach. Deeper instruction in other statutes and legal institutions comes in subsequent parts of the book in connection with development of the practice and policy themes rather than as discrete divisions of study.
Part II is the most innovative facet of the text, using practice settings as a way of giving life to the substantive content of environmental law. Put simply, Part II focuses on what environmental lawyers actually do. This section uses examples and problems to illustrate five key practice contexts: (1) administrative rulemaking and permitting; (2) compliance counseling; (3) enforcement; (4) private litigation; and (5) business and real estate transactions. Attention to practice settings at this breadth and level of detail is unprecedented among environmental law casebooks, and we believe it will make our text particularly useful to instructors wishing to impart some appreciation of practice challenges and to students eager to get a taste of what environmental practitioners experience.
Part III introduces the student to a series of current policy issues that are shaping the future of environmental law, including (1) ecosystem management; (2) agriculture and the environment; (3) urban development; (4) equitable environmental protection; and (5) transboundary issues. As in Part II of the book, we present these issues in real-world contexts rather than as general abstractions.
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