Environmental and Natural Resources Law
Since the inception of modern environmental and natural resources law in the late 1960s and 1970s, the field has become increasingly important, both in its own right and as a result of its interactions with more traditional fields of practice, such as real estate, insurance and corporate law. The School of Law offers a rich range of opportunities to students interested in the practice of environmental and natural resources law.
Because of the breadth of faculty expertise in this area, the school is able to provide an extensive array of course offerings, ranging from introductory survey courses to advanced seminars. The students are also actively involved in environmental law issues, principally through an Environmental Law Society and participation in nationally sponsored environmental law moot court competitions.
Curriculum
Environmental Law Survey Usually offered once each academic year. In this introductory course, students explore the justifications for, economic impact of, and allocation of governmental authority for environmental regulation. Students analyze environmental assessment and natural resources protection laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, statutes that control pollution, and efforts to protect the environment through economic-incentives and information disclosure. Grading is typically based on a take-home final examination.
Regulation of Toxic Substances and Hazardous Waste Usually offered every other year. This course covers the federal government's authority to regulate the "life cycle" of a toxic substance. It begins with analysis of risk assessment and risk management, the processes for determining whether and how to regulate these substances. It then addresses regulation of the manufacture of chemical substances, their use in products such as pesticides, and their unwanted presence in food and water. Students also study hazardous waste regulation and cleanup programs. Grading is typically based on a take-home final examination.
Regulation of Air and Water Pollution Usually offered every other year. This course covers all significant portions of the federal Clean Air and Water Acts, including issues of current political or scientific controversy such as ozone depletion and climate change. Students analyze how standards for the protection of the air and water are established, implemented, and enforced, focusing on questions such as the role of cost and feasibility in each of these endeavors. Grading is typically based on a take-home final examination.
Public Lands and Natural Resources Usually offered once each academic year; taught by Tyler Professor George Coggins. The course considers the legal systems governing the classification and use of land owned by the federal government. Students study the constitutional bases for federal land ownership and management, the manner in which the government acquired and may dispose of the public domain, and the statutes that govern permissible uses of the national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, scenic rivers, and grazing lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management. Grading is based on a final examination.
Environmental Law Seminar Usually offered once each academic year; taught by Professor Coggins. This course involves intensive study of an area of current interest in environmental or natural resource law and policy that is not covered in depth by the courses described above. Past topics have included wildlife law, Kansas energy law, international and comparative environmental law, and advanced public land law. Taught as a seminar, grading is based on an in-depth research paper, which is presented to and discussed by the entire class.
National Environmental and Energy Policy Usually offered every academic year or every other year; taught by Professor Coggins. This course examines the legal conundrums relating to the nation's efforts to develop a balanced energy policy. It begins by examining the nature of federal resource development and the regulatory process that controls it, and then analyzes the laws governing the extraction, transportation and transmission of coal, oil, gas and uranium. Students also explore the law of electricity generation. Grading is usually based on a final examination.
Biodiversity Law Taught by Professor Andrew Torrance. This course considers the role of law in regulating, managing, utilizing and conserving the earth's rich biological diversity. Biodiversity law is explored from the perspectives of common law, statutes, agency regulations and international law. Special consideration is made of the role science plays in informing biodiversity law and policy. Prerequisite: Environmental Law Survey (Law 905).
International Environmental Law Taught by Professor Torrance. This course explores the rich body of international law that seeks to regulate the impact humans, either individually or collectively as states or nongovernmental organizations, have on the earth's environment. International environmental law, as embodied in international treaties, customary international law and jus cogens, are examined across a range of environmental issues, including resources in international commons, transboundary pollution, biodiversity, genetically modified organisms, ozone and global climate change. A common theme throughout is the attempt to design, implement and enforce legal means of achieving global sustainability. Prerequisites: Environmental Law Survey (Law 905) or Public International Law (Law 974).
Water Law Usually offered once each academic year or every other year; taught by Connell Teaching Professor John Peck. Students will learn about the private and public entities that manage the distribution and use of water, interstate conflicts over water resources and the role and power of the federal government in water resources management. The course also addresses Indian water rights, federal reserved rights and the rules governing Kansas water law. Grading is based on a final examination. Students may also add a one-hour independent research paper to fulfill the law school’s upper-class writing requirement.
Oil and Gas Law Usually offered at least once each academic year; taught by Professor Coggins. This course covers various aspects of the extraction of these important resources. It covers the private agreements (oil and gas leases) that govern exploration for and production of oil and gas, as well as the effects of various conditions of ownership on oil and gas transactions. Government regulation to conserve oil and gas resources and promote efficient production, such as unitization and pooling, are also studied. Grading is based on a final examination.
Native American Natural Resources Usually offered once every academic year or every other year; taught by Professor Stacy Leeds. This course examines natural resources law issues as they apply to Indian country. Topics covered include water law, environmental protection and subsurface property rights.
Independent Research Students may arrange to prepare research papers for one or two hours of course credit with any member of the faculty. These papers are sometimes published, either under the joint authorship of the professor and the student, or by the student alone. Independent research papers written by KU students have been published in journal such as the Stanford Environmental Law Journal and the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law.
Certificate Program
The Environmental and Natural Resources Law Certificate exposes students to the basics of this constantly changing area of practice so they can address environmental and natural resources law issues in whatever contexts they arise. Students must take a core group of courses that includes Environmental Law Survey, Public Lands and Natural Resources, and Administrative Law. They also must take a minimum of nine additional hours from an array of courses relevant to this area of the law, and they must complete the writing/clinical requirement described above.
Clinical Programs
Although the School of Law does not have a clinical program devoted specifically to environmental and natural resources law, students enrolled in the Legislative Clinic or the Public Policy Clinic may be able to arrange to study topics in this area of the law. As described above the School of Law has an Environmental and Natural Resources Certificate. One of the requirements for receipt of the certificate is participation in a clinical or writing program with an environmental or natural resources law emphasis. This requirement may be satisfied by enrolling in the Legislative Clinic or the Public Policy Clinic or by serving in an externship with the Kansas City regional office of the Environmental Protection Agency or a local environmental or natural resources law public interest group.
Other Opportunities
Each year, interested students compete for the chance to participate in the National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition at the Pace University law school in New York. Winners of the internal competition prepare written briefs and prepare for oral arguments (with the assistance of the faculty) at Pace in February. In past years, the KU team has won the prize for the best brief and has frequently reached the late rounds of the competition. Several environmental law essay contests, such as the Roscoe Hogan competition, are also open to KU Law students. The winners receive prize money and their essays may be published.
The Green Law Society sponsors a variety of activities at the law school, including monthly meetings often attended by the KU environmental law faculty or by federal, state and regional practitioners with environmental expertise. In past years, the GLS has organized recycling programs at the law school and engaged in other activities related to local environmental issues.
