This lesson was written as a review of the material covered in Chapter 3 of the CALI e-book, Wetlands Law: A Course Source. The lesson reviews basic principles of administrative law, including the nature of agencies, limits on agency authority, procedural requirements for agency action (rulemaking and adjudication), and basic principles of judicial review of agency action.
This lesson presents the basics of administrative law for students taking Environmental Law or Natural Resources Law who have not taken Administrative Law.
Focusing on the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, this lesson gives a brief overview of the ways in which federal environmental and natural resources law can raise issues regarding the federal government's constitutional authority to regulate pursuant to the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. In particular, it looks at the possible limitations on the federal government's Commerce Clause authority as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1995 decision in United States v. Lopez and as a result of federalism and land use considerations.
This lesson introduces students to one of the constitutional issues that can arise as a result of environmental and natural resources regulation: regulatory takings under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It begins by giving students an overview of regulatory taking claims, their distinction from physical takings of private property, and some of the rules that apply in evaluating whether a regulatory taking has occurred.
This lesson was written as a review of the material covered in Chapter 11 of the CALI e-book Wetlands Law: A Course Source. The lesson reviews the regulatory takings challenges that may be raised when a wetlands permit is denied or the government imposes conditions on the permit.
This lesson discusses the role of federal preemption in the implementation of environmental law. Specifically, when do federal environmental and natural resources statutes preempt, or displace, state laws on similar subjects? When are states free to enact their own environmental protections? What is the relationship between federal environmental law and state torts?
This lesson provides a review of the constitutional requirements for standing in federal courts that citizen plaintiffs must fulfill in order to bring environmental citizen suits in the federal courts.
This lesson will introduce you to, or allow you to review, the major provisions of the Federal Endangered Species Act: section 4, 16 U.S.C. section 1533, which governs listings of endangered and threatened species; section 7, 16 U.S.C. section 1536, which imposes obligations on Federal agencies to protect endangered and threatened species; and section 9, 16 U.S.C. section 1538, which prohibits all persons from "taking" or trading in endangered and threatened species.
This exercise provides a comprehensive review of federal environmental citizen suits, focusing on the citizen suit provision of the Clean Water Act. The student is presented with a series of hypothetical violations of the Clean Water Act and is asked questions regarding whether judicial review is available under the citizen suit provision of the Act for those violations, the jurisdictional or procedural limits that are placed on review, and limits on the type of relief that is available.
On completion of the lesson, the student will be able to:
This lesson can serve as either a comprehensive introduction to, or a comprehensive review of, the elements of Clean Water Act jurisdiction. It refers to cases that you may have studied in your Environmental Law course, but knowledge of the cases is not required in order to complete the lesson.
This lesson is an introduction to the types of Clean Water Act permits, the terms of a permit, and the effect of a permit. It can function either as an initial introduction to this subject or as a review of material covered in class.
The following exercise is designed to reinforce your understanding of some of the basics of wetlands regulation and the wetlands permitting process under the Clean Water Act. Knowledge of the basic structure of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act is necessary to complete this exercise.
On completion of the lesson, the student will be able to: