Constitutional Aspects of Environmental Law: Federal Preemption

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 consists of 15 questions and is intended to work both as a review for students who have already studied these issues and as introduction for students new to the concept of federal preemption in environmental law.