Environmental law is well represented in Columbia's J.D. and graduate programs.  Columbia was one of the first law schools inthe country to offer a course in environmental law.  The course has been taught continuously since 1970, and the content of the course has reflected the development and changes of this ever-broadening field during the past 23 years.  The course provides an introduction to the basic federal environmental statutes: the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Superfund Act (CERCLA).  Particular attention is given to cross-cutting issues that affect all of environmental law, including the division of authority between the federal government and the states, the division of authority between agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, Congress, and the courts, and the proper role of cost-benefit and risk analysis in setting environmental standards. 

In addition to the core course, Environmental Law, there is a seminar in Environmental Litigation, taught by one of the earliest and best-known practitioners in the field.  The seminar in Hazardous Waste Law focuses on the regulation of hazardous materials and hazardous waste through the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and through CERCLA.  In addition to its regulatory focus, the seminar examines the impact of hazardous waste regulation on industrial development and corporate decision-making.  Specific environmental law and environmental litigation offerings are supplemented by other courses that emphasize significant aspects of environmental controls in their coverage.

Among the foundation courses, Torts also covers injuries to interest in land, public and private nuisance and the use of injunctive remedies, all of which contributed to the development of environmental law, connecting contemporary environmental law and litigation with its early common law sources.  A similar analytical basis for the development of environmental law is provided int he foundation course in Property.  The first-year elective, Foundations of the Regulatory State, devotes a significant part of its coverage to environmental law, using environmental regulations as a primary example of the functioning of administrative law and regulation in our age.

A number of upperclass offerings contribute significantly to the breadth of knowledge needed by the environmental lawyer.  A basic offering is the course Administrative Law, which explores in greater detail the issues that arise in administrative policymaking and review of administrative decisions by teh courts.  Because most environmental law decisions involve judicial review of agency action, Administrative Law is an important supplement to the basic course in environmental law for anyone interested in that area.  The course in State and Local Government Law addresses many issues, including intergovernmental concerns, that are reflected in environmental law.

The course in Real Estate addresses the recurring issues of the management of land and its usees.  It has particular relevance to a number of aspects of environmental law, particularly to problems growing out of CERCLA, where a purchaser of land may discover that the presence of hazardous waste on the land has turned a purchase of assets into an acquisition of liabilities.  Another similarly relevant course is the seminar in Land Use: Regulation and Development.  A parallel area of administrative law is the course in Food and Drug Law, which covers an area that is similar in many of its aspects to the structure of federal law in the environmental law sphere and that shares with environmental law the interaction between science and law. 

With increasing concern for international environmental law, several international offerings have special relevance to this field.  In particular, the course in International Environmental Law looks at recent efforts to work out interntional policy under the auspices of the United Nations and its agencies.  European Community Law and Institutions addresses the problems of integrating European Community policy with national policies and addresses the problems of harmonization of national legal norms and institutions in such areas as environmental protection. 

L6242 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (4 pts)
C. Schroeder
This course will examine fundamental concepts in environmental law and policy. These include the nature and structure of disagreements over environmental and natural resource use, the relative role of markets and government in mediating those disagreements and, with respect to government, the relative role of local, state, federal and international interventions. Fundamental concepts will be explored in part through analysis of common law, statutory and regulatory regimes for addressing particular environmental conflicts, including air pollution, water pollution, hazardous waste management and the protection of endangered species. In the analysis of particular environmental regulatory regimes, attention is given to significant issues of constitutional law, administrative law and common law doctrines. The major international regime covered in the course is the evolving approach to the problem of climate change. 

L6040 INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (2 pts)
E. van Hook
This course will survey the foundations of international environmental law, and then consider international environmental law as it applies both in the transboundary context and to the global commons. A range of contemporary international environmental issues will be explored including climate change, biodiversity loss, the marine environment, ozone depletion, genetic resources and intellectual property issues, and trade and the environment. The course will examine a number of cross-cutting themes, including the relationship between international environmental law and general principles of international law; conflicts among differing legal regimes; the range of approaches to the regulation of activities within and beyond areas under national jurisdiction; the role and impact of competing state interests in the negotiation and enforcement of international regimes; the challenge of regulating in the face of scientific uncertainty; the role of both "soft" and "hard" law in addressing international environmental problems; and the contribution of international tribunals to the development of international environmental law.

L6272 LAND USE (3 pts)
(see Property, Real Estate, and Trusts and Estates)

L9825 SEMINAR: ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (2 pts)
G. Suchman
In the mid-1980's, studies provided evidence that industrial and municipal facilities and the attendant pollution are often concentrated in low-income communities and communities of color. In response, a body of Environmental Justice Law has emerged which applies broadly to many areas of practice, including environmental and energy law, real estate, and project finance, whether in public interest, government or the private sector. Recently, environmental justice has begun to merge with the international movement toward sustainable development and is resulting in a new environmental regulatory regime that will affect all sectors of development: industrial, commercial and residential.

This course will explore the beginnings of the Environmental Justice movement and how its goals have been advanced through constitutional and traditional environmental law claims. It will examine judicial and administrative litigation under Title 6 of the Civil Rights Act, Section 1983, and environmental statutes such as the National Environmental Policy Review Act and state equivalents. The course will discuss the political response to the movement as exemplified by legislative and regulatory actions, as well as community and business sector responses, and look at how the issues of environmental justice are addressed internationally. The course will also explore some emerging legal and political definitions and standards for global sustainable development (including climate change) and the interaction with concepts of environmental justice, and analyze the potential impact on future development and capital investment. This course is useful to those students interested in not only environmental law and civil rights but also traditional land use/real estate development, project fianance, and securities.

L9155 SEMINAR: ENVIRONMENTAL LITIGATION (2 pts)
F. Grad , D. Riesel
This seminar examines the oral and written advocacy skills that are needed to present and resolve environmental issues litigated before the courts and administrative agencies. Probably no other regulatory field has been so influenced by litigation as the still developing field of environmental law. Unfortunately, many causes are lost due to the inadequacies of litigation skills.

A fair amount of substantive environmental law is covered including problems arising under the National Environmental Policy Act, land use disputes, governmental enforcement actions, citizen's suits, hazardous waste litigation, and toxic tort suits. Thus, the seminar involves both an examination of selected environmental issues and the acquisition of practical litigation skills.

The seminar's format involves lectures on recurring issues in environmental litigation and on student participation. Students work on the drafting of pleadings and motion papers, and simulations of oral arguments. Fact patterns drawn from current legal disputes are used both for lecture purposes and for exercises in oral and written advocacy. Some of the particular procedural and substantive areas that are examined in this process are the review of agency actions, drafting of pleadings, discovery issues, motion practice, and negotiation techniques. Particular attention is given to the role of scientific and other expert proof, including discovery as well as direct- and cross-examination of experts. The seminar examines environmental issues in their realistic, political, and judicial setting. Students are expected to contribute to the class through the drafting of litigation papers and participating in courtroom simulations.

L8036 SEMINAR: PROTECTION OF NATURAL RESOURCES (2 pts)
P. Lehner
Environmental issues are hotly debated almost every day, with the sides often far apart. The stakes are very high: the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land on which we live. These public health and environmental issues will be addressed through implementation and enforcement of existing law and possible new programs. The details of the implementation and the degree of enforcement, as well as the shape of the new laws, are at the center of the most important controversies of the day.

This seminar will attempt to give students the tools for assessing the debate and considering different methods of environmental protection. We will examine several different regulatory and non-regulatory mechanisms that have been used and analyze their successes and failures. We will pay particular attention to the different underlying environmental methods more than to specific statutory programs. We will address public health programs (air and water pollution) and natural resource protections (coasts, wildlife, wetlands, and wilderness) with frequent references to the urban environment.

Students will first consider the ethical and moral concerns that motivated environmental legislation. We will then examine economic and scientific forces that have shaped the legislation and that some argue should now have a larger role in environment regulation. We will next study six or seven key federal environmental statutes, many of which are the center of current legislative or administrative battles. In each case, we will focus on the control methods used, such as disclosure, prohibitions, permits and effluent limits, markets, land-use planning, and tort-like damages. We will usually use actual cases as in-class exercises to assist understanding how successful the different methods are in achieving their goals. We will highlight the important role of litigation.

Students will be presented with several hypothetical problems and will be expected to prepare brief outlines in preparation for class discussion or role-playing exercises. Seminar papers should take one of the statutory methods studied and analyze in more detail its application to a specific context. Where possible, students will present their initial findings at a seminar session.

L9257 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CLINIC (7 pts)
(see Clinics)