Climate change is the most profound social and environmental issue of the 21st century. This course will integrate the emerging science and law of climate change along with economic and intergenerational equity aspects of the problem. We will consider how existing federal laws such as the Clean Air Act and NEPA may be used to address climate change as well as how new more comprehensive laws may be fashioned. Different policy instruments will be considered including carbon taxes and emissions trading.

The heat is on, in the courts as well as the biosphere. Seeking to prod faster governmental response to the growing menace of climate change, advocates are turning to a variety of different legal, advocacy, and technological methods to reduce carbon and other greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere and reduce the overall impact of climate change on the planet. Climate litigation has brought together an intriguing coalition of states, environmentalists, and "green" economic interests. Emboldened by the landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Massachusetts v.

The course introduces students to the discipline of environmental economics and exposes them to debates over the use of market-based instruments in environmental, energy, and climate policy. It also introduces students to basic economics and finance concepts, examines key principles about market behavior and efficiency, and applies these basic elements and concepts to common environmental problems and actual case studies.
Approved for JD credit.

The energy industry is both a key to the life that billions seek and America's most significant source of pollution. Environmental problems are the energy industry's most important constraint. This course examines key issues in American energy policy, and searches for ways to resolve or ease the strains, which that policy puts upon environmental sustainability. We will review fundamental facts about our energy demands and sample regulatory orders and legal writings that address many of those elements from the perspective of a legal review.

Our world is fundamentally dependent on energy flows, yet the fuels and sources that have sustained us for the last century all seem to be showing tight limits or tragic flaws. This course, taught by a former administrative law judge for the California Public Utility Commission, explores the emerging field of renewable and alternative energy supplies. It reviews local, state, and federal laws and policies that promote (and impede) such sources, and considers emerging distributed generation models.