In recent decades, a complex web of environmental laws has altered our approach to land use and resource management, raised public health standards, and forced business and government to reinvent their relationships with one another and with local communities. This course examines how environmental laws develop, from the discovery of a problem, through the passage and implementation of legislation, to changes in the behavior of regulated industries, and, finally, to site restoration and the prevention of new harms. Students will examine the roles played by four main groups: citizens-organizations, elected officials, the business sector, and the bureaucracy. We will use case law and source materials like agency permits and consent agreements to show how these four groups often establish a "checks and balances" relationship with one another, helping to assure that the laws we enact provide real environmental relief without unduly interfering with the delivery of public services or creation of goods. Format: lecture/discussion. Prerequisites: Political Science 201 and Environmental Studies 101. No enrollment limit (expected: 20). This course satisfies the "Environmental Policy" requirement for the Environmental Studies concentration.

Hour: GALLAY