2019 Summer Session Classes
Term 1
ENV 5115/Environmental Law
This introductory course covers the history of environmental values and policies, including a discussion of economics and the environment, common law roots, approach to federalism, and environmental justice. It compares and contrasts the major environmental statutes, such as the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Toxic Substances Control Act, and other federal statutes. It considers the goals and objectives of environmental laws, and the choices that are made both implicitly and explicitly in effecting the means of environmental protection.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 1ENV 5408/The Law of Animals in Agriculture
State-based animal confinement reforms for CAFO animals are on a collision course with the federal government’s expanding control over food and agriculture production. Progressive welfare policies endorsed by California and Massachusetts voters could transform U.S.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 1ENV 5412/Ocean and Coastal Law
Long neglected by lawmakers despite its essential ecological functions, the marine environment has increasingly been the focal point of conservation and natural resource management efforts. As a foundation for studying the laws that govern the marine environment, the course considers the natural components of estuarine, coastal, and marine ecosystems and the current conservation issues confronting them.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 1ENV 5510/Three Essentials of the Electric Grid: Engineering Essentials
This course sets out, in three linked modules, the fundamental knowledge that professionals should have for working in the closely intertwined fields of energy and the environment. Students may take one, two, or three modules for one credit each.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 1ENV 5511/Three Essentials of the Electric Grid: Business Essentials
This course sets out, in three linked modules, the fundamental knowledge that professionals should have for working in the closely intertwined fields of energy and the environment. Students may take one, two, or three modules for one credit each.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 1ENV 5512/Three Essentials of the Electric Grid: Legal Essentials
This course sets out, in three linked modules, the fundamental knowledge that professionals should have for working in the closely intertwined fields of energy and the environment. Students may take one, two, or three modules for one credit each.
MODULE B – LEGAL ESSENTIALS: With the climate crisis, we have the need to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition to a low carbon economy. This module examines how in practice we can use the power of the law to make progress on our climate goals through clean energy advocacy.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 1WRI 7380/Advanced Environmental Legal Research
This one-credit course provides in-depth exposure to the most useful, efficient strategies and resources for environmental law research, including specialized science and statistical information resources, international environmental law research, advanced administrative law research, legislative history, environmental updating services, etc. The course is designed to prepare students to research environmental legal materials and non-legal materials for use in law school and in practice.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 1Term 2
ADR 6413/Mediation Advocacy
This intensive seminar will meet for three consecutive days over one weekend: a Friday afternoon and all day Saturday and Sunday. Students will participate in one complex environmental mediation over the course of the seminar, actively playing the role of attorney and/or client. The seminar will specifically be focused on Mediation Advocacy, not how to be a mediator. Students will be introduced (through lecture, the text, and class discussions) to the theory, principles and concepts of how to be an effective advocate in the mediation process, whether as an attorney or as a client.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 2ENV 5230/Global Energy Law and Policy
Global Energy Law and Policy explores the current policy framework in a particular region outside of the United States with a focus on clean energy policies. The course will explore the regions policy development process, the current energy policy framework, policies implementing global and regional climate commitments and emerging issues.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 2ENV 5385/Global Food Security
This course will examine how law shapes global food systems and their ongoing transformations, with a particular focus on the landscape of global hunger. The objective of the course is to understand the causes of hunger and malnutrition; how governments and international institutions have sought to combat hunger and malnutrition; why they have so dramatically failed; and how law and governance are relevant to what can be done about this.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 2ENV 5430/Ecology
Ecology is an integrative science that can provide insight into many contemporary environmental problems. Through visits to a variety of field sites in central Vermont, readings, and lectures, this course will explore the principles of ecology using a hands-on, interdisciplinary approach. Course work stresses the inventorying of biotic and physical components of a landscape (pieces), examining how these pieces are distributed (patterns), and determining what forces drive these patterns (processes).
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 2ENV 5446/Environmental Justice
The environmental justice movement is aimed at avoiding, minimizing, or mitigating disproportionately adverse human health and environmental impacts, including social and economic impacts, on minority and/or low-income communities, and for those communities to be engaged meaningfully in environmental decision-making processes. This course examines this environmental and public health problem.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 2ENV 5474/Land Conservation Law
Increasingly important in our efforts to preserve ecological diversity, historic places, working lands, scenic viewsheds, open space, and public uses of land are conservation tools and processes such as donation of conservation easements, purchase of sensitive lands, and private/ public partnerships for land conservation.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 2Term 3
ENV 5422/Animal Welfare Law
In recent years, a broad and rapidly evolving field of law has developed concerning the welfare of animals that are used for a variety of human purposes, including food, entertainment, research, and companionship. Animals used for these purposes often endure a wide range of abuses that diminish animal welfare while also impacting humans.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 3ENV 5550/Renewable Energy Project Finance and Development
This course will provide an in-depth look at the legal and regulatory issues associated with the development and project financing of renewable energy projects such as wind, hydro, solar, and geothermal. The course will explain the various ownership structures that are used for developing an energy project, such as LLC arrangements and partnership agreements.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 3ENV 5561/Environmental Enforcement and Compliance
This course is an introduction to the theory and practice of enforcement of the federal pollution control laws. The course will describe the basic regulatory structure of the pollution control laws, and then analyze in detail how to apply the administrative, civil judicial, and criminal enforcement tools available to federal and state regulators, for gaining compliance with environmental standards. We will then delve into the practice of civil enforcement, including methods for investigating and establishing potential violations, selection of the appr
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 3ENV 5902.02/Environment and the Private Sector
This class examines how environmental laws and policies and public opinion interact with business and private sector behavior in adopting environmental friendly policies and pursuing business opportunities related to environmental markets. In particular, the class will examine business sustainability drivers and practice, and the emerging private markets in environmental and natural resource amenities. Particular attention will be paid to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 3ENV ____/Forest Policy and Law
This intensive 2.5-day course will introduce students to the significant policy and legal issues affecting forests and forest management, using the forests of New England as a case study.
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Semester
2019 Summer - Term 3INT 7446/International Trade and the Environment
This course is an up-to-the-minute, in-depth treatment of the intersection and frequent clash between two areas of policy and law, both of which are intended to promote human welfare and sustainable development: trade liberalization and environmental protection.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 3Term 4
ENV 5310/Environmental Health Law
Environmental health law uses federal environmental law and state public health law to address human health impacts resulting from exposure to physical, chemical, biological, and social factors in the environment. This seminar will cover a range of subject areas, including toxic torts, lead poisoning prevention, food protection, and pesticides. Public policy, and the role of government as policymaker and regulator, will be emphasized.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 4ENV 5410/The Farm Bill
American farm and food policy has long been the subject of strenuous debate and criticism. In recent years, prominent criticism has come from a movement of consumer and environmental interests concerned that the way we eat and how we support producers impacts our health, natural resources and the environment. Other interests raise concerns that about Federal spending and government footprint. Regardless of the reason, all of them look to the farm bill. The farm bill, however, is difficult; hard to understand and challenging to change policies that have proven incredibly resilient over m
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Semester
2019 Summer - Term 4ENV 5462/Public Lands Management: Montana Field Study
The Montana Field Study is a unique experiential learning opportunity. This class focuses on National Forest Management. Students experience forest management, wilderness, recreation, and roadless issues first-hand, in the wilds of Montana and Idaho. Almost the entire class is held in the field; we backpack into remote places. Instructor permission is required; contact the Environmental Law Center for further information.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 4ENV 5468/Oil and Gas Production and the Environment
This course first looks at the future of oil and gas as an energy resource in the U.S. and globally, the framework of conservation law and property law used to produce and regulate oil and gas in the U.S., and the externalities of production, including fracking. This part covers the nature of the typical oil and gas lease used in the U.S. on private lands and on federal leases.
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Semester
2019 Summer - Term 4ENV 5564/Peace, War and the Environment
This course provides an overview of international environmental law, peacekeeping and state reconstruction. Its focus is states which have been damaged by conflict e.g. Afghanistan and Iraq, failed states which lack even the most basic facilities and services e.g. South Sudan, and states rich in resources but with weak or ineffective government e.g. Haiti, Western Sahara, Liberia. It begins with an overview of international environmental obligations, considers international humanitarian law, and reviews the establishment and development of peacekeeping missions.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer - Term 4Friday only Term
ENV 5223/Environmental Governance in the Developing World
This course will introduce students to the unique challenges regarding the development, implementation, and enforcement of good environmental governance systems in the developing world. The perfect storm of incredibly rapid economic development in developing countries with generally weak environmental governance systems creates enormous risks for the future of the environment and natural resources upon which human populations depend.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer Session - 8-Week TermENV 5224/Environmental Governance Field Study
Following completion of the Environmental Governance in the Developing World course, students may participate in an additional field trip to Southeast Asia. This trip will enable students to experience directly environmental conditions in the region and to meet leading environmental scholars and activists. Prerequisite: Environmental Governance in the Developing World.
Professor(s)
Semester
2019 Summer Session - 8-Week TermENV 5383/Food Justice and Sustainability
This is an intensive seminar on food system policy with an emphasis on practical advocacy skills development. We still study the policy and political underpinnings of our current food system, and learn about opportunities to advance policy to realize a more healthy and equitable food system. Utilizing case studies from this timely and quickly evolving area of practice, this practical course will examine the policy and program options that could help create a sustainable, locally-based food system, where food is healthy, affordable, and sustainably produced.
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Semester
2019 Summer Session - 8-Week TermENV 5497/End Use Energy Efficiency
The course provides an overview of energy efficiency policies, programs and measures at the Federal and state levels. It covers the systems, policies and legal frameworks enabling energy efficiency to serve as an energy resource to the energy system and electric grid. It also highlights new approaches to program design, including the role of behavioral science and energy cultures in engaging customers and expanding access to energy efficiency.