This advanced seminar examines how U.S. environmental protection laws influence, and are influenced by, international legal systems, global markets, and transboundary environmental challenges. Although U.S. environmental statutes are primarily domestic in scope, their regulatory reach often extends beyond national borders through trade, investment, supply chains, and environmental externalities.
The course explores the international dimensions of key U.S. statutes, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Students analyze extraterritorial effects, conflicts with foreign sovereignty, compliance by multinational corporations, and interactions with international environmental agreements.
The seminar emphasizes the role of the United States as both a domestic regulator and a global environmental actor. It critically evaluates whether U.S. environmental law contributes to global environmental governance or generates jurisdictional conflict and regulatory fragmentation.
This course assumes prior study of environmental law or public international law.
Course Objectives
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
1. Analyze major U.S. environmental statutes and their international effects.
2. Evaluate extraterritorial applications of domestic environmental law.
3. Understand interactions between U.S. law and international environmental agreements.
4. Assess regulatory impacts on global trade and supply chains.
5. Analyze jurisdictional conflicts between the U.S. and foreign states.
6. Evaluate corporate compliance in transnational environmental regulation.
7. Examine environmental provisions in trade agreements.
8. Assess diplomatic and policy implications of U.S. environmental enforcement.
9. Apply doctrine to real-world transnational disputes.
10. Develop advanced legal and policy arguments.
