SYLLABUS
GLOBAL WARMING LAW AND POLICY (851-001)
Professor William Snape, Office 381 (wsnape@wcl.american.edu)
Class Time: Monday and Wednesday, Noon to 1:20pm, EST
Office Hours: Monday 9am to 11am, and by appointment
Cell #: 202-536-9351
Course Description:
This interdisciplinary course examines the most important environmental issue of our day. It focuses on
the science of climate change, the U.S. domestic response, and international efforts to curb greenhouse
pollution. While knowledge of environmental law is not mandatory as a prerequisite, statutory and
administrative interpretation of various U.S. laws will be a central component of the course. The class
will also include various simulations, including multilateral negotiations and federal moot courts. Finally,
the course will consider whether and to what extent global warming represents a threat to our current
social fabric, and will analyze potential solutions or mitigation devices available to lawyers and other
policy-makers.
Text:
Wold et al., Climate Change and the Law, Lexis Nexis , 2nd. Ed. (2013).
** There will also be FREQUENT postings for supplementary reading on MyWCL, which should be
checked REGULARLY. These readings will tend to be current, cutting-edge cases and articles that will
bring life to the class and your learning. **
Reading and Other Assignments:
Class #1:
(August 25) ** General introductions and discussion of climate science, pp. 1-57 (main
text)
Class #2:
“Mitigation” strategies, pp. 61-111
Class #3:
Adaptation, pp. 113-155
Class #4:
Introduction to international climate law #1, pp. 159-98 (plus first half of UNFCCC)
Class #5
Introduction to international climate law #2 , pp. 198-224. (plus second half of UNFCCC)
Class #6:
Introduction to U.S. climate policy and the Clean Air Act, pp. 603-636
Class #7:
New Source Performance Standards under the Clean Air Act, Excerpts of Obama Climate
Plan Proposed Rule, 79 Fed. Reg. 34830 (June 18, 2014)
1
Class #8:
Permitting, State Implementation Plans, and National Ambient Air Quality Standards
under the Clean Air Act, pp. 668-709
Class #9:
National Environmental Policy Act and global warming, pp. 710-738 (plus CEQ NEPA
regulations)
Class #10:
Polar Bears, Penguins and Pikas, pp. 738-770
Class #11:
(October 1)** Moot Court and Case Brief re: Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA (US
Supreme Court, decided June 23, 2014)
Class #12:
Standing and Other Justiciability Issues in US Courts, pp. 955-1006
Class #13:
The Common Law and Global Warming in the United States, pp. 1007-1049
Class #14:
The Global Geopolitics of Climate Change: How Negotiations Actually Work (through the
lens of land use, forestry, markets and offsets), pp. 417-61
Class #15:
The World Trade Organization and Climate Change, pp. 531-561
Class #16:
The Convention on Biological Diversity, Law of the Sea, CITES, Montreal Protocol and
Other Multilateral Instruments, pp. 463-527
Class #17:
The US Clean Water Act and global warming, pp. 770-791
Class #18:
(October 27)** Moot Court and Case Brief re: EPA v. EME Homer City Generation, US
Supreme Court, 2014 WL 1672044 (April 29, 2014)
Class #19:
State and Local Responses to Climate Change, pp. 1051-1108 (California Dreamin’?)
Class #20:
Dysfunctional U.S. energy law and policy, pp. 793-859
Class #21:
The challenge of methane, Reading TBA
Class #22:
The promise of Section 115 of the Clean Air Act, Frostpaw Addresses Global Warming:
Solving a Big Problem with Old Legal Tools and New Administrative Systems, 63 Am.
U.L.R. 1587 (2014)
Class #23:
The Kyoto Protocol, pp. 225-80
Class #24:
Nobels, Copenhagen and Paris, pp. 281-362
Class #25:
Beyond Kyoto and Copenhagen, for better or for worse, pp. 1183-1207 + Copenhagen
Declaration [Opening Statements Due – before negotiations, infra]
Class #26:
(November 24)** In-class negotiation exercise and evaluation
Class #27:
350 and back to the future: putting it all together (Thanksgiving Lecture), pp. 1117-1160
2
Class #28:
(December 1)** Review
Expectations:
Near 100% class attendance is strongly encouraged as the breadth and depth of the reading will be
elucidated upon by class lectures, methods and exercises. Not all reading is equal, and the professor will
discuss the next class’s reading at the end of each previous class session.
Evaluation:
Final exam: 60%
Case brief #1: 10%
Case brief #2: 10%
Negotiation exercise: 10%
Overall class participation (quality not quantity): 10%
** All dates tentative but provided for planning purposes.
3