Environmental legal framework in the United States
Case Assignment
View the NEPA Citizen’s Guide and the NEPA Television Feature videos.
This Case Assignment explores the environmental legal framework in the United States and the birth of the National Environmental Policy Act. In a 3- to 4-page paper, answer the following questions. Justify your responses by presenting your rationale and illustrating with examples and facts as needed. Support your writing with the literature.
- In the context of the U.S. regulatory framework, what is the difference between environmental laws, regulations, and standards?
- What were the three most important factors leading to passage of the National Environmental Policy Act?
- What compromises were reached to assure the NEPA legislation would pass?
Length: Submit a 3- to 4-page paper.
Required Reading
Alm, A. L. (1988, January/February). NEPA: Past, present, and future. EPA Journal. Revised 2016. Retrieved from http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/nepa-past-present-and-future
Carruth, R. S., & Goldstein, B. D. (2013). Chapter 1: Overview of U.S. legal system. In Environmental health law: An introduction (pp. 1–22). Somerset, NJ, USA: Jossey-Bass, Wiley.
Carruth, R. S., & Goldstein, B. D. (2013). Chapter 2: Transparency & accountability in the executive branch: Judicial review and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In Environmental health law: An introduction (pp. 23–40). Somerset, NJ, USA: Jossey-Bass, Wiley.
Council on Environmental Quality. (1997). The National Environmental Policy Act: A study of its effectiveness after twenty-five years. Retrieved from https://ceq.doe.gov/nepa/nepa25fn.pdf
Kraft, M. (2015). Environmental policy and politics (6th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Lewis, J. (1985, November). The birth of EPA. EPA Journal. Retrieved from http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/birth-epa
National environmental policy act implementing procedures. (2016). Lanham: Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc.
Spina, F. (2015). Environmental justice and patterns of State inspections. Social Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell), 96(2), 417-429. doi:10.1111/ssqu.12160
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2016). Environmental justice considerations in the NEPA process. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/compliance/nepa/nepaej/index.ht…
Van Sluytman, L. G., & Sheppard, P. (2016). 26 Environment of the margins. Emergent Possibilities for Global Sustainability: Intersections of Race, Class and Gender, 197.
Assignment Expectations
In-text citations and references: Be sure that all information and ideas in your papers are supported by in-text citations and corresponding references at the end of the paper.
Scholarly writing: Use an academic paper format, not an essay based on your opinions or experience. Avoid using the first person in writing. Synthesize what you learned from the sources you read; write papers in your own words; and cite sources within the text, as well as include a properly formatted reference list.
Use of direct quotes: Use of direct quotes should be avoided. Only use direct quotes when preserving the exact words of an author is necessary. In the rare instance that directly quoted material is used, it must be properly cited (with quotation marks and page numbers in the in-text citation); quotes should not exceed 5-10% of the total paper content.