Taken in its expansive sense, "environmental and natural resources law" encompasses pollution control law, energy allocation and conservation law, species and habitat protection, common law property rights, and a host of other areas. Often, this massive body of legal material is divided into two courses, the Environmental Law course dealing primarily with pollution control and the Natural Resources course covering the remainder. This Environmental and Natural Resources Law casebook combines the two areas.
As a survey course, the expansion of subject matter coverage allows the student a fuller understanding of the "playing field" and the generic issues that arise across this wide spectrum of material. The wider coverage, moreover, should suit both students who want a once-through general understanding of this area of the law as well as those seeking a foundation for more intense future study.
Environmental and Natural Resources Law is divided into three parts:
 The "foundational" materials focus on the environmental movement that led to the current array of legal controls, how the common law dealt with pollution and resource allocation problems, and federal-state regulations to protect the environment and conserve natural resources, including constitutional takings issues.
The natural resources materials include the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and water rights.
The pollution control and remediation materials discuss the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and the "Superfund" law (CERCLA).
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