ENVIRONMENTAL LAW PRACTICUM:
COURSE SYLLABUS
University of Houston Law Center
Spring 2018
Professor Tracy Hester
Office: 142 TUII
Office hours: Wednesday 1:30 pm - 4 pm
or
by appointment (including evenings)
(713) 743-1152 (work)
(713) 775-8874 (cell)
tdheste2@central.uh.edu
Course Subject Matter: This course will overview key areas of practice within environmental law such as regulatory counseling and permitting, civil enforcement, criminal liability, private litigation over environmental contamination, policy advocacy, and environmental aspects of commercial transactions. Each lecture topic will be paired with a separate presentation by a guest speaker who practices in that area, and who will provide examples of live projects and cases for class review. These speakers may include the Harris County Attorney (civil enforcement), the Galveston Bay Foundation (permitting), the Harris County District Attorney (criminal), the Audubon Society (policy advocacy) and others.
Course objectives: To prepare students to counsel clients on environmental law matters and ways to assure or enforce environmental compliance strategies and obligations.
Textbook: I will provide a collection of selected readings to students. I will also try to have these materials posted on a class website.
Office Hours: My office is at TUII 142, and my office hours are on Wednesdays at 1:30 pm to 4 pm. Many of you will likely have schedule conflicts based on other classes or daytime work obligations, so I'm also happy to schedule a meeting anytime if you have difficulty getting to my office during those hours. I can also rely extensively on e-mail queries to help students.
Grading and Explanation: Final grades will be based on performance on work projects provided by speakers, class participation, and brief papers to accompany special guest sessions. While classroom participation is very important, as per University policy I can only adjust a student's grade up or down one notch (e.g., from a B to a B+) on the basis of class participation.
I will follow the Law Center attendance policy. You will not be allowed to take the final examination unless you attend 80% of the classes. Excused absences will be liberally granted.
Grading and Explanation: Final grades will be based on class participation, in-class assignments, work product for clients, class presentations of that final work product at the end of the semester, and participation in discussions with special guest visitors to the class. If you wish, some of my students have also provided a self-evaluation of their own work and their project team members - but this additional input is wholly voluntary.
Attendance: I will follow the Law Center attendance
policy. You will not be allowed to take the final exam unless you attend 80% of the
classes. While I will liberally grant excused absences, I cannot grant an excused
absence that will drop your total attendance below 80 percent. Please contact me
immediately if personal circumstances will create attendance problems for you.
SCHEDULE
| No. | Date | Topics | Guest Speaker(s) | Assigned Readings | Extra Resources and Comments |
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| 1. | Jan. 16, 2018 | CLASS CANCELLED - Ice storm |
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| 2. | Jan. 18, 2018 | 1. Introduction: Course Overview and Review of Work Process 2. Environmental Law Research Resources and Strategies 3. Regulatory Comments and Rulemaking Advocacy |
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Draft FOIA request (Word and .pdf) Practicum Style Tip Sheet (.pdf) |
Environmental Law Research Guide Research Guide for Environmental Practicum Environmental Enforcement Databases Handout Sample CERCLA 104(e) Information Request Sample FOIA Complaint (Gulf of Mexico fracking) |
| 3. | Jan. 23, 2018 | Regulatory Comments and Rulemaking Advocacy - Workshop Session 1 |
Steven Cook, senior environmental and risk management counsel, Lyondell Corporation |
Projects: Rulemaking and Strategy re Use of Machine Learning in Ozone Modeling; NAAEC comments PowerPoint (.pdf) |
Dept. of Energy Grid Resiliency Pricing Rule Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (.pdf) TCEQ Comments on EPA Clean Power Proposed Rules |
| 4. | Jan. 25, 2018 | Overviews on Regulatory Compliance Counseling; Advocacy and Strategy | PowerPoint Lecture |
TCEQ Form P1-1 General Application for Permit TCEQ Central Records Database EPA Sector Notebooks |
Texas Attorney General's Administrative Law Handbook EPA Environmental Appeals Board Practice Manual TCEQ Wastewater Permit Instructions Sample RCRA HSWA permit TCEQ storm water general permit TCEQ Calendar or Public Hearings and Meetings on Permits |
| 5. | Jan 30, 2018 | Environmental Permitting, Hearings and Strategies; Permit Advocacy Strategies and Workshop (including contested case hearings) |
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Changes to Contested Case Hearing Process (TCEQ PowerPoint)
GBF Wetlands Permit Review Study GBF Comment Letter 00306 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Permit Website |
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| 6. | Feb. 1, 2018 | Regulatory Comments - Workshop | Paula Torrado, Community Outrech Director, Air Alliance of Houston |
PowerPoint (.pdf) |
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| 7. | Feb. 6, 2018 | CLASS TO BE RESCHEDULED: Regulatory Compliance Counseling Follow up and Overview | Mike Weller, Senior Counsel, Cheniere |
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Potential projects: Residual GHG PSD Permitting; WOTUS uncertainty planning |
| 8. | Feb. 8, 2018 | Deep Decarbonization and Legal Challenges Environmental Justice Legal Issues |
Richard Heinberg |
EJ2014 Plan (and synopsis) (skim only) |
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| 9. | Feb. 13, 2018 | Environmental Permitting, Hearings and Strategies; Permit Advocacy Strategies and Workshop (including contested case hearings) | Charles Irvine, Irvine & Conner LLP |
PowerPoint Lecture |
Potential projects: Mock challenge to Total storage facility permit; challenge to Border Wall |
| 10. | Feb. 15, 2018 | Workshop re Environmental Justice and Sustainability Practice | Matt Tejada, Director, Office of Environmental Justice, EPA |
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Potential projects: EJ and Religion; draft EJ private action regulation |
| 11. | Feb. 20, 2018 | Contamination Litigation and Cost Recovery (CERCLA, RCRA, Tort)/ Emergency Response |
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CERCLA Enforcement Training Module TRRP Applicability and Grandfathering TCEQ Voluntary Cleanup Program |
50 State Survey of Contaminated Property Remediation Programs Sample Conservation Easement Agreement |
| 12. | Feb. 22, 2018 | Contamination Litigation and Cost Recovery Workshop | Scott Sherman, former Assistant Administrator, EPA OSWER, Sherman Collaborative LLC |
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Potential projects: Site Assessment and Strategies for New Law School Site |
| 13. | Feb. 27, 2018 | Endangered Species Management, Impact Statements, and Natural Resources Protection |
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| 14. | March 1, 2018 | Workshop: Endangered Species Management, Impact Statements, and Natural Resources Protection |
Ben Cowan, Locke Lord |
PowerPoint (.pdf) |
Potential projects: freshwater mussel plan; High Alpine fracking field water impacts; High Island conservation easements |
| 15. | March 6, 2018 | Class Workshop to review projects and assignments (Environmental Compliance and Land Use Regulation with Phil Goodwin and Kim Mickelson, City of Houston Attorney's office, WILL BE RESCHEDULED) |
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| 16. | March 8, 2018 | Auditing and Investigation Workshop |
Linda Gordon Hester and Kathleen Bertolatas, Phillips 66 |
EPA Notice of eDisclosure System Workshop: mock audit of facility prior to acquisition |
Sample Audit Findings Spreadsheet |
| March 12-17 | SPRING BREAK! | ||||
| 17. | March 20, 2018 | Environmental Emergency Response |
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| 18. | March 22, 2018 | Emergency Response Workshop | Brian Sky-Eagle, Houston Fire Department, JD This class will start at noon at the Houston LEPC meeting at the American Red Cross building at 2700 Southwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77098. We should hopefully finish by 2:30, but it may last until 3 pm. Please leave early if you have conflicting class obligations. |
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| 19. | March 27, 2018 | Environmental Criminal Liability - State and Federal | PowerPoint Lecture |
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| 20. | March 29, 2018 | Workshop: Environmental Criminal Liability - State |
Alexander Forrest, Chief of Envtl Crimes Section, Harris County District Attorney |
PowerPoint (.pdf) |
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| 21. | April 3, 2018 | Workshop: Environmental Criminal Liability - State |
Fred Burnside, former Director, EPA Office of Criminal Enforcement and Forensic Training, Burnside Investigations LLC |
PowerPoint (.pdf) |
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| 22. | April 5, 2018 | Workshop: Environmental Legislative Practice |
Thomas Hester, Legislative Director, Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX) |
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| 23. | April 10, 2018 | Environmental Transactions and Corporate Sustainability -- access agreements, contractual allocations of responsibility and indemnification workshop |
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| 24. | April 12, 2018 | Writing break and individual review of projects |
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| 25. | April 17, 2018 | Civil Administrative and Judicial Enforcement |
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Sample Complaint (Petition) Sample Answer |
| April 18, 2018 | Environmental Compliance and Land Use Regulation with Phil Goodwin and Kim Mickelson, City of Houston Attorney's office - RESCHEDULED FROM MARCH 6, 2018 CLASS | Phil Goodwin and Kim Mickelson, City of Houston Attorney's Office This class will start at noon at the Downtown Club at 1100 Caroline, 11th Floor. For-pay parking is available, as well as light rail access. We should finish by 2:30, but please leave early if you have conflicting class obligations. You can also arrive early (at 11:30) for the mixer reception. |
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| 26. | April 19, 2018 | Civil Administrative and Judicial Enforcement - Workshop | Rock Owen, Senior Counsel, Harris County Attorney's Office |
PowerPoint (.pdf) |
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| 27. | April 24, 2018 | Environmental Transactions and Corporate Sustainability -- access agreements, contractual allocations of responsibility and indemnification workshop |
Nate Teti, Director of Global Sustainability, Statoil |
Possible projects: Carbonwashing in coal transactions; disclosure obligations re stranded environmental assets |
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| 28. | April 26, 2018 | Writing break and individual review of projects |
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