Class Information

Fall 2026

5390 Environmental Law - HASAN- 25965

Professor(s): Qaraman Hasan (RESEARCH PROFESSOR)

Credits: 3

Course Areas: Energy, Natural Resources and Environmental Law 

Time: 6:00p-7:30p  TTH  Location: 221 

Course Outline: Environmental law plays a pivotal role in protecting our personal health and welfare, guiding economic development and business activities, and safeguarding our most precious natural resources and treasures from misuse or harm. Because it protects such broad and often conflicting purposes, environmental law has evolved from its common law roots into a complex set of federal and state statutory protections, administrative regulatory prohibitions, and often convoluted judicial interpretations. This course will introduce you to the broad field of environmental law and give you a practical sense of the key skills and tools you would need to start handling environmental projects.

This course will use a combination of lectures, class discussions, in-class exercises and sample problems, and case studies. We will use role-playing exercises to give you experience in real-life negotiations.
The course will start with theoretical overviews of the commonalities of environmental laws. It will then focus on specific statutes, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

As exciting and practical an area of law as it is, beyond the theoretical overview, this course will discuss practical and sample problems on complex laws and regulations at both the federal and state levels to prepare environmental lawyers and professionals with real-world skills to address timely environmental challenges. Also, integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into environmental management, opportunities and concerns in applying AI tools will be explored in the course.

Course Syllabus: Syllabus

Course Notes: (instr. mode is TBD)  The UH registration system instruction mode for this course is currently listed as FF (face-to-face), but could become HB (Hybrid) or SF (Synchronous – On-Campus Exam). This information will be updated later in 2026 once the final instruction mode is determined.

Prerequisites:  

First Day Assignments:

Final Exam Schedule:     

This course will have:
Exam:
Paper:

Satisfies Senior Upper Level Writing Requirement: No

Experiential Course Type: No

Bar Course: No

DistanceEd ABA: No

Pass-Fail Student Election: Unavailable (Instructor Preference)