This site is intended to provide assistance to the student interested in developing a general understanding of the natural resource problems the United States faces and an idea of how the legal system helps us cope with increasing demands on limited and dwindling resources.
Numerous issues arise in the study of natural resources law and policy.
This site surveys major resources, but as with any survey, the materials give but a glimpse of areas that can be, and are, treated in depth in special courses. A look at the catalogues of a few law schools, especially those in the western part of the country, reveals courses in Oil and Gas Law, Coal Law, Energy Law, Federal Public Lands, Water Law, and Mining Law. Resource issues in the east, historically, have been less pronounced than in the west. The smaller amounts of energy fuels such as oil and gas in the east may produce less need for state regulation than is true in the west, but the east has significant experience with another major energy fuel, coal. The greater abundance of water in the east has resulted in fewer conflicts between users and consequently fewer legal disputes.