On this page I give just the questions, for those of you who would like to use this as a practice exam. On the following pages I repeat the questions but include a sample answer or outline of an answer. My strong advice to you is that you try to answer the questions on your own first, or discuss them with your classmates or study group members, before you look at the sample answers.

1. What confluence of events outside Congress led to the passage of the three statutes we studied in detail in this course – the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act?

2. What is "toxiprox"?

3. On Gilligan’s Island (which turns out to be just off San Francisco), N Sync, the Simpsons and Scooby Doo and the gang are engaged in a three-way dolphin-spearing contest during their fishing operations off the island, until they are busted by the Dukes of Hazard for violating what statute? How about if this contest was given a permit by the California Department of Fish and Game?

4. Luke’s Ski Company has proposed developing a 2000-acre parcel near Lake Tahoe. Because the parcel is on land owned by the U.S. Forest Service, Luke must obtain a special use permit from the Forest Service before proceeding. Luke plans to develop the entire parcel in an "integrated" project that includes a downhill ski area, a golf course, and a year-round resort village with 1000 residential units, recreation facilities, restaurants, and a convention center. The economic feasibility study prepared for Luke concluded that the project would have a much better chance of being financially successful if all three elements were built; without all three, the financial prognosis is questionable. Thus, the resort village would be attractive largely because it would be close to the skiing and golf course, the skiing and gold courses work financially only together because they provide Luke with a year-round stream of income.

The Hastings Alliance for Tahoe’s Environment has opposed the scale of Luke’s development, and so Luke has decided to seek a permit only for the golf course, which will be sited on 200 acres of Forest Service land. Luke says he will seek approval for the other parts of the project at a later, unspecified date (probably sometime when those pesky Hastings students have graduated!).

The Forest Service has issued a permit to Luke after preparing an Environmental Assessment (EA) that analyzed the impacts of the golf course, concluding that no Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was necessary because, it found, with mitigation measures the golf course would have no significant impact on the environment.

Is the Forest Service required to prepare an EIS analyzing the entire "integrated" project, or can it issue a permit based only on the EA that only analyzes the impacts of the golf course? Why or why not?

5. Explain the public trust doctrine.

SAMPLE ANSWERS