Law students studying environmental law will have a new resource thanks to Rutgers Law Professor Steve Gold.

Gold has co-authored a book with five other professors titled “A Practical Introduction to Environmental Law” which was published in August by Carolina Academic Press.

The substantive book draws on contemporary and historical legal cases to illustrate important contemporary environmental law topics and the major federal environmental statutes.

It also has sections on the basics of regulation, regulatory challenges and enforcement. Gold explained that studying environmental law will assist students in understanding both federal and state regulatory-based laws in other fields, especially if the student hasn’t taken courses in administrative law.

“It’s practical,” Gold said of the book. “We really wanted the book to be rooted in the real world of practice and policy making. We focus on reality as opposed to theory.”

The book contains practice problems for students, which means they won’t have to buy supplemental course materials containing practice problems. Gold contributed chapters on solid and hazardous waste regulation, Superfund cleanup, and the National Environmental Policy Act, in addition to contributing to chapters covering environmental litigation and the sources of and perspectives on environmental law.

Additional chapters in the book deal with the Clean Air Act, climate change, protecting biodiversity and endangered species, the Clean Water Act, toxic products, and environmental enforcement and permitting.

Gold said there is a resurgence of interest in environmental issues under the current presidential administration. Law students not specializing in environmental law can benefit from a course on the subject, which is helpful to lawyers whose practice involves real estate transactions, administrative law, urban planning and corporate mergers, among other fields.

Gold, the Judge Raymond J. Dearie Scholar, is an environmental lawyer with extensive litigation experience whose scholarship focuses on toxic torts and hazardous substance regulation and cleanup.  Before joining the law school, he was senior attorney in the Environmental Enforcement Section of the U.S. Department of Justice.