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Mining Law, History & Practice
Class Term:
Spring Term 2016-2017
Catalog Number:
5294
Class Number:
27786
Class Schedule:
Thursday
4:30 pm
6:20 pm
Room:
Chief Justice Ralph J. Cappy Room
Lecture
Credits:
2 (2 Contact, 0 Field)
Graduation Requirements:
"W" Writing
Priority:
General Enrollment Course
Full Year Course:
No
Category:
Standard Courses
Grading Details
The course will require students to complete 3 short papers, spaced throughout the semester. Each assignment will be focused on a live legal issue in mining law, and will require the student to submit a minimum 5-page paper that provides both an overview of the issue and recommendations for the Commission and Judges. Several representative examples of such legal issues are: the question of tolling in Temporary Reinstatement cases under §105(c) of the Mine Act; the question of when accumulations violations under 30 C.F.R. §75.400 should constitute a “Significant and Substantial” violation; and how the requirements for finding a violation is “flagrant” in §110 of the Act differ from the requirements in a “Significant and Substantial” finding.
All students will be provided the same prompt for each assignment, and will be graded based on their research, writing, and organization. Each paper will be weighted equally.
Description
Mining law may seem a niche area—a “world apart which one can quite easily go through life without ever hearing about,” as George Orwell said of mining—however, it is a unique combination of administrative law, employment law, contract law, tort law, and health and safety regulatory law. Federal regulatory agencies are increasingly the site of where the action is, and using mining law as a means of understanding this vast area of law will be of use to all students.
Over the period of this course, students would be introduced to the three primary aspects of mining law:
The history of mining, mining disasters, and passage of mining legislation in the United States;
Key elements of federal mining legislation;
The interpretation and evolution of mining law in the Commission and Courts.