Administrative law Civics lesson

1. Administrative law Civics lesson PART I

2. What is administrative law? • Administrative law governs the activities of administrative agencies and controls the way agencies make rules to solve specific problems.

3. What is a governmental agency? • An agency is a government organization that is responsible for the oversight of specific functions or things, like food, the environment and medication. Experts in the field work for agencies and can do research or experiments to solve problems.

4. What do agencies do? • Government agencies make rules to stop people or companies from doing some things and require people or companies to do other things. Agencies also decide what happens when people break their rules.

5. Here are some examples of agencies. . . • What do these agencies do? EPA, CIA, FDA, SSA

6. Can the Food and Drug Administration regulate the environment? Can the CIA decide what foods are safe for people to eat? • No, agencies are limited to controlling the specific things that the government authorizes each agency to control. Congress can pass any law within the limits of the United States Constitution but agencies can only control their specific place in the world.

7. Agencies Solve Problems Example: How can an agency reduce the negative impact of a nuclear disaster?

8. In 1979 on 3 Mile Island in New Jersey a nuclear disaster caused severe environmental consequences and health concerns. In 1969, the Chernobyl nuclear power reactor exploded. Up to 500,000 people may have died of cancer as a result of the disaster. An entire forest turned red, died and was bulldozed and buried after the disaster. Mutations in animals increased around the area and food produced in the contaminated area still cannot be eaten. In March, 2011 the Fukushima nuclear disaster leaked large amounts of radiation. Hospitals in the area were evacuated resulting in patients dying and at least two workers were killed during the fallout.

9. HYPOTHETICAL In response to past nuclear plant disasters, the United States Legislature has passed a law requiring that nuclear plants only operate on sites where the nuclear plant is least likely to have negative effects on school children if there is a nuclear plant disaster.BRAINSTORM

10. Where schools are located everywhere in the United States, where nuclear plants want to be built, what types of nuclear plants exist, how great of an area do nuclear plants contaminate if there is an accident.

11. Who will be affected by the rule that you write? • Hopefully it would keep people safer but it would also make it harder for nuclear plants to find space or cheap space to operate. Businesses and the public will both be affected.

12. Why would Congress ask the EPA to write this rule?

13. The EPA has researchers, scientists and environmentalists or “experts” that can perform research to find out what a safe distance from a plant is. • The EPA may have more specific experience in this type of situation than Congress. • Congress is very busy writing and passing laws and a very specific law like this would take a long time to write.

14. Endangered species What do you know about endangered species?

15. What is an ecosystem/invasive species? • The brown tree snake invaded the island of Guam and has wiped out nearly all of the birds on the island. Usually, 3 feet long or so the snake can grow up to 10 feet on Guam because it has no predators and a lot of prey. The zebra mussel has also invaded the Great Lakes and gets stuck to boats, disrupts power plants and causes other problems. Invasive species come into an area from somewhere else and cause problems for native populations.

16. The pygmy leopard is an invasive species from the jungles of South America. Congress has passed a law that the pygmy leopard must be removed from the U.S. because the leopard hunts and kills native birds, disrupting the ecosystem. Congress has asked your agency to make the rule that gets rid of the leopard. Congress members are voted into office and the Congress has asked you to make the public as happy as possible with the rule.

17. 10 students are part of the agency • Your job is to create a rule that the public will support, you don’t want anyone to be angry • You want the rule to accomplish the goal of getting rid of the pygmy leopard • You will must consider the concerns of two groups: the Cat Lovers Society and the Professional Bird Watcher Society before writing the rule.

18. 10 students will be cat owners and lovers • You are concerned that pet cats might accidentally be injured when the pygmy leopard is sought out. • You do not want any cats to be harmed or taken away from their homes because of this rule. • Write your own version of the rule!

19. 10 students will be professional bird watchers • You want to make sure that all of the leopards are gone • You hope that the rule is as strict as possible • Since house cats kill birds too, you don’t mind if the rule makes the cat population smaller • Try writing a rule!