CHILE, MONTANA & GLOBAL ECOLOGY POLICY AND LEGAL
DEVELOPMENTS: COMPARATIVE AND HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

EVST 595/HIST 595/EDLD 694/MBA 694, sec. 90
3 Graduate Credits - January 2-17, 2008

Photos from the Chile 2008 Program

2005 visit to Puerto Chabuco in Patagonia, where local newspaper publisher Hugo Araya and local entrepreneur Carlos Muñoz describe the Alumysa project

About the Course:

UM faculty members David Aronofsky and Harry Fritz plan to co-teach a 2008 Wintersession course in Chile, open to law students and graduate students in all disciplines as a 3-credit elective.

Set against the background of Chile’s dramatic political transformation from military dictatorship to vibrant democracy, the course focuses on Chile, Montana and global ecology law and policy developments in comparative and historical perspectives.Chile has both aggressive free market economic policies and detailed environmental protection laws, with a still emerging enforcement record as Chile’s lawmakers, courts, government enforcement agencies and NGO’s empowered to bring private lawsuits learn the parameters of these laws.

The course begins in Santiago, Chile’s capital, where students will study Chile, Montana and global ecology policy and legal issues from leading Chilean experts and the two Montana faculty members. The course contemplates collaboration with one of Chile’s top university environmental law and policy programs, whose students are invited to participate in the class sessions. Students will travel to:

• Rancagua, to visit one of South America’s largest copper mines (Teniente)
• Talca, the heart of Chile’s wine and food export economy, to visit a leading specialty winery
• Concepción, south central Chile’s largest city, to view environmental protection initiatives in industrial areas
• Temuco, where Chile’s largest indigenous population resides, to study Chile Indian culture
• Valdivia, where a major environmental disaster occurred a few years ago
• Chiloe, among the world’s most ecologically spectacular locations
• Puerto Montt, the center of southern Chile’s salmon industry
• Coyhaique, the principal city in Chile’s northern Patagonia region, where controversial large scale, environmentally sensitive energy and industrial development project proposals test the limits of the country’s environmental laws and policies, while provoking polemic debates

Students will visit CIEP, a Coyhaique-based research center created by several Chilean and European universities, UM, and Chile’s regional and national governments to study northern Patagonia ecosystems. A pre-course trip to Viña del Mar and Valparaiso to spend New Year’s Eve will also likely be organized as with past courses, at separate additional cost.

Guest lecturers from Chile's government, universities, international companies and environmental NGO's will give insight into course topics and help identify issues to be worked on by students. Specific cases to be studied include:

• Patagonia Alumysa and Endesa projects
• Recent mine wastewater conflict
• The government closure of Chile’s largest pulp mill, when many swans died on mill property
• Chilean marine protection
• Chile’s Kyoto Protocol compliance

The course will also review environmental aspects of Chile’s trade agreements with the U.S., along with Chile’s international environmental treaty obligations. Course grades are based on class preparation/participation plus a paper due by May 2008.

About the Instructors:

• Professor Aronofsky, UM Legal Counsel and an adjunct Law School faculty member who teaches International Law and who taught UM’s 2004, 2005 and 2007 Chile Wintersession courses, has worked academically and professionally in Chile since 1976.
• Professor Fritz, one of Montana’s outstanding classroom teachers and scholars, is an expert on Montana’s environmental history of mineral and natural resources exploitation who will focus on this history’s applicability to Chile.

2005 visit to Chile's Congress

Registration Information:

Any UM graduate student and any law student who petitions the Law School to enroll for non-law credit may take the course. Second and third year law students may also be able to take the course as a 2-credit independent study. Tuition follows the state-support fee schedule, credits count toward Spring Semester total credit load, and students registering for more than 12 Spring credits pay no additional tuition. A course fee of $2395 covers lodging, some meals, insurance and in-country travel. Students are also responsible for personal expenses and round trip airfare. The course is eligible for financial aid to the extent a student has eligibility. Interested students should contact Professor Aronofsky (406.243.4742 or aronofskyd@mso.umt.edu) right away. Various pre-trip informational meetings will be held on campus for interested students. At least 16 students must pre-register and pay a deposit of $250 by November 15 to avoid cancellation.