An understanding of basic environmental law is an essential foundation of environmental management. You cannot understand and address environmental compliance issues and policies without understanding legal systems, administrative law, and environmental law. The United States has one of the most complex legal systems in the world, where an Environmental Manager often must navigate a complex matrix of federal, state, and municipal government environmental requirements. Federal and state administrative law governs how federal and state agencies create environmental regulations, issue permits, and enforce those requirements.Companies sometimes find themselves out of compliance because they don't understand environmental requirements or even how to find them. As new environmental laws are proposed, companies are often unaware and miss strategically important opportunities to shape those rulemakings through administrative law processes. With a knowledge of basic environmental law, environmental compliance employees are better able to understand and interact with the organization's attorneys on complex environmental matters; however, environmental compliance employees cannot replace the services provided by qualified legal counsel.