In reading the fact pattern, identify all potential legal issues and provide an analysis of how the concepts we have covered in class apply to the facts presented.

Fact Pattern:

You are a public servant at the federal Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA"). Concerned with the effects of tiny debris in space and the potential to give Earth the Kessler Syndrome, Congress has created a new office within the EPA - the Office of Near Orbit Protection ("ONOP"). You have been charged with creating the first set of rules for the ONOP. The organic statute of the ONOP provides that it is authorized to adopt rules pertaining to: 1. It's structure, organization, and procedures; 2. Acceptable levels of low orbit atmospheric junk; 3. Proper disposal of defunct satellites and other orbital materials; and 4. Penalties for violating the ONOP's rules.

Wanting to get the ONOP off to the right start, you want the rules to be as effective as possible. Sharing your concern, your boss asks you the following questions:

1. In broad strokes, what sorts of rules will you need to adopt to carry out the functions of the ONOP?*

2. What sorts of actions can/should you take in order to ensure that you have fully considered the implications of any potential rules for those that the rule regulates?

3. What additional powers do you believe the ONOP might need to be an effective regulator, and how would you start trying to get them?

4. Your boss anticipates that noted space polluter Elon Musk, who has a demonstrated habit of abandoning cars and manikins in space while playing songs by British rock icons and containing humorous science fiction novels**, will bring a legal challenge to the rules. What sorts of actions can you undertake while creating the rules that will make it harder for such a lawsuit to succeed?

You should attempt to give your boss a comprehensive answer to her questions. There are a number of ways in which each question could be answered, and it is not expected that any one student will come up with every possible way to answer each question. The best answer will clearly articulate cogent and practical advice to your boss about how to resolve her questions.

*Please do not write rules, your proficiency at that was demonstrated in a previous assignment. The answer to this question should take the form of an executive summary designed to start the process.

**Your boss is aware that the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk%27s_Tesla_Roadster . is meant to crash into Mars and therefore does not pose a danger of creating low orbit debris. Nonetheless, she would like the law to be as strong against judicial challenge as possible.