News & Insights

What we grow and produce in America affects our air, water, climate, wildlife, public health, and more. The Farm Bill is likely the most significant environmental law Congress will address this year. This second of four blogs explains the many agricultural practices that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions or increase carbon sequestration, and build resilience […]

What we grow and produce in America affects our air, water, climate, wildlife, public health, and more. The Farm Bill is likely the most significant environmental law Congress will address this year. This is the first of four blogs explaining how American agriculture can be more resilient and climate friendly. (More detail can be found […]

Ten miles by water from our home on Cape Cod in Falmouth, Massachusetts, you would think that the future of offshore wind is now.  New Bedford is the local home of Vineyard Wind, where massive components are loaded onto huge vessels to be assembled in the waters 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.  With my […]

Garry Lewis owns 2000 acres in Livingston Parish, Louisiana and he has been fighting with the Army Corps of Engineers over whether any of those 2000 acres are wetlands subject to Federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction for over a decade.  On two separate occasions the Army Corps of Engineers has said the answer to that […]

Last month, I advised plastics manufacturers to prepare for more litigation.  Although I am generally loath to speculate, it already looks as though this prediction is coming true.  Earlier this month, PennEnvironment and Three Rivers Waterkeeper filed suit against BVPV Styrenics and its parent company.  BVPV manufactures expandable polystyrene at its facility in Monaca, Pennsylvania.  […]

‘Twas the 4th night of Hanukkah, 11th night of COP 28, umpteenth night of Christmas lights and inflatables, and 16th night before Kwanzaa, and all through my mind is not that this is the 200th anniversary of the original “’Twas the” poem, nor wondering if anyone is lighting menorahs in Dubai (they are—the first “purpose-built […]

“Seldom is so ambitious a case filed on so slight a basis.”  Those are words a plaintiff’s lawyer would hate to hear, but that is exactly how the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals began its opinion rejecting an Ohio firefighter’s attempt to certify a nationwide class of individuals with elevated PFAS in their blood serum.  […]

Virtually all colleges have nicknames—my alma maters’ include Fighting Judges (Brandeis), Nittany Lions (Penn State), and Longhorns (Texas), and not only nicknames, but mascots to go with them, e.g., Bevo the Longhorn (Texas) , Tusk the razorback (Arkansas), Mike the Tiger (LSU), Big Al the elephant (Alabama) and Uga the bulldog (Georgia). I got to […]

“We’re gonna win so much, you may even get tired of winning. And you’ll say, ‘Please, please. It’s too much winning. We can’t take it anymore.’”  That was what then-candidate Trump promised life would be like in America during his presidency.  Regardless of how much winning you believe actually took place in those years, winning […]

Earlier this week, New York State Attorney General Letitia James filed suit against PepsiCo.  At the core of the case are allegations that PepsiCo.’s widespread use of single-use plastics has created or contributed to a public nuisance in the Buffalo River.  I don’t doubt that plastic-related conditions in the Buffalo River constitute a public nuisance.  […]

The Communications Committee hereby announces the bulletin board for ACOEL is now live and active.

On November 3, 2023, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released a playbook for federal agencies to develop their Environmental Justice Strategic Plans, Strategic Planning to Advance Environmental Justice. This tool provides a ‘how to guide’ for federal agencies working to address longstanding environmental injustices and inequities. Each federal agency is required by […]