ACOEL members contribute regularly to the ACOEL Blog, writing on topics of current interest in their respective fields. Recently-published blogs are featured below, or you can search the ACOEL blog archive using the search feature.
Current Blogs

Bounty laws and citizen suits
May 24, 2023Posted May 24, 2023 by Tracy Hester In a jurisprudential pile-up, the Fifth Circuit has become the arena for two simultaneous legal battles that may shape the law of standing and realign federal environmental law. While all eyes are on the U.S. Supreme Court as it releases backlogged decisions...

The Supreme Court Majority Prepares to Bury Chevron; Is There Anyone Left to Praise It?
May 05, 2023Posted on May 5, 2023, by Seth Jaffe Earlier this week, the Supreme Court accepted cert. in Lopez Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which presents a straightforward challenge to the continuing viability of Chevron. The question presented was: Whether the Court should overrule Chevron or at least clarify that statutory...
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Stephen E. Herrmann Environmental Writing Award
April 4, 2023Posted on April 4, 2023 by JB Ruhl The American College of Environmental Lawyers (“ACOEL”) announces its annual Stephen E. Herrmann Environmental Writing Award (“Herrmann Award”) for the 2022-23...

This isn’t an early April Fools joke — the US Forest Service is applying for a NPDES permit to keep fighting forest fires!
March 28, 2023Posted on March 28, 2023 by Jeff Porter Inside EPA is reporting that the United States Forest Service is going to work with EPA to obtain National Pollutant Discharge Elimination...

2023 WOTUS Rule Enjoined in Texas and Idaho (Or “Here We Go Again”)
March 27, 2023Posted on March 27, 2023 by Karen Aldridge Crawford On March 19, 2023, a federal district court in Texas granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the January 2023 Revised Definition...
Superfund Allocation: Future Valuation of Remediated Property
March 24, 2023Posted on March 24, 2023 by John M. Barkett I have the unenviable honor of having read every Superfund allocation rendered in a reported decision. There is a lot...

ChatGPT and the Environmental Lawyer
March 23, 2023Posted on March 23, 2023 by Don Bluedorn Unless you have been hibernating this winter, you know about ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot that rolled out late in 2022....

Discretion is the Better Part of Valor; Court Dismisses Clean Water Act Citizen Suit Challenging POTW’s Enforcement Discretion
March 22, 2023Posted on March 22, 2023 by Jonathan Ettinger The scope of suits available to private citizens under the Clean Water Act is not unlimited. A Federal District Court in...
Sand and Sustainability
March 21, 2023Posted on March 21, 2023 by Charles DiLeva Since retiring from environmental leadership positions at the World Bank, I have taken on teaching assignments including a course entitled “Circular...

Is “All Appropriate Inquiries” Appropriate?
March 16, 2023Posted on March 16, 2023 by Jeff Civins On December 22, 2022, EPA authorized use of the latest version of the ASTM standard for performing Phase 1 environmental site...

ACOEL Delegation Participates in U.S.-Cuba Environmental Symposium in Havana
March 13, 2023Posted on March 13, 2023 by David B. Farer (Co-chair, ACOEL Inter’l Pro Bono Committee; Chair, Cuba Working Group) On February 9 & 10, 2023, seven ACOEL Fellows participated...