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

Whales, Lobsters, and the Paradox of Winning Too Much
December 07, 2023Posted on December 7, 2023 by Jerry Reid “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. ...

Is Litigation the Solution to Plastic Pollution?
November 17, 2023Posted on November 17, 2023 by Seth Jaffe 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. ...
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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...

Sorcery, Magic, and a Bit Of Alchemy? Creating Water
March 9, 2023Posted on March 9, 2023 by Kevin R. Murray The medieval forerunner of chemistry is said to have been alchemy and was primarily focused on transforming base metals and...

The U.S. Government Gets Serious on Climate Change
March 8, 2023Posted on March 8, 2023 by Leslie Carothers During a pandemic paper purge, I found a corporate newsletter showing me and my boss, George David, then CEO of United...

Letters of Belpher to Kasgar:* On the Methods of Denying Climate Change
March 7, 2023Posted on March 7, 2023 by Chuck Becker** December 25, 2022 Dearest Kasgar, To date, your queries to me have focused on the propriety of your endeavor. This is...

Permitting Reform Redux
February 27, 2023Posted on February 27, 2023 by Bill Brownell In an earlier blog, I commented on this Administration’s “Action Plan” to accelerate infrastructure development following enactment of the Inflation Reduction...

Surprise! A 9th Circuit Clean Water Act opinion that a member of the Supreme Court majority could have written!
February 23, 2023Posted on February 23, 2023 by Jeffrey R. Porter This week three Judges of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that a District Court Judge exceeded his authority...

May A Court Take Judicial Notice of Gravity?
February 22, 2023Posted on February 22, 2023 by Seth Jaffe Earlier this month, United States District Court Judge Stephen Wilson held that NL Industries was not liable under CERCLA for air...

RIGHT IN MY BACK YARD… a view from a RIMBY’s window
February 16, 2023Posted on February 16, 2023 by LeAnne Burnett I became an inadvertent environmental lawyer in 1988 when my supervising attorney plunked a foot-high stack of paper on my desk...

Does Environmental Review of Projects Needed for a Net-Zero Economy Lead to a Death By a Thousand Cuts?
February 10, 2023Posted on February 10, 2023 by Seth Jaffe Earlier this week, the decision in Bartell Ranch v. McCullough generally supported the Bureau of Land Management’s review under NEPA and...