News and Press Releases

The Environmental Law Institute is widely respected as “a nonpartisan organization specializing in legal analysis and not known for taking sides in political fights,” as the New York Times has noted. When members of the media, private bar, government, business, and public interest organizations seek expert information on environmental law and policy, they turn to ELI.

The Environmental Law Institute® (ELI) and the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) today issued a report that points out the difficulties facing the Department of Energy (DOE) and state, local, and tribal governments in effectively managing lands…

The Environmental Law Institute® (ELI) hailed the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision, affirming the Environmental Protection Agency’s right to set air quality standards to protect public health. In Whitman v. American Trucking, the…

Leaders of state efforts to protect biodiversity have concluded a landmark meeting in Washington, DC on January 19, 2001, the first National Biodiversity Symposium. The two day conference — organized by the Environmental Law Institute® —…

The North American fishing industry faces serious challenges to its sustainability, as illustrated by the recent near collapse of many New England fisheries and reported overfishing of more than 100 fish stocks in North America. Likewise, the…

Switching half of the nation’s coal-fired electricity generation to high-efficiency natural gas turbines over the next decade would dramatically reduce air pollution at a relatively low cost, according to a study by the Environmental Law…

The flaming oil wells left by Iraq’s army as it retreated from Kuwait in 1991 created an iconic image that etched in the global consciousness the severity of the environmental impacts of armed conflict. However, going back at least to the Punic…

The international negotiations held in The Hague on specific means to implement the Kyoto Protocol ended without agreement on November 25, in part because of U.S. concern over costs of complying with the global warming treaty. But legal tools…

New York State Governor George Pataki recently called for dredging the Hudson River to remove PCBs, a toxic chemical that can harm human health and the environment, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is scheduled to release its…

Much of the debate within the United States over U.S. commitments to reduce greenhouse emissions under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol concerns the costs to industry — and the American public. But a new study by the Environmental Law Institute® shows how…

Though forests are the primary land cover in the Chesapeake Bay states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, recent data show that many parts of the Chesapeake region have lost substantial forestland.

“The forests closest to the Bay and…