Research Reports

In response to the growing demand for unbiased answers and analysis on how deregulatory initiatives by the new Administration and Congress will impact environmental protection, governance, and the rule of law, the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) has released Regulatory Reform in the Trump Era. The report explains the legal mechanisms and processes that may get deployed, how they work, and the effect on the current regulatory landscape.

This Handbook summarizes key considerations for wetland and conservation agencies or organizations interested in playing a role in the floodplain buyout process. These organizations can be valuable partners for local governments while advancing their interest in ecosystem and habitat conservation or restoration.

Some threats to the environment, like acid rain and stratospheric ozone depletion, emerged fairly rapidly, and abrupt threats like an oil or toxic chemical spill demand an immediate response. But most environmental problems have the opposite character: they involve slow threats where small, hardly noticeable changes add up over time to produce large impacts.

ELI, Stream Mechanics, and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) have partnered to provide a wide-ranging view of the state of stream compensatory mitigation. This report examines how stream compensatory mitigation has evolved in policy and practice and was based on a series of white papers, which can be found on the State of Stream Compensatory Mitigation page.

Working with New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia — the five members of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO) — the Environmental Law Institute prepared a detailed assessment of methods to identify, conserve, and restore wetlands for protection of communities and ecosystems in the face of rapid climate change. ELI in collaboration with an expert panel designed an approach that can accommodate continuous improvement by resource managers, legislators, and policy makers. The approach relies on: