“To assert a legal interest [nearly 40 years ago] in protecting the survival of the peregrine falcon or the grizzly bear was to be seen as a busybody. The pages that follow present a treasury of ideas, experiences, and opportunities for all those who care about our environment, and stand ready to do something about it. This book will provide fresh and continuing inspiration to environmental advocates and practitioners for years to come.”—Joseph L. Sax, preface of the book.

Environmental common law litigation has reemerged in recent years as a powerful second pathway alongside statutory avenues for practitioners, communities, and governments to seek redress to environmental wrongs. Creative Common Law Strategies for Protecting the Environment vividly illustrates that “environmental common law” has never been more alive—and perhaps more needed for meeting complex environmental challenges—than it is today.

This book provides an overview of the major common law remedies, and describes the limits of using statutory remedies under environmental citizen suit provisions. The authors describe their experiences in bringing cutting-edge public nuisance actions against car manufacturers and large power producers because of their greenhouse gas emissions; successful products liability actions against the manufacturers of PERC and MTBE for groundwater contamination; path-breaking litigation filed by public entities against the lead paint industry; law suits under the public trust doctrine and other common law doctrines to protect fish and wildlife and their habitat and much more.

July 2007. ISBN: 978-1-58576-110-4. 426 pp. Order #3823. Price: $69.95; Member price $59.46.

This is the first of ELI Press’ new releases to be published on FSC-certified 100% recycled paper. The ELI Press intends to publish all future titles on FSC-certified paper.

About the editors:

Clifford L. Rechtschaffen is a professor and director of the environmental law program at Golden Gate University School of Law, in San Francisco, California. Prior to joining the faculty there, he practiced environmental law for seven years in the California Attorney General’s Office. He is the author of numerous articles and books about environmental law and is chair of the environmental law section of the American Association of Law Schools. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal.

Denise E. Antolini is an associate professor of the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawai’i, where she directs the school’s environmental law program. She practiced for eight years with the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund (now Earthjustice) in Seattle and Honolulu. Under her leadership at the University of Hawai’i’s environmental law program, she received the American Bar Association’s 2006 award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy. She is a graduate of Princeton University; Boalt Hall School of Law, and the University of California at Berkeley, where she served as editor-in-chief of Ecology Law Quarterly.

Chapter Authors:

Kenneth P. Alex; Michael D. Axline; Richard T. Drury; Andrew C. Hanson; Duane C. Miller; Isaac H. Moriwake; Tara L. Mueller; Matthew F. Pawa; William H. (Bill) Rodgers, Jr; Joseph L. Sax; Victor M. Scher; Jan S. Stevens; D. Kapua’ala Sproat; and Katie J. Zoglin.

“This book dramatically captures the ways that common law theories are being used by environmental plaintiffs around the country, as well as the obstacles that remain. All environmental litigators—whether they represent plaintiffs, defendants, or some of each—will find the book an invaluable gui