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Adam Babich teaches and writes on environmental law. From 2000 to 2017, Babich served as Director of Tulane’s Environmental Law Clinic. He is the author of numerous articles on environmental law and policy, administrative law, and civil procedure. Babich is a fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers.
Before joining Tulane in 2000, he was a litigator in Denver and Chicago, enforced environmental laws as a Colorado Assistant Attorney General, served as an adjunct attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund and worked as a judicial law clerk for the Colorado Supreme Court. He also spent four years as editor-in-chief of the Environmental Law Reporter.
Babich was a trial lawyer on the nation’s first remedy trial under the Superfund law and has litigated high-profile cases involving the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and other types of environmental contamination. He also has taught at Georgetown University Law Center, American University and the University of Denver.
Under his leadership, the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic received the New Orleans Chapter of the Federal Bar Association’s Camille F. Gravel Jr. Pro Bono Award in 2010.
Back to the Basics of Antipollution Law, Tul. Envtl. L.J. 1 (2018)
The Unfulfilled Promise of Effective Air Quality and Emissions Monitoring, 30 Geo. Envtl. Law. Rev. 569 (2018)
Develop Nuggets, Unpack Weasel Words & 8 More Deposition Suggestions to Minimize Frustration, 65 La. B.J. 92 (Aug. 2017)
Fun with Administrative Law: A Game for Lawyers and Judges, 4 Mich. J. Envtl. & Admin. L. 341 (2015)
Subject Matter Jurisdiction and the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone, Admin. & Reg. L. News (ABA), Sum. 2015, at 28
Why Environmental Law Clinics?, (with Jane F. Barrett), 43 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. L. Inst.) 10039 (2013)
Twenty Questions (and Answers) About Environmental Law Clinics, 22 Professional Lawyer, No. 1 (2013)
The Supremacy Clause, Cooperative Federalism, and the Full Federal Regulatory Purpose, 64 ADMIN. L. REV. 1 (2012)
Can Preemption Protect Public Participation?, 61 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 1109 (2011)
Protecting Public Participation (with Brandon Sousa), Envtl. F., May/June, 2011, at 22)
Controversy, Conflicts, and Law School Clinics, 17 Clinical L. Rev. 469 (2011)
Illegal Permit? Who Are You Going to Call? Your Local Environmental Law Clinic! 39 ENVTL. L. REP. (ENVTL. L. INST.) 11051 (Nov. 2009)
Ambitious goals, political realities, 25 ENVTL. F. 32 (2008)
A Reply To Wizner and Solomon’s "Law As Politics," 11 CLINICAL L. REV. 481 (2005)
The Apolitical Law School Clinic, 11 CLINICAL L. REV. 447 (2005)
The Apolitical Clinic, TULANE LAW., Summ.2004, at 10.
The Violator-Pays Rule, ENVTL. F., May/June 2004, at 30.
The Wages of Sin: The Violator-Pays Rule for Environmental Citizen Suits, 10 WIDENER L. REV. 219 (2003)
Environmental Justice in Louisiana, 51 LA. B. J. 90 (2003)
Too Much Science, ENVTL. F., May/June 2003, at 35
The Sting: How Louisiana's Emission Credit Trading System Dirties the Air, SECOND GENERATION ISSUES COMM. NEWSL., May 2003, at 11
Too Much Science in Environmental Law, 28 COLUM. J. ENV. L. 119 (2003)
How the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic Survived the Shintech Controversy and Rule XX Revisions: Some Questions and Answers, 32 ENVTL. L. REP. (ENVTL. L. INST.) 11476 (Dec. 2002)
Fee Shifting After Buckhannon, 32 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. L. Inst.) 10137 (2002)
Dodging a Bullet: Lessons From the Failed Hazardous Substance Recycling Rider to the Omnibus Appropriations Bill, 29 ENVTL. L. REP. (Envtl. L. Inst.) 10131 (1999)
Regulatory Reform and the Chevron Doctrine, 26 ENVTL. L. REP. (Envtl. L. Inst.) 10587 (1996)
Citizen Suits: The Teeth in Public Participation, 25 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. L. Inst.) 10141 (1995)
Our Federalism, Our Hazardous Waste, and Our Good Fortune, 54 MD. L. REV. 1516; excerpted in AN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW ANTHOLOGY (Robert L. Fischman, et al., Anderson Pub. Co. 1996)
DOE's Promising First Step, NAT'L ENVTL. ENFORCEMENT J., July 1995, at 3 (1995)
RCRA Imminent Hazard Authority: A Powerful Tool for Businesses, Governments, and Citizen Enforcers, 24 ENVTL. L. REP. (Envtl. L. Inst.) 10122 (1994)
Risk of Compromising a Vital Protection, ROCKY MT. NEWS, Feb. 28, 1994 (Op-ed)
What Next?, ENVTL. F., Nov./Dec. 1994, at 48
Is RCRA Enforceable by Citizen Suit in States with Authorized Hazardous Waste Programs?, 23 ENVTL. L. REP. (Envtl. L. Inst.) 10536 (1993)
Understanding the New Era in Environmental Law, 41 S.C.L. REV. 733 (1990) , also pub. in ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (ch. 10) (Michael C. Blumm ed., N.Y. Univ. Press 1992)
Circumventing Environmental Laws: Does the Soverign Have a License to Pollute?, NAT. RESOURCES & ENV'T, Summer 1991, at 28 (1991)
Restructuring Environmental Law, 19 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. L. Inst.) 10057 (Feb. 1989)
Coming to Grips with Toxic Waste: The Need for Cooperative Federalism in the Superfund Program, 19 ENVTL. L. REP. (Envtl. L. Inst.) 10009 (1989)
Enforcing the Community's Right to Know About Chemical Hazards, NAT'L ENVTL. ENFORCEMENT J., July 1989, at 3; also published in MUN. ATT'Y, Jan./Feb. 1989, at 4
EPA no Superman in its Handling of Superfund, ROCKY MT. NEWS, Jan. 6, 1989, at 70 (Op-ed) (1989)
Police Our Federal Polluters, DENVER POST, Jan.14, 1989, 7B (Op-ed)
State Enforcement of CERCLA: The Idarado Decision in Perspective (with Kent E. Hanson), 20 ENV'T REP. (BNA) 735 (1989)
Declaratory and Injunctive Relief for States Under CERCLA (with K. Hanson), 18 ENVTL. L. REP. (Envtl. L. Inst.) 10216 (1988)
Local Governments and the Environment (pt. 1) (with Kent E. Hanson), 18 COLO. LAW. 1997; also published in MUN. ATT'Y, July/Aug. 1988, at 1
Local Governments and the Environment: RCRA (pt. 2) (with Kent E. Hanson), 18 COLO. LAW. 2159 (1988)
Opportunities for Environmental Enforcement and Cost Recovery by Local Governments and Citizen Organizations (with Kent E. Hanson), 18 ENVTL. L. REP. (Envtl. L. Inst.) 10165 (1988)
Pendent Claims and CERCLA (with Howard Kenison), W. NAT'L RESOURCE LITIG. DIG., Wtr., at 16 (1986)
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (ch. 3.6), in MINING ENVIRONMENTAL HANDBOOK (Jerrold J. Marcus ed., Imperial College Press) (1997)
Colorado (ch. 47), in ENVIRONMENTAL LAW PRACTICE GUIDE (Matthew Bender 1992) (Named Best Law Book of 1992 by the Association of American Publishers) (1992)
Hazardous Waste at Federal Facilities (ch. 1), in HAZARDOUS WASTE SITE INVESTIGATIONS: TOWARD BETTER DECISIONS (Richard B. Gammage & Barry Berven eds.) (1992)
Taking Charge: Local Governments and Hazardous Substances (with K. Hanson), in 1989 ZONING AND PLANNING LAW HANDBOOK 553 (M. Dennison ed.); also published in LA MUN. REV., Nov./Dec. 1988, at 6.
Civil Procedure, in 1986 ANNUAL SURVEY OF COLORADO LAW 11 (Beth E. Graham ed.) (1987)