Published Articles & Thought Leadership

This article provides the first comprehensive framework for calculating damages in water contamination litigation based on Maximum Contaminant Level Goals, the health-based standards established by EPA. The article addresses a critical gap in environmental law: while courts recognize that water providers can suffer compensable injury from contamination below regulatory limits, no coherent methodology exists for measuring those damages. The article is particularly timely given the historic $13 billion PFAS class action settlement, which implicitly adopted MCLG-based damages by compensating water systems for any detectable contamination. Hopkins, Timothy J., "MCLGs in Water Contamination Litigation: Why Health-Based Standards Matter," 56 ELR 10037 (Jan/Feb 2026).

This article demonstrates how investor-owned water utilities can achieve health-protective drinking water standards (MCLGs) while maximizing shareholder returns through rate-of-return regulation. By treating to MCLGs rather than minimum regulatory compliance (MCLs), utilities increase rate base, enhance long-term profitability, and deliver superior public health outcomes. The article challenges the conventional assumption that utilities lack economic incentive to exceed minimum standards, showing how regulatory economics can align private profit with public health. Hopkins, Timothy J., "A New Path to Achieving Health-Based Drinking Water Standards," 56 ELR 10105 (Mar/Apr 2026).

The Lead and Copper Rule Improvements require water systems to replace all lead service lines, including privately owned portions, with replacement plans due to the State by November 1, 2027. EPA's preamble encourages systems to absorb that cost into general water rates – an approach that is both legally problematic in New York and, this article argues, inequitable. Drawing on existing New York law, the article develops the surcharge-lien system as the alternative: the water system advances the cost, attaches a lien to the specific benefited property, and recovers it over time, so the cost follows the benefit parcel by parcel. It maps the legal pathway across New York's governmental structures – villages, water districts, municipalities, and public authorities – and shows how a system can meet its federal obligations without raising rates or taxes. Third in a series examining the zero maximum contaminant level goal as the health-based foundation of modern drinking water regulations. Hopkins, Timothy J., "Who Pays for the Lead Service Line?" 56 ELR _ (Jul/Aug 2026).

Environmental Law Reporter (ELR) is the leading scholarly journal for environmental law professionals, published by the Environmental Law Institute. ELR articles are widely cited by courts, practitioners, and scholars.