Matthew A. Axtell

PhD Program in History

maxtell@princeton.edu
phone: 202-210-2083
Website
C.V.

Matthew A. Axtell is an environmental law attorney licensed in the District of Columbia and a PhD student in the history department of Princeton University.  A legal historian, he studies the ecological impact of U.S. law and regulation, extending traditional research inquiries beyond cultural institutions such as law, economics, and politics, to the environmental conditions that embed and interact with these human institutions. 

Matt is particularly interested in the legal, political, and environmental history of the American hydrosphere, including the construction and maintenance of heroic-scale water infrastructure projects, the administrative and labor history of U.S. rivers, ports, and harbors, the implementation and enforcement of water pollution control laws, and the adjudication of water rights.  Pieces by Matt on environmental, technological, and legal topics have appeared in The Journal of Law and Politics, The Environmental Law Reporter, The Columbia Journal of American Studies, and The Minnesota Review. 

Prior to Princeton, Matt received the Commander’s Award for Outstanding Civilian Service while serving as Assistant Counsel for Environmental Restoration, Compliance, and Regulatory Law in the Washington, D.C. headquarters office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where he worked with federal technicians and regulators to enforce the Clean Water Act, clean up former defense sites, restore the Florida Everglades, and respond to Hurricane Katrina.  Following the Corps, Matt was an Associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Vinson & Elkins, LLP, where he concentrated on regulatory permitting and criminal enforcement matters related to water resources and wetlands development activities.

He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley (B.A., History, Highest Honors) and the University of Virginia School of Law (J.D.), where he received the Traynor Prize for Best Writing as a Graduating Law Student and served on the Editorial Board for the Virginia Environmental Law Journal.

Publications

“Natural Law,” in Encyclopedia of American Environmental History, ed. Kathleen A. Brosnan (New York: Facts on File, forthcoming, 2010). 

 “Bioacoustical Warfare: Winter v. NRDC and False Choices Between Wildlife and Technology in U.S. Waters,” __ The Minnesota Review __ (forthcoming, 2009). 

“Last Lake Standing: Clean Water Act Jurisdiction in the Alaskan Frontier after Rapanos v. United States,” 38:7 Environmental Law Reporter 10,473-10,479 (July 2008).

“Garbage Can Music!: Rube Goldberg’s Three Careers,” 7 Columbia J. of Am. Studies 30-65 (2006).

“Parting the Waters: A Mestizo Perspective on the Mexico/U.S. Border,” 1.3 Va. Eagle 15-17 (2002).

“Pleasure Grounds and Iron Fences: Local and Federal Battles for Open Space in the Presidio of San Francisco,” 27 Journal of Law and Politics 797 – 852 (2001).

“A Machinist’s Revolt,” 22 Berkeley Undergraduate Journal 225-96 (1998).