Environmental Law

Environmental Law Program

Environmental Law Program

The Environmental Law Program uses strategic legal campaigns to fight climate change, to protect clean air, water and wilderness, and to promote justice for communities threatened by pollution.


In the past year alone, we launched more than 200 legal actions to challenge the fossil fuel industry's destructive effects on our air, water, and climate.

About Our Program

Our team of top-notch attorneys and legal staff leverages all of the Club's tools of democracy, integrating legal advocacy with grassroots organizing, sophisticated communications, a state-of-the-art digital strategies team, and administrative lobbying.

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Support the Environmental Law Program

We pair litigation with effective community organizing and strong local communications to build genuine, informed support from community members and government officials.

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Our Staff

We are a team of professional attorneys and staff who combine sophisticated legal tactics with a commitment to social and environmental justice at the grassroots level. We pair litigation with effective community organizing and strong local communications to build genuine, informed support from community members and government officials, making courtroom victories sustainable over the long term.

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January 15, 2020

  Richmond, Calif. — Last night, the Richmond City Council voted to approve an ordinance that will prohibit the storage and handling of coal in Richmond in order to protect community health and safety. The ordinance will phase out storage and…

January 8, 2020

Arkansas PSC approved the retirement of the Dolet Hills Power Station today, in a settlement with Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO), making it the 300th coal plant proposed to retire since the beginning of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal…

January 8, 2020

ARKANSAS - Today, Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) announced the retirement of the Dolet Hills coal-fired power plant as part of a settlement with Sierra Club in the Arkansas Public Service Commission. Communities in Shreveport and…

December 23, 2019

ST. PAUL AND DULUTH, MINNESOTA -- Today, the Minnesota Court of Appeals overturned the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission’s (PUC’s) approval of the Nemadji Trail Energy Center (NTEC), a fracked gas power plant proposal in Superior, Wisconsin that…

December 11, 2019

Today, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) voted to reject a request from the state’s investor-owned utilities to set two-year contract terms for renewable energy projects under the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA).

10M+

acres of wilderness protected

200+

lawsuits filed to resist Trump

1K+

miles of dirty fuel pipelines blocked

382

coal plants retired