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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Sierra Club ELP in Lake Tahoe

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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March 26, 2019

Washington, DC-- Moments ago, the House failed to pass a measure that would undo Trump’s veto on a bipartisan resolution to terminate his declaration of a national emergency. The legality of the president’s national emergency-- and its over $9…

March 22, 2019

Washington, DC -- Today, the Sierra Club took the Interior Department to court to hold it accountable for its failure to respond to basic Freedom of Information Act requests within the timeline required by law, or even to provide estimates of when…

March 18, 2019

Jackson, WY — A conservation coalition filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) today, asking a judge to order the agency to issue a long-overdue plan to phase out elk feeding on the Jackson Hole National Elk Refuge.

March 15, 2019

San Francisco, CA -- Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied yet another attempt by TransCanada to begin construction on its proposed Keystone XL pipeline. The court left in place a ruling by the U.S.

March 13, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, the Senate voted 53-46 along party lines to confirm Neomi Rao to the D.C. Circuit Court. Rao has been widely-criticized by for her extreme and dangerous views on climate, sexual assault, LGBTQ rights, and civil rights. Rao…

10M+

acres of wilderness protected

200+

lawsuits filed to resist Trump

1K+

miles of dirty fuel pipelines blocked

382

coal plants retired