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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November 1, 2017

This morning, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the Sierra Club in its legal challenge of the Department of Energy’s approval of exports of Liquefied Natural Gas from the Cove Point, Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi LNG terminals.

October 31, 2017

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Today, the New Orleans-based group A Community Voice and the Sierra Club, represented by Earthjustice, filed a lawsuit to require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stick to a firm and final deadline for…

October 26, 2017

The Sierra Club and partner organizations filed a protest with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) over the renewed proposal for the Jordan Cove LNG export facility and associated Pacific Connector pipeline. The Jordan Cove terminal was…

October 18, 2017

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On Fox News last night, Scott Pruitt questioned what authority Congress has given the EPA to reduce carbon pollution, again suggesting he’ll attack the proven scientific and legal principles supporting EPA’s duty to protect the…

October 16, 2017

WASHINGTON,​ ​DC​ ​-​​ ​Scott Pruitt is engaging in an attack on the enforcement of environmental law at the EPA, and in doing so is referencing the myth of so-called “sue and settle.” The polluter backed U.S. Chamber of Commerce report underlying…

10M+

acres of wilderness protected

200+

lawsuits filed to resist Trump

1K+

miles of dirty fuel pipelines blocked

382

coal plants retired