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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July 12, 2024

In response to legal action by Earthjustice, Environment Integrity Project, National Parks Conservation Association, and Sierra Club, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia signed a consent decree today that includes deadlines for…

July 12, 2024

Environmental and community groups filed a letter this morning with the Department of Energy urging the department not to rush to approve Energy Transfer's flawed application to export gas from the planned Lake Charles LNG export terminal.

July 10, 2024

In a major win for climate and public health, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied yesterday an effort by the oil and gas industry and its political supporters to suspend critical EPA protections against methane pollution while the…

July 2, 2024

Washington, DC - Yesterday, a Trump-appointed judge in the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction to block the Biden administration's pause on liquefied methane gas export approvals. While the order…

June 28, 2024

Westminster, CO – Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association is proposing trailblazing provisions for direct financial assistance to communities impacted by coal plant closures, and plans for resource procurement estimated to reduce its…

10M+

acres of wilderness protected

200+

lawsuits filed to resist Trump

1K+

miles of dirty fuel pipelines blocked

382

coal plants retired