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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August 22, 2023

The North Carolina Utility Commission approved an “Affordability Settlement” between the Sierra Club, Duke Energy Progress (DEP) and Duke Energy Carolina (DEC), which resolves low-income affordability issues in rate cases filed by DEP and DEC.

August 18, 2023

LAKE CHARLES, La. — Today Sierra Club, along with Healthy Gulf, filed a federal lawsuit challenging a decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to authorize construction and operation of over 30 miles of pipelines intended to almost…

August 16, 2023

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – This week the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with polluters in a case that would have reduced air pollution in Wyoming’s national parks and public lands across the region.

August 14, 2023

Helena, MT - A  judge ruled in favor of Montana youth climate plaintiffs today, declaring the state is violating its own constitution by not protecting the right to a clean environment. Held v. Montana was the first-ever youth climate case to…

August 14, 2023

UTAH â€“ Today the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals denied a petition for review that would bring some of Utah’s worst polluting coal plants into compliance with the Clean Air Act’s visibility-protection provisions, instead enabling the Hunter…

10M+

acres of wilderness protected

200+

lawsuits filed to resist Trump

1K+

miles of dirty fuel pipelines blocked

382

coal plants retired