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.

Read More

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.

Donate To ELP Today

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.

Find Out More
June 29, 2021

Washington, DC -- Today, the Supreme Court ruled that private companies can take state land for new fracked gas pipelines, likely speeding the construction of the controversial PennEast pipeline project.

June 25, 2021

ST. PAUL -- Earlier today, Xcel Energy announced that it will drop its plans to construct a new 800 MW fossil gas plant, known as the Sherco combined cycle gas plant. Xcel included the gas plant in their most recent proposed integrated resource plan…

June 25, 2021

Washington, DC -- Today, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution that would reinstate the Environmental Protection Agency's 2016 methane pollution safeguards for the oil and gas industry. The Senate passed a similar resolution in April.…

June 24, 2021

San Francisco, Calif. — Today, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) ordered electricity providers to build 11,500 megawatts (MW) of new zero-emission electricity resources to come online between 2023-2026. This vote comes after strong…

June 24, 2021

Bozeman, Mont.– Citing the risk to other imperiled animals, Earthjustice sent a notice of intent to sue the state of Montana today for implementing new laws permitting snaring of wolves and expanding trapping seasons to reduce the…

10M+

acres of wilderness protected

200+

lawsuits filed to resist Trump

1K+

miles of dirty fuel pipelines blocked

382

coal plants retired