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 13, 2020

Kinder Morgan CEO Steve Kean announced yesterday that the company plans to reroute the controversial Permian Highway fracked gas pipeline to go around the Blanco River, in response to public outrage over a spill during pipeline construction, the…

August 6, 2020

A broad coalition of justice and environmental groups sued the Trump administration today over its regulations that would gut environmental reviews and silence community input.

July 31, 2020

WASHINGTON, DC— The Supreme Court today left in place an earlier order that permits the Trump administration to temporarily continue construction of the border wall while the underlying legal challenge proceeds in court.

July 31, 2020

WASHINGTON,D.C. --- The Trump administration today released a new proposal that would severely limit critical habitat protections for endangered wildlife. The proposal runs counter to warnings of scientists around the world who have identified…

July 29, 2020

INDIANAPOLIS -- Today, the Sierra Club appealed the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission’s (IURC) decision approving a $146 million rate increase for Duke Energy Indiana’s customers.

10M+

acres of wilderness protected

200+

lawsuits filed to resist Trump

1K+

miles of dirty fuel pipelines blocked

382

coal plants retired