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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June 1, 2020

LITTLE ROCK, AR -- In a victory for Arkansas clean energy consumers, today the Public Service Commission (PSC) ruled that solar power generated by users and returned to the grid shall be credited by utilities at a fair price that encourages the…

May 28, 2020

Ninth Circuit Rejects Push from Trump Admin, Industry to Allow Construction of Keystone XL and Other Oil and Gas Pipelines Through Waterways Amid Appeal

May 27, 2020

Washington, DC -- Today, southern Oregon organizations filed a lawsuit challenging Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval of the Jordan Cove LNG export terminal and Pacific Connector fracked gas pipeline. FERC issued its approval in…

May 27, 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Sierra Club and Earthjustice, together with a broad coalition of health and environmental groups, filed lawsuits against former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National…

May 26, 2020

Oakland, Calif. — Today, over two years after Judge Vince Chhabria struck down the City of Oakland’s prohibition on handling and storage of coal at the former Oakland Army Base, the case was decided on appeal by three Ninth Circuit judges. The…

10M+

acres of wilderness protected

200+

lawsuits filed to resist Trump

1K+

miles of dirty fuel pipelines blocked

382

coal plants retired