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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April 22, 2020

TEXAS  -- Today, the Sierra Club announced the Texas rollout of a new “polluter watchdog” program, by issuing Freedom of Information ACT (FOIA) and Texas Public Information Act requests to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Texas…

April 21, 2020

The Sierra Club announced a new “polluter watchdog” program today, by issuing Freedom of Information ACT (FOIA) and state-based open records requests to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state regulators who are refusing to enforce…

April 20, 2020

The Klamath Tribes, affected landowners, and public interest organizations request rehearing on fracked gas export terminal and pipeline in southern Oregon.

April 20, 2020

New Orleans, LA -- Today, environmental groups filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) approval of the massive Annova LNG fracked gas export terminal proposed for southern Texas.

April 15, 2020

Great Falls, MT -- A federal judge ruled today that the US Army Corps of Engineers violated the law when it approved Nationwide Permit 12, a key water crossing permit for TC Energy’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and many other pipelines nationwide.

10M+

acres of wilderness protected

200+

lawsuits filed to resist Trump

1K+

miles of dirty fuel pipelines blocked

382

coal plants retired