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.
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 MoreWe pair litigation with effective community organizing and strong local communications to build genuine, informed support from community members and government officials.
Sierra Club ELP in Lake Tahoe
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 MoreEarlier today, Senators Leahy, Feinstein, Grassley, and Cornyn sent Andrew Wheeler and the EPA a letter on their dangerous changes to the FOIA process. Below is a quote from Sierra Club’s Legislative Director Melinda Pierce on the news:
SPRINGDALE, PA-- Today, the Sierra Club sent a “notice of intent to sue” letter to NRG Power Midwest alleging serious violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) at the company’s Cheswick coal-fired power plant in Springdale. The plant has been…
Advocates for a Cleaner Tacoma filed a lawsuit today challenging the Washington State Department of Ecology’s issuance of a key permit for Puget Sound Energy’s (PSE) proposed fracked gas facility in the Port of Tacoma. The Sierra Club is supporting…
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court today denied the government’s attempt to begin construction of President Trump’s border wall using funds unauthorized by Congress. The ruling upholds an earlier district court order that blocks the…
Conservation groups filed a federal lawsuit today challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ illegal approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline to be constructed through hundreds of rivers, streams, and wetlands without evaluating the project…
10M+
acres of wilderness protected
200+
lawsuits filed to resist Trump
1K+
miles of dirty fuel pipelines blocked
382
coal plants retired