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 3, 2017

Oklahoma City, OK -- Today, the Western Oklahoma District Court announced, after the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC), the state agency tasked with regulating oil and gas operations, took several steps towards tackling the earthquake epidemic,…

March 14, 2017

*** Read the full filing online here ***  

June 28, 2017

Utah -- Yesterday, the Public Service Commission approved an $10M Electric Vehicle (EV) incentive and time-of-use pilot program, as a part of Rocky Mountain Power's Application to Implement Programs Authorized by the state’s Sustainable…

June 15, 2017

Washington, DC -- Today, TransCanada, the foreign oil company behind the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, filed a motion urging the federal court in Montana to dismiss a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its approval of the controversial…

August 14, 2017

Washington, DC -- Earlier today, the D.C. Circuit ruled against a challenge to the Department of Energy's approval of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from the Freeport Texas facility. In response, Sierra Club Staff Attorney Nathan Matthews…

10M+

acres of wilderness protected

200+

lawsuits filed to resist Trump

1K+

miles of dirty fuel pipelines blocked

382

coal plants retired