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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September 28, 2017

Widespread electric vehicle (EV) adoption in Illinois could bring the state up to $43 billion in cumulative benefits by 2050 stemming from reduced utility bills, Illinois driver savings on fuel, vehicle expenses, and carbon pollution reduction,…

September 15, 2017

The Tenth Circuit Court just secured a major victory for those that care about protecting public lands and our climate. Today’s decision sheds new light on the destructive consequences of leasing our most precious lands to corporate polluters who…

September 13, 2017

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection filed a motion in federal court to invalidate its earlier approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Under section 401 of the Clean Water Act, individual states must certify that interstate gas…

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 ***  

10M+

acres of wilderness protected

200+

lawsuits filed to resist Trump

1K+

miles of dirty fuel pipelines blocked

382

coal plants retired