PARIS March 10, 2017 – A report by lawyers at Earthjustice and Environmental Justice Australia, being launched this week in Paris, outlines the international legal responsibilities of nations with World Heritage-listed coral reefs to take action to protect those reefs from the devastating effects of climate change. The legal report, “World Heritage and Climate Change: […]
Earthjustice
Posted inOp-Ed
Earthjustice’s President on Scott Pruitt’s Confirmation as EPA Administrator
WASHINGTON, D.C. February 17, 2017 – The U.S. Senate, along a mostly party-line vote of 52-46, has confirmed Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as the next administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Donald Trump’s pick to lead our nation’s top enforcer of environmental laws will take office despite his open hostility to bedrock air […]
Posted inUS
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Asks Federal Court to Set Aside Trump’s Pipeline Reversal
WASHINGTON, D.C. Feb. 14, 2017– The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe today filed a major legal brief challenging the Trump Administration’s hasty approval of the controversial Dakota Access crude oil pipeline, a project in which the President and his associates have had close financial ties. The Tribe’s summary judgment asks the Court to overturn recent U.S. […]
Posted inCalifornia
Federal Court Protects Klamath Salmon, Tribal and Fishing Communities
SAN FRANCISCO—Today, a U.S. District Court judge ordered federal agencies to immediately take steps to protect juvenile coho salmon after several years of deadly disease outbreaks in the Klamath River. Klamath River coho salmon are listed as threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act. These fish are central to the cultural identity and survival […]
Posted inUS
Trump administration withdraws EIS process for Dakota Access Pipeline
Feb. 7, 2017 – Today, the Army Corps of Engineers notified Congress that—within the next 24 hours—it will issue an easement to allow the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe in North Dakota near the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation. The Corps also reversed its Dec. 4 decision and announced that it would forego […]
Posted inUS
Earthjustice: Republican Leaders Attack Water Protections as Early Priority
WASHINGTON, D.C February 1, 2017 – Today, House of Representatives passed H.J.Res.38 which eviscerates the Stream Protection Rule, a modest clean-water safeguard crafted to protect the health of communities impacted by coal mining. The rule is being targeted under the Congressional Review Act, a seldom-used law that allows recently passed regulations to be rolled back virtually overnight […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Earthjustice Rejects Trump’s “Two for One” Executive Order
Washington, D.C. January 30, 2017 – Today President Trump issued an executive order that shifts the current system of safeguards in the United States by creating a “two for one” formula for federal agencies. Under this new executive order agencies will have to identify two regulations for elimination for every new regulation they aim to […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Earthjustice Condemns Congressional Backdoor Attack on Clean Air and Water
San Francisco, CA January 27, 2017 – The following is a statement from Earthjustice President Trip Van Noppen in response to introduction today of legislation in Congress that would undo critical clean air and water protections with a rarely used, backdoor tactic known as the Congressional Review Act (CRA): “Voters didn’t vote against clean air […]
Posted inEnviro
Community and Conservation Groups To Defend Clean Water Against Coal Industry Attack
Washington, D.C. January 18, 2017 – Today, a coalition of local and national community and conservation groups filed a motion to be allowed to help defend the national Stream Protection Rule against two lawsuits. The rule updates the minimum standards to protect clean water and other natural resources threatened by coal mining operations across the nation. […]
Posted inUS
Obama Administration Signs Death Warrant for Colorado Roadless Forest
DENVER, CO, Dec. 19, 2016 – The U.S. Forest Service announced it would on Monday reimpose a controversial coal mine loophole, issuing a final rule that opens 20,000 acres of wild Colorado forest to bulldozing for coal mining, something the agency admits will undermine clean energy development, result in millions of tons of climate pollution, […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Abigail Dillen: Rick Perry as head of DOE completes a dangerous trio of climate denial and obstruction
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 13, 2016 — The following is a statement from Earthjustice Vice President of Litigation for Climate & Energy Abigail Dillen in response to President-elect Trump’s reported nomination of former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to head the Department of Energy: Today the Trump team gave the oil and gas industry a trifecta at […]
Posted inUS
Earthjustice Responds to President-elect Trump’s Pick to Head the Department of the Interior
SAN FRANCISCO December 9, 2016 – The following is a statement from Drew Caputo, Earthjustice’s Vice President of Litigation for Lands, Oceans, and Wildlife, in response to reports of President-elect Trump’s nomination of Cathy McMorris Rodgers to head the U.S. Department of the Interior: “Americans should be deeply concerned by the nomination of Rep. Cathy […]
Posted inUS
Victory for Standing Rock: DAPL Easement Not Granted
STANDING ROCK, ND December 4, 2016 – Today, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it would not be granting an easement under Lake Oahe for the Dakota Access pipeline to cross the Missouri River a half mile upstream of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation. The Corps further stated that it plans to […]
Posted inUS
Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma Files Suit to Protect Lands and Water from Illegal Gas Drilling
TULSA, OK, Nov. 21, 2016 – Friday, the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, and tribal member Walter Echo-Hawk, filed suit against the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to challenge federal oil and gas approvals on Pawnee lands. The lawsuit seeks to set aside numerous oil and gas leases […]
Posted inUS
U.S. Court of Appeals Says Local Governments Can Prohibit GE Crops
Honolulu November 21, 2016 – Friday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its decisions on whether federal and Hawai‘i state laws preempt Hawai‘i counties’ authority to regulate genetically engineered (GE) crops and pesticide use. Of significance to state and local communities throughout the United States, the Ninth Circuit ruled that […]
Posted inUS
Badger-Two Medicine: Too Sacred to Drill
WASHINGTON, D.C. November 16, 2016 – Today, the US Department of the Interior and Devon Energy announced retirement of more than 32,000 acres of oil and gas leases from the Badger-Two Medicine roadless area. The move comes on the heels of a previous lease cancelation by the Department of the Interior, and echoes the call […]
Posted inRegional
Earthjustice & Vote Solar Fight to Restore Rooftop Solar For Nevada Families
CARSON CITY, NV, Nov. 2, 2016 – Today, Earthjustice and Vote Solar took the fight to restore rooftop solar for Nevada families and small businesses to the state’s Supreme Court. The groups filed an appeal today challenging the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN)’s unlawful decision to end a successful program that empowered Nevadans to […]
Posted inUS
Farmworker Advocates Call For Suspension of Highly Toxic Pesticide
WASHINGTON, DC, Sept. 22, 2016 – United Farm Workers, labor, and community health groups from Florida to California petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to immediately suspend hundreds of uses of chlorpyrifos, an acutely toxic pesticide that harms workers and their family members. “We are seeking an immediate and total chlorpyrifos ban because farmworkers […]
Posted inWorld
Latin American environmental defender attacked, hospitalized
Washington, D.C. September 21, 2016 – 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize winner Máxima Acuña de Chaupe was hospitalized after being attacked, allegedly by security forces hired by Minera Yanacocha, a subsidiary of Denver-based Newmont Mining, according to information provided by the Chaupe family. The attack took place on Máxima’s property in northern Peru that the mining company […]
Posted inCalifornia
Legal Victory Overturns Federal Plan to Open 1 Million Acres of California Public Land to Drilling, Fracking
LOS ANGELES September 6, 2016 – Citing potential threats to water supplies and endangered wildlife, a U.S. district judge today overturned a federal plan to open more than 1 million acres of public land and mineral estate in central California to drilling and fracking. Today’s ruling comes in response to a lawsuit brought by the […]