Environmental Law & Justice Clinic

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Victory for Community Right to Know

The Clinic staff and students, representing Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates, convinced the San Francisco Planning Department to require environmental review of the first ever biodiesel plant in the city, which will process 10 million gallons of biodiesel per year. The Clinic argued that the plant should not have been exempted from the normal environmental evaluation process without notifying the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood, which already hosts many industrial facilities.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Meets with Local Environmental Justice Groups

Professor Kang, together with other Northern California environmental justice advocates, recently met with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency head Lisa Jackson to talk about the agency's approach to environmental justice. In the meeting, Professor Kang emphasized that environmental decision makers must see the environmental conditions in which vulnerable communities live, listen to community members about their concerns, and develop a strategic, long-range plan to address those concerns.

ELJC Produces White Paper on Cumulative Air Pollution in the Bay Area

The Clinic recently carried out a critical review of air pollution control programs in the Bay Area and agency efforts to address cumulative air pollution issues in more highly polluted parts of the region. Our review and findings are presented in a white paper entitled, Zones of Inequity, Cumulative Air Pollution and Hot Spots in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Download Zones of Inequity.pdf

US EPA Presents 2009 Environmental Award to Environmental Law and Justice Clinic

On April 16, the US Environmental Protection Agency's Pacific Southwest Region (Region 9) presented the 2009 Environmental Award for Outstanding Achievement to the ELJC. Read the press release. or visit the EPA website.

ELJC Works to Fight Climate Change

Climate change impacts are already exacerbating conditions that create environmental injustice, both in the US and around the world. As part of our work to combat climate change, the Clinic is representing prominent climate scientists who are amici curiae (friends of the court) in Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America v. US Environmental Protection Agency, a case before the federal appellate court for the District of Columbia. The Chamber of Commerce and others are challenging EPA's decision to allow the State of California to regulate motor vehicle greenhouse gas emissions. (Read our brief in a related case. Amici Brief.pdf)

The Clinic also recently submitted a comment letter on behalf of several Bay Area clients which calls on the US EPA to look more closely at environmental justice impacts when it regulates greenhouse gases. The letter advocates against trading greenhouse gases. (Read ELJC's Greenhouse Gas Letter.pdf)

US Department of Justice Honors Visiting Professor Deborah Behles for Environmental Litigation Work

Deborah Behles, a former trial attorney at the US Department of Justice who is now a visiting assistant professor with the Golden Gate Environmental Law & Justice Clinic, has received the Department of Justice's John Marshall Award for her team work on a case against a coal-fired power plant that resulted in the largest single environmental settlement in US history. The award will be presented at a Department of Justice Awards Ceremony in October. Behles earned a Gold Medal from the US Environmental Protection Agency for the same work earlier this year.

Helen Kang Discusses Environmental Law and Justice Clinic on NBC

View an interview with Clinic Director Helen Kang on the NBC 11 TV program Bay Area Vista at http://www.nbc11.com/video/15939955/index.html.

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