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School of Law / Academic Law Programs / JD Program / Environmental Law / Environmental Law & Justice Clinic / Cases and Projects
ELJC's Cases and Projects (Partial List)
| Client / Affected Area | Assistance We Provided | |
|---|---|---|
|
2010
| Bay Area Environmental Health Collaborative (BAEHC)
San Francisco Bay Area | Technical, policy, and administrative assistance to the Collaborative in its campaign to reduce the cumulative impacts of air pollution the the Bay Area; ongoing since 2005 |
| Pacific Environment
San Francisco Bay Area | Litigation in the California Energy Commission and Public Utilities Commission against fossil-fuel power plants and to encourage development of renewable energy | |
|
2009
| East Bay Environmental Justice Collaborative
Northern Contra Costa County | Environmental data analysis and GIS mapping of pollution sources in Pittsburg and Antioch, CA |
| ACORN
Antioch, CA | Filed complaint and provided other legal assistance related to a proposed power plant, resulting in a fine against PG&E | |
| Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates
San Francisco, CA | Compelled the City of San Francisco to subject a large biodiesel facility to CEQA environmental review | |
| Citizens Against Pollution
Hayward, CA | Review of power plant permit documents and assistance with public participation in the permit process | |
| West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs
West Berkeley, CA | Legal counseling, regulatory analysis, and scientific assessment of air pollution from Pacific Steel Company; project begun in 2005 | |
| West Valley Citizen's Air Watch
Cupertino, CA | Helped group participate in permit process; analysed federal pollution rules governing the Lehigh Southwest Cement Company | |
| West Oakland Residents
Oakland, CA | Worked with local residents and a concerned city council member to evaluate and reduce air and noise pollution from a local aluminum recycling facility | |
|
2008
| A Hayward Resident
Hayward, CA | Helped a concerned resident to obtain better public participation in regulatory proceedings for a local power plant |
| Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates & Our Children's Earth
San Francisco, CA | Compelled Muni to comply with Proposition I, replacing old diesel buses with cleaner modes of transportation | |
| Midway Village Residents Relocation Committee
Daly City, CA | Provided scientific and legal counseling regarding residential soil contamination issues at a housing complex | |
| Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates & Communities for a Better Environment
San Francisco Bay Area and beyond | Provided comments to EPA regarding environmental justice impacts of greenhouse gas regulations | |
| Climate Scientists James Hansen, Mark Jacobson, Michael Kleeman, Benjamin Santer, and Stephen Schneider
California and beyond | Prepared amicus brief supporting California's effort to regulate greenhouse gases from motor vehicles | |
| Helphinkley.org and Center for Biological Diversity
San Bernardino County | Successful litigation to overturn the County's approval of an open-air sewage sludge compost facility in Hinkley, a rural town with a sizeable Latino community | |
| Just Transitions
California, Arizona | Represented environmental and grassroots groups from the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe before the Public Utilities Commission to advocate for a just distribution of acid rain credit proceeds (case pending) | |
| Friends of the Earth
California & Beyond | Petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to determine whether lead in aviation gasoline is a significant environmental hazard | |
| Karuk Tribe
Klamath region | Counseled the Karuk Tribe on regulatory issues relating to the Klamath Dams | |
|
2007
| Californians for Alternatives to Toxics (CATs) & Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC)
Eureka, CA | Reduced air pollution from a large paper mill through a Clean Air Act complaint and settlement, improving pollution controls for particulate matter |
| Communities for a Better Environment
West Berkeley, CA | Compelled Pacific Steel Company to reduce odoriferous and hazardous air pollutants at its foundry through a Clean Air Act lawsuit and settlement | |
|
2006
| Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates & Southeast Alliance for Environmental Justice
San Francisco Bay Area | Culmination of ELJC's 12-year power plant campaign, alongside our community partners: final shutdown of the Hunters Point Power Plant and California Energy Commission rejection of Mirant's expansion proposal |
| Youth United for Community Action
East Palo Alto, CA | Prepared formal public comments and an expert opinion on a CEQA Environmental Impact Report for Romic Environmental Technologies, a hazardous waste processing facility located in the community | |
| Coalition of University Employees & Union of Professional and Technical Employees
Richmond, CA | Provided legal counseling and environmental science consulting to University of California employees working at a university location contaminated with hazardous wastes | |
|
2005 & Before
| Our Children's Earth
Martinez & Benicia, CA | Improved air pollution permits for two oil refineries by providing detailed comments to the local air district and to U.S. EPA and filing petitions with EPA |
| Grand Canyon Trust
Colorado Plateau | Helped make Ninth Circuit law that facilitates enforcement of continuing, difficult-to-discover violations; the case resulted in thousands of tons of pollution reductions | |
| Southeast Alliance for Environmental Justice
Southeast San Francisco | Obtained cleanup funds for a power plant with contaminated soils before the California Public Utilities Commission | |
| Grassroots & Environmental Groups
California | Provided a day-long Clean Air Act training seminar for community advocates | |
| Environmental Justice Groups
Nation | Held a roundtable discussion between activists and government agencies on the Clean Air Act and environmental justice to identify next steps | |
| Chester Street Block Club Association
West Oakland | Reduced odor and toxic air pollution from yeast factory through the Clean Air Act | |
| Our Children's Earth
Nationwide | Made important air pollution regulation documents publicly available on the web through a Clean Air Act lawsuit against U.S. EPA | |
| Clean Water Alliance & San Francisco BayKeeper
San Francisco | Made environmental documents for a proposed airport expansion publicly available, through enforcement of the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance | |
| Our Children's Earth
Central California | Stopped a plan to exempt major agricultural air pollution sources from federal regulation through a Clean Air Act lawsuit | |
| Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates
Southeast San Francisco | Prevented power plant expansion and accompanying air pollution through participation in California Energy Commission proceedings | |
| Environmental Justice Air Quality Coalition & Our Children's Earth
San Francisco Bay Area | Improved the air pollution permits and the permitting process for large industrial facilities through informal negotiations and a writ proceeding | |
| Coalition for Healthy Communities & Environmental Justice
East Oakland | Helped the coalition shut down a medical waste incinerator through legal counseling about Title V operating permit procedures | |
| Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates
Southeast San Francisco | Stopped pollution from the Potrero Power Plant and negotiated a $105,000 settlement for community environmental projects by enforcing the Clean Air Act | |
| Our Children's Earth
San Francisco Bay Area | Publicized information on thousands of unresolved air pollution citations given to Bay Area companies, spurring enforcement by the local regulatory agency | |
| Southeast Alliance for Environmental Justice & Our Children's Earth
San Francisco Bay Area | Exposed and fixed a gap in regional emissions banking program through, among other things, a CEQA complaint against the Bay Area Air Quality Management District | |
| Communities for a Better Environment
San Francisco Bay Area | Compelled EPA to require more stringent ozone pollution planning in the Bay Area through a Clean Air Act complaint | |
| Tri-Valley CARES, Western States Legal Foundation & Physicians for Social Responsibility
Livermore, CA | Reduced the risks of a hazardous waste storage facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory through a CEQA complaint and settlement | |
| Southeast Alliance for Environmental Justice
San Francisco | Monitored remedial action plans for a California State Superfund site; Public comment under California Hazardous Waste Law | |
| San Francisco Bay Keeper
Southeast San Francisco | Prohibited toxic pollution from a Navy shipyard through a negotiated Clean Water Act consent decree | |
| Chester Street Block Club Association
West Oakland | Protected communities from contamination during a hazardous site cleanup through a federal Civil Rights Act petition | |
| Midway Village residents
Brisbane, CA | Obtained additional environmental testing and protections during toxic waste site operations through a federal Civil Rights Act petition | |
| Southeast Alliance for Environmental Justice
Southeast San Francisco | Obtained plan to shut down a Hunters Point power plant through a California PUC administrative proceeding | |
| West Oakland Neighbors
West Oakland | Reduced air pollution from Port operations by enforcing CEQA/Civil Rights Act | |
| Oceanview Neighborhood Association
West Berkeley | Reduced air emissions from an asphalt plant through a CEQA administrative proceeding | |
| Communities for a Better Environment
Southern California | Lowered emissions from petroleum refinery marine loading terminals through the Clean Air Act | |
| Southeast Alliance for Environmental Justice
Southeast San Francisco | Reduced pollution from a concrete crushing plant using CEQA | |
| Alviso Community in Action
San Jose, CA | Obtained additional pollution controls for a waste-site expansion project using CEQA and federal Civil Rights Act administrative proceedings | |
| Friends of the Earth
Southern California | Assisted groups with wetlands restoration and monitored consent decree obligations of Southern California Edison | |
| SF Bay Keeper
San Francisco | Prevented water pollution from former Navy Base on Treasure Island using the Clean Water Act | |
| Various community activists
Southeast San Francisco | Held a lead-hazard training session for tenants and landlords | |
| San Francisco BayKeeper & District 7 Democratic Club
Southeast San Francisco | Prevented water pollution from Hunters Point Shipyard by enforcing the Clean Water Act | |
| Morgan Heights Homeowners Association
Southeast San Francisco | Stopped a new power plant in the community through a California PUC administrative proceeding | |
| Various community groups
Northern and Southern California | Training and education on lead-based paint hazards in residential housing | |
| Citizens for a Healthy Ukiah
Mendocino County, CA | Required review of an air pollution permit and the adequacy of pollution controls used by a forest products company through an appeal to EPA Environmental Appeals Board | |
| Communities for a Better Environment & Residents
West Contra Costa County | Counseled low-income West Contra Costa County community who successfully negotiated a multi-million dollar "Good Neighbor Agreement" with two local petroleum refineries | |
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