Northeast Office
Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice
48 Wall Street, 15th Fl.
New York, NY 10005
(212) 845-7376
neoffice@earthjustice.org
Media Inquiries
Nydia Gutiérrez
Public Affairs and Communications Strategist
ngutierrez@earthjustice.org
Legal Assistance Inquiries
Contacto de Prensa
Robert Valencia
Estratega de Comunicaciones y Asuntos Públicos Hispanos/Latinos
rvalencia@earthjustice.org
(212) 845-7376
Who We Are
Our Northeast Office’s legal work includes national litigation to protect people’s health from toxic chemicals, regional advocacy promoting a shift from fossil fuels to clean energy sources, and local efforts to enforce the rights of communities disproportionately burdened by pollution. See bar admissions for our attorneys.
Hillary AidunSenior Associate Attorney
Courtney BowieManaging Attorney
Meagan BurtonSenior Attorney
Fabiana CastilloSenior Litigation Assistant
Alok DisaSenior Research and Policy Analyst
Noemi FanaLegal Practice Assistant / Litigation Assistant
Jill Witkowski HeapsSenior Attorney
Cristina KovalikLitigation Assistant
Susan KrahamDeputy Managing Attorney
Dror LadinSenior Attorney
Hannah LevyLegal Practice Assistant/Litigation Assistant
Marissa Lieberman-KleinAssociate Attorney
Mariana LoSupervising Litigation Paralegal
Elizabeth MoranPolicy Advocate
Suzanne NovakSenior Attorney
Rachel SpectorSenior Attorney
Anne-Marie StehnLegal Practice Manager
Michael YouhanaSenior Associate Attorney
Our Impact
The Northeast office is at the forefront of issues at the intersection of energy, environmental health, and social justice.
Hastening the Transition from Fossil Fuels to Clean Energy
Partnering with nonprofit organizations and communities, Earthjustice is securing major cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by reducing our nation’s dependence on fossil fuels, fighting expansion of oil and gas infrastructure that could lock in dependence on fossil fuels for decades to come, and ramping up reliance on renewables and energy efficiency.
We accomplish this by deploying our litigation skills in court and in regulatory proceedings, bolstered by powerful communications and legislative strategies. Collectively, our work is transforming the nation’s energy economy.
Highlights of this work include:
- Challenging the Constitution Pipeline, a proposed 124-mile gas pipeline from Pennsylvania to New York. The project would disturb over 1,800 acres of land, destroy hundreds of thousands of trees, fragment ecosystems, and cause additional development of fracked gas wells, increasing truck traffic and air, water, light, and noise pollution. Learn more.
- Opposing a liquid petroleum gas storage facility in underground salt caverns on the shores of Seneca Lake, in the beautiful and tranquil Finger Lakes region of western New York State. Learn more.
- Engaging in three cases related to the proposed expansion of crude oil storage and loading capabilities of a terminal at the Port of Albany, N.Y. The terminal’s expansion has significantly increased rail shipments of highly volatile Bakken crude oil through Albany, along with barge traffic. Hundreds of crude oil tank cars are stored on rails directly adjacent to public housing, resulting in increased air pollution. Learn more.
Fighting for Healthy Communities
Earthjustice works to safeguard the fundamentals of human health — the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink. We’re reforming our nation’s broken chemical regulatory system and remaking our food system into one that nourishes and sustains life.
Our efforts in the Northeast are focused on fighting for stronger federal protections against toxic substances used in manufacturing; holding government agencies accountable for actions that subject already overburdened communities to further environmental injustices; and developing strategies that significantly reduce health, environmental, and climate harms in the production of our food and make healthy food more available and affordable for all.
Highlights of this work include:
- Reforming our laws regulating toxic chemicals, which are dangerously weak, leaving millions of people at risk of toxic exposures every day. We serve on the steering committee of Safer Chemicals Healthy Families, a coalition of environmental advocates, medical and public health associations, labor unions, and parent groups that has been pressing Congress for many years to reform the federal Toxic Substances Control Act. Learn more.
- Fighting to rid consumer products of toxic flame retardant chemicals that do nothing to improve fire safety. Learn more.
- Filing a petition to the Food and Drug Administration asking the agency to withdraw its approval of phthalates in food contact material. A hormone-disrupting chemical, phthalates can seep into food from plastic packaging and food processing equipment. Learn more.
- Working to transform industrial agriculture, with successes in obtaining bans on some of the worst pesticides, securing stronger farmworker protection standards from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and reducing pollution from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).
- Challenging a rule that illegally exempts industrial meat operations from federal hazardous substance reporting. The exemption allows the operations to release pollution — including hydrogen sulfide and ammonia — into the neighboring environment without informing potentially impacted communities or emergency responders. Learn more.
- Pushing the EPA, through the courts and federal rulemaking process, to uphold its responsibility to enforce Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Under Title VI, any agency receiving federal money cannot discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin. Title VI is one of the few enforceable civil rights laws that covers environmental actions, making it an important legal tool to hold agencies accountable for the impacts of their decisions on communities of color that are already overburdened by environmental pollution. Learn more.
- Reducing emissions of lead and other toxic pollutants from power plants, industrial facilities, aircraft, and other sources.
