Challenging Arctic Oil Spill Plans: Of all the places Earthjustice works to protect, few are as iconic and misunderstood as the Arctic. The Beaufort and Chukchi seas support thriving, diverse ecosystems that teem with life, including bowhead whales, polar bears, walrus, seals and birds. To protect this extraordinary part of the world, Earthjustice, on behalf of a coalition of conservation and indigenous rights organizations, is challenging the government’s approval of Shell’s oil spill response plans. (Read more.)

Lake Tahoe Pact Threatened By Nevada: In 2011 the Nevada legislature enacted a law to withdraw from the Tahoe Regional Planning Compact unless a new plan was adopted to make it easier to build new hotels, ski resorts, casinos and the like. The compact was adopted in the late 1960s to preserve the lovely lake. The compact failed to adequately slow development because it left the approval of new development to local governments, which were all too eager to boost their local economies. In 1980 a new compact vested development approval authority with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

But the agency adopted a “regional plan update” last December that again delegates permit power to local communities. It also relaxes restrictions on how much land can be built upon and paved—a prime source of runoff that decreases the lake’s clarity. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Harry Reid support the update, saying that if Nevada pulls out of the compact the regional planning agency would collapse. The Sierra Club and Friends of the West Shore believe Nevada is bluffing. Earthjustice filed suit on Feb. 11, arguing that the plan update is illegal. (Read more.)

New Everglades Suit Is Filed: Taxpayers are spending huge amounts of money to cleanse water that runs into the Everglades in one of the most massive environmental restoration projects in history. So what does the state of Florida do? Its governor, Rick Scott, and his cabinet just agreed to extend by 30 years leases granted to big sugar and vegetable growers to continue operations on state-owned land between the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee. These operations contribute tainted water to the Everglades and encourage the growth of nuisance plants that inhibit the growth of native vegetation. Earthjustice has filed suit to challenge the lease extensions. (Read more.)

For more than 100 years, miners, rascals and even Mickey Mouse failed to tame one of America's wildest places. Nature defeated most of those misguided adventurers, but it took the partnership of some plucky lawyers to finally preserve the Sierra's majestic Mineral King. Their pioneering efforts laid the cornerstone of environmental law and gave birth to Earthjustice. (Explore Special Feature)

Airplane Pollution Rules In Europe Applauded: Beginning in 2012, airlines that land planes in the European Union must limit the amount of carbon they emit or buy offsets via a complex formula. A controversial ruling by the European Court of Justice, supported by environmental groups including Earthjustice, cleared the way for this, a promising step toward climate rehabilitation. The U.S. is being pressured to join the effort. (Read more.)

A Victory For Native Rights In Maui: Years ago, plantation owners on the Hawaiian island of Maui diverted native rivers and streams to grow pineapple and sugar cane, leaving the streambeds mostly dry. Traditional taro cultivation along these waterways disappeared, as did native stream life. In recent times, as plantation agriculture phased out, a once-in-a lifetime chance to restore the natural stream flows emerged. The state water commission was asked to restore water to the streams, but the commission sided with the plantation owners who want to continue diverting the water to new subdivisions, resorts and golf courses. Earthjustice took the case to the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court, which ruled that the commission decision to leave the streams mostly dry was wrong. The high court found the water commission failed to give proper consideration to Native Hawaiians’ and the public’s rights to flowing streams. The court sent the case back to the commission with instructions to pursue alternatives to draining the streams. (Read more.)

False Killer Whales Get Real Protection: Nearly 10 years after Earthjustice first went to court, the federal agency charged with protecting marine mammals has settled the last in a series of three lawsuits and agreed to start implementing protections for false killer whales. The animals have suffered unsustainable levels of death and serious injury in the Hawaiʻi-based long line fisheries. The agency—the National Marine Fisheries Service—has had a consensus rescue plan gathering dust for the past two years, but finally agreed to put protective measures into effect at the end of last month. (Read more.)

Coal Plant Retires Under Pressure: Coal plants have been dropping like very heavy flies lately as the country belatedly awakens to the horrors of climate change. The most recent, nudged along by Earthjustice and others, is the Big Sandy facility in Kentucky, which has been polluting the skies (and the water table) for a half century and is considered one of the 50 filthiest coal plants in the country. The company had planned to spend a billion dollars of ratepayer money to retrofit the old dinosaur, but recently agreed to retire the plant and invest in cleaner options. (Read.)

Suit Aims At Wolf Hunting: Earthjustice recently filed suit to challenge the removal of Wyoming’s wolves from Endangered Species Act protection, which took place Oct. 1 and has led to the killing of nearly 50 wolves. Among the casualties, a number of wolves have been shot just outside Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks. While much of the backlash against wolves in Wyoming has been fueled by alleged wolf predation on the state’s livestock, a local Wyoming news source reports that domestic dogs killed 44 sheep in early October. One wolf expert said this is close to the number of sheep killed in the entire state by wolves in an average year. (Read more.)

EPA Limits Pesticide Experimentation On People: Earthjustice challenged a Bush administration rule that allowed pesticides to be tested on people in order to justify weakening public health protections. A settlement was reached, and the EPA recently finalized a new rule that will severely curtail the extremely unscientific and unethical aspects of the old rule. As a result, it will be harder for the chemical industry to use people as test subjects in pesticide research sent to the EPA. (Read more.)

The Clean Water Act Turns 40: The seminal environmental laws enacted in the early ‘70s were a model of bipartisanship, which has all but vanished from Washington these days. The Clean Water Act, passed in 1972, was popular enough on both sides of the aisle that Congress overrode a Nixon veto of the law. But in the past 10 years or so certain elements in the Congress and in industry have been working to weaken, even gut, this vastly important law. Forty-two years ago the Cuyahoga River caught fire, and led to the passage of the Clean Water Act two years later. Enormous progress has been made, progress now threatened by forces that would turn back the clock. Earthjustice and its allies are working diligently in Congress, the executive agencies, and elsewhere to defend and strengthen this law. (Read more.)

Bison Awarded Freedom To Roam: Snowfall forces wild bison to descend into lower-elevation areas outside Yellowstone National Park to find forage. Because some bison carry brucellosis, a disease that theoretically can be transferred to domestic cattle, the state of Montana long had a policy of killing bison leaving the park. Earthjustice and others have long fought the practice, and in 2012 the policy was finally changed. When some ranching interests challenged the new bison tolerance policy, Earthjustice stepped up to defend it. In January of this year, a state judge sided with the bison and Earthjustice. (Read more.)

State’s Off-Road Plan Moves Into Court: The state of Utah and many of its counties have been hell-bent on opening thousands of acres of wild federal lands to more-or-less indiscriminate use by off-road vehicle enthusiasts. Plans for six different areas of Utah have been slowly working their way through the system. The first Earthjustice lawsuit, concerning lands in the central part of the state, has just gone to court. The other five will follow before long. (Read more.)

Arch-Enemy Of Colorado Roadless: If mega-coal company Arch Coal has its way, Colorado’s wilderness walks would be dotted by oil and gas fields. The plan, happily endorsed by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, will allow 6.5 miles of new roads and 48 new drill pads next to the West Elk Wilderness in Colorado. Most national forests are protected from this kind of insult by the Roadless Rule, but Colorado enacted its own rule that includes a loophole big enough to drive a coal truck through. Earthjustice has hauled the agencies into court with an Endangered Species Act challenge and may add other claims. (Read more.)

EPA Proposes Deathly Delay Of Regulations: The Environmental Protection Agency is a dozen years late regulating emissions of mercury and soot from cement plants, but in the past year they fended off industry challenges in court and in Congress to further delay regulations. So it came as a shock last December when the agency voluntarily delayed issuing regulations by two more years—a move that Earthjustice and its allies will soon challenge in court. The delay may cause up to 5,000 premature deaths and thousands of cases of asthma and non-fatal heart attacks. (Read more.)

Court Says Yes To Climate Change Limits: Despite what the Supreme Court said nearly six years ago, industry has insisted that the EPA has no authority to use the Clean Air Act to confront climate change. Consequently, the agency has been in and out of court, often supported by Earthjustice and other organizations. Last December, the appeals court in the nation’s capital sided once again with the agency’s greenhouse gas limits, which should end the matter once and for all. (Read more.)

Online Appliance Energy Info To Improve: Thanks to a petition Earthjustice filed on behalf of three allied groups, it will soon be easier for online shoppers to determine the efficiency of major appliances and what they might cost to operate. At present such information—if it appears at all—is hard to find, requiring many clicks and not a little luck. The new rule issued by the Federal Trade Commission is welcome, but needs considerable improvement. (Read more.)

Court Orders Regulation Of Killer Soot: Soot, especially the finest particles, kills and sickens tens of thousands of Americans each year, yet the government has been woefully slow in producing regulations strong enough to confront this problem. That means that if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, like downwind of a coal-fired power plant, the next breath you take could start you on the way to cancer, heart disease, or some other awful malady. Fortunately, this past January a federal appeals court, ruling in an Earthjustice case, ordered the government to get serious about addressing this threat, and quickly. (Read more.)