When Earthjustice wins environmental victories in the courts, the Policy and Legislation team fights back against the anti-environmental interests in Washington, D.C., that try to overturn those court decisions through legislation in Congress.

To solidify the enduring impact of our legal victories, the Policy and Legislation team works with champions in Congress and in the administration to push legislation and policies that support and extends our gains.

Priorities for 117th Congress

• Power of the law: Seeking justice in court should be a right for everyone, not a privilege for powerful elites and polluting corporations. The Access to Justice team is fighting to reverse restrictive regulatory policies in administrative law that make it harder for the public to participate in government decision-making, promote agency policies and new statutory protections that will throw open the courthouse doors, and advocating to rebalance the courts with a sense of urgency and with a historic diversity of nominees who have a deep respect for science and environmental protections.
• Building an Equitable and Just Climate Future: We need a bold and equitable transition to a pollution-free, 100% clean energy economy that works for everyone, especially communities most impacted by climate change and toxic pollution. We are working to advance equitable and just climate policy that prioritizes emissions reductions and investments in environmental justice communities, build a zero emissions transportation and goods movement system, support more climate-friendly and systems-based agricultural practices, remove barriers to clean energy, and rethink the role of public lands and waters in fossil fuel development and production.
• Community-centered Environmental Advocacy: Fixing our Fundamentally Unjust System of Pollution Control: We must fix our fundamentally unjust system of pollution control by improving policies that systematically disadvantage historically sacrificed communities. The Policy and Legislation team is advocating for stronger pollution control standards and decisions that take into account cumulative impacts of longstanding polluting practices, and more to ensure that all people have access to a healthy and safe living and working environment. We are also pressing that the legacy pollution that has harmed these communities for decades finally be addressed.
• Biodiversity protection: The world is in the midst of a biodiversity crisis that threatens nature and humanity. One million species are at risk of extinction if we do not urgently deploy domestic and international solutions to the primary drivers of this crisis. We are fighting to protect national forests and other public land and biodiversity strongholds, build resilient ocean ecosystems, protect nature from unnecessary mining, and restore and strengthen the Endangered Species Act.