Angela Johnson Meszaros

johnson_meszaros_angela-800

Media Inquiries

Keith Rushing
National Communications Strategist
(757) 897-2147
krushing@earthjustice.org

On Social Media

@OurAirMatters

Bar Admissions

CA

Angela Johnson Meszaros is the managing attorney for the Community Partnerships Program. She is based in the California regional office in Los Angeles, CA.

Angela’s docket focuses on working with communities of color on issues related to air pollution, energy, and the urban environment. Over 30 years, Angela has used a range of tools to enhance the health, safety, and quality of life in communities impacted by environmental hazards including: providing technical assistance to community members to support their effective advocacy on behalf of their communities, litigation, legislative drafting and policy advocacy, and media engagement.

Angela’s efforts have focused on policy development, implementation, and enforcement in a variety of environmental areas including: the impacts of climate change policy on communities of color, eliminating extraction of oil in LA’s urban neighborhoods, meeting the health-based air standards established by the Clean Air Act, public participation in environmental decision-making, reducing childhood lead poisoning, defending against destructive freeway siting, stopping inappropriate siting of sources of air pollution, land use policies and their impact on community health, reducing health impacts of air toxics from mobile and stationary sources, Superfund clean up, the California Environmental Quality Act, and air permit development and compliance.

Angela holds both a degree in philosophy and a law degree from the University of Southern California. She is a member of the California state bar. She’s the proud mother of two children, a decent archer, and a lover of good stories told well.

The Latest from Angela Johnson Meszaros

August 22, 2023

In the News: CAL Matters

Hidden Hazards: Toxic Waste in California

“It can’t be that a system that’s held together at best by bubble gum and baling wire is the thing that we’re doing in a developed nation to manage hazardous waste.”
March 29, 2023

In the News: Marketplace

Lead smelters provide a crucial service, but what of the health effects?

“If there was ever a time when it was appropriate to have a secondary lead smelter in Los Angeles County, that time has long since passed.”
March 6, 2023

In the News: LAist

In a Largely Black and Latino Community, Neighbors Worry About The Oil Wells In Their Midst

“If they can’t comply with the requirements, the city can petition the court to declare them a nuisance. Nuisance operations have to be corrected or shut down.”
June 7, 2021

In the News: Capital & Main

Can California Avoid Another Toxic Waste Disaster?

“[Hazardous waste permits] are important because they are the foundation for compliance in monitoring, for compliance in enforcement, and for making sure facilities have up-to-to-date pollution control equipment.”
March 11, 2021

In the News: Desert Sun

South Los Angeles oil wells worry neighbors, spark lawsuit

"Most fundamentally what the community is saying is that these wells put us at risk, they put our families at risk, and they are demanding that the protections in the law are used to protect them... The law is really clear: you've got a mandatory duty to do it."
Despite clear direction by the Los Angeles City Council to move the city towards 100% renewable energy, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power plans to dump money into new and costly fossil fueled power plants.
March 7, 2017

LA Power is Stuck in the Past

Despite clear direction by the Los Angeles City Council to move the city towards 100% renewable energy, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power plans to dump money into new and costly fossil fueled power plants.
The greater Los Angeles region has the dirtiest air in the nation, yet air regulators are falling down on the job.
January 30, 2017

This Is Exactly the Wrong Way to Clean Up the L.A. Area’s Air

The greater Los Angeles region has the dirtiest air in the nation, yet air regulators are falling down on the job.
June 9, 2016

Earthjustice Presenta Petición para Proteger a Comunidades del Sur de Los Ángeles de la Perforación Petrolera

Los residentes de la comunidad están solicitando a la Ciudad que tome cartas en el asunto para que puedan vivir en un vecindario al que se le trate como tal, y no una turbia área de trabajo y de desechos de combustibles fósiles.
a child protesting
June 9, 2016

Earthjustice Petitions to Protect South L.A. Community from Oil Drilling

We cannot allow South Los Angeles to be a sacrifice zone for fossil fuel extraction.