Our Stories

The Latest by Brian Smith

Campaign Manager

An Earthjustice staff member from 1999 until 2015, Brian used outreach and partnership skills to cover many issues, including advocacy campaign efforts to promote a healthy ocean.

March 12, 2009

Old-Growth Critter Gets Good News

By Brian Smith  /  California Office

Reversing its August 2008 decision, the California Fish and Game Commission recently voted to grant candidate status to the Pacific fisher under the California Endangered Species Act. This begins the review process to determine if full protection is warranted. Earthjustice and our colleagues at Center for Biological Diversity have worked to protect the fisher for …

March 6, 2009

Coal-Fired Power Station "Postponed"

By Brian Smith

The watchdog role Earthjustice and our clients play is vital, even if these issues never get into a courtroom.

February 24, 2009

Breathe Easier, America

By Brian Smith

The lungs of America got two big breaks this week with court rulings that protect them from air pollution emitted by power plants, factories, and diesel trucks. And there is a strong hint of more to come. On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to hear a case defending an ill-conceived cap and trade system for …

February 2, 2009

Organizing to Save the California Delta and West Coast Salmon

By Brian Smith

Northern Californians have recently launched two grassroots efforts to oppose a proposed peripheral canal that would divert water from the Sacramento River and send it around the West’s largest estuary to irrigate large industrial farms in the Central Valley and Southern California. On January 17th, Water4Fish held a panel discussion at the International Sportsmen’s Expo …

November 27, 2008

Turkeys and Lame Ducks

By Brian Smith

Joe Klein (author of Primary Colors, the scathing send-up of the Clinton years) gives President Bush quite a valedictory send-off today in the pages of TIME magazine. Besides distaste for President Bush’s "intellectual laziness," Klein lists a number of environmental actions that could be taken now in the final weeks of the Bush administration. Sadly, none …

September 24, 2008

Regional Air Victory has National Implications

By Brian Smith

We found it curious when the DC-based National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) sued a local air pollution board in California. Why would a big national trade association care about a local air pollution rule? Well it turns out, NAHB had hoped to stop "Indirect Source Review" rules from spreading to other jurisdictions across the …

August 11, 2008

Look Ma, I’m Elite!

By Brian Smith

Unearthed blog editor, wordsmith, and all around superdad Terry Winckler gave me a hard time this week for being an "elitist" urban bike commuter. We had a good laugh over the use of the word. It got me thinking. What does the term "elitist" really mean these days? Has elitist become political shorthand for "someone …

July 17, 2008

Al Gore's 10 Year Plan to Change the World

By Brian Smith

A Generational Challenge to Repower America Delivered 7/17/08 in Washington, DC

July 16, 2008

DOE Says Drilling Won't Help for 20 Years

By Brian Smith

The Energy Information Administration is the official energy statistic keeper for the US Government. Here is what they recently said about opening up the outer continental shelf to new oil drilling. The projections in the OCS access case indicate that access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact …

May 28, 2008

White House Propaganda and the Environment

By Brian Smith

Today Americans first learned that former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has written a tell-all book about his years in the Bush Administration. According to press accounts, the administration was less than candid with the American people. McClellan now believes he told numerous untruths on behalf of the administration. While the administration will certainly …