Our Stories

The Latest by Jessica A. Knoblauch

Senior Staff Writer

Jessica is a former award-winning journalist. She enjoys wild places and dispensing justice, so she considers her job here to be a pretty amazing fit.

A bird with a black back and a white breast sits on a tan rock.
November 20, 2024

One Small Seabird Egg Offers Hope for Hawai‘i’s Biodiversity

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Mid-Pacific Office

The endemic Newell’s shearwater has a chance at survival thanks to an innovative team of conservationists, researchers, and Earthjustice lawyers.

Workers install new copper piping from a larger spool.
October 9, 2024

Toxic Lead Is Still Contaminating Our Drinking Water, But Change Is Coming

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Toxic Exposure & Health Program

After years of advocacy by Earthjustice and our partners, a newly updated EPA rule requires almost all lead pipes in the U.S. to be replaced within a decade.

A blue outdoor sign with Tyson's name and corporate logo, a T with an arrow through it and circle around them.
September 18, 2024

Earthjustice Takes on Big Ag’s Greenwashing

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Sustainable Food & Farming Program

We’re suing one of the largest meat companies in the world for trying to deceive consumers about its climate impact.

Cars, including taxis, fill up a large street surrounded by people on the sidewalk and very tall buildings in New York City.
August 6, 2024

We’re Suing New York State for Blocking its Traffic Relief Law

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Northeast Office

The state’s reckless block on its congestion pricing program will worsen existing public transit issues in New York City while increasing air pollution and vehicle traffic.

An older woman looking directly at the camera in a library.
June 7, 2024

Michigan’s Residents Win Relief in One of State’s Most Polluted Regions

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Clean Energy Program

Earthjustice advocacy at Michigan’s public service commission is shutting down dirty fossil fuel energy and making the state a clean energy leader.

Monaeka Flores, photographed on Inapsan Beach on Guam, where her family had ranched the land for generations.
May 16, 2024

Indigenous Islanders in Guam Take on the Military

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Mid-Pacific Office

Activist Monaeka Flores talks about fighting to stop the Air Force from blowing up leftover munitions on Guam’s beaches.

Young people on the street holding signs that say "Portland Demands Climate Action" and NW "Natural" Nothing Natural about it.
May 13, 2024

How We Stopped a Gas Utility’s Scheme to Propagandize Children

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Clean Energy Program & Northwest Office

A gas utility in Oregon tried to charge customers for its lobbying in schools — part of the gas industry’s longstanding efforts to push for continuing fossil fuel use nationwide. Then we stepped in.

A close up of rubber gloved hands pouring water from one container to another in a laboratory.
March 20, 2024

The Toxic Chemicals Hiding in Our Homes, and How We Can Reduce Them

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Toxic Exposure & Health Program

The Toxic Substances Control Act, or TSCA, can help protect us from harmful chemicals. But first, the government must fully enforce it.

December 15, 2023

How Our Fight for 4 Species Helped Save the Sierra Nevada

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Biodiversity Defense Program

A decades-long fight for four imperiled species — and an entire landscape — is nearly complete.

Wolverines, says journalist and wildlife biologist Douglas H. Chadwick, are "not afraid of anything. They climb peaks that human climbers turn back from. So they're just fearless, and they're tireless, and they got no end of attitude."
December 6, 2023

Keeping the Wolverine Wild in a Climate Crisis

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Northern Rockies Office

New federal protections secured through Earthjustice litigation will help ensure that wolverines, a snow-dependent species, can survive a warming world.