Our Stories

The Latest by Phillip Ellis

Sr. Press Secretary

From 2014–2017, Phillip headed the media team. He was based in Washington, D.C.

Flags fly at the Sacred Stone Camp, Cannonball, North Dakota.
October 14, 2016

Recap: This Week In The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Litigation

By Phillip Ellis  /  Northwest Office

A short summary of what happened this week in the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's legal fight.

A foggy morning in Baltimore
July 28, 2015

This Is What Asthma Feels Like for Marylanders

By Phillip Ellis  /  Policy and Legislation Team

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan illegally blocked a safeguard to reduce ozone pollution, leaving Marylanders to cope with respiratory illnesses like asthma.

"We are confronted on a daily basis with a Fast and Furious gang tasked with thwarting any practical and bi-partisan effort to solve, or even acknowledge, climate change."
May 7, 2015

Fast and Furious to a Warming Planet

By Phillip Ellis  /  Headquarters Office

What can the Fast and the Furious team can teach us about the struggle to stop climate change?

The University of Michigan Law School
May 6, 2015

Emma Cheuse Offers Words of Wisdom to MLaw Public Service Students

By Phillip Ellis  /  Washington, D.C. Office

Michigan Law alumnus, Emma Cheuse, gives advice to students and graduates who have yet to discover the right career path within the public service realm.

Kayford Mountain in West Virginia has been devastated by mountaintop removal mining.
December 12, 2014

President Obama Earns "C" on Mountaintop Removal Mining Report Card

By Phillip Ellis  /  Washington, D.C. Office

The mining industry and its allies have been crying long and hard since President Obama took office, but the other side of the story has not gotten nearly enough attention. The problem is not that President Obama has done too much to regulate coal mining; the problem is that he could do more—much more—to protect the families and communities of Appalachia.

The E.W. Brown Generating Station in 2011.
December 3, 2014

Coming Clean in Kentucky: A Ray of Light in Coal Country

By Phillip Ellis  /  Clean Energy Program

Kentucky Public Service Commission may approve its first solar project ever.

An industrial incinerator frames a church playground in Midlothian, Texas.
October 6, 2014

20 Years, Yet EPA Still Fails to Protect Us From Polluting Incinerators

By Phillip Ellis  /  Washington, D.C. Office

Recognizing the threat incinerators pose to public health, Congress directed the EPA to set strict limits on all waste-burning incinerators by 1994. Twenty years later, EPA has only set pollution limits for 106 of the about 15,000 total facilities across the country.

A sign warning of the presence of asbestos.
August 19, 2014

The Right to Know Reader: Our Current Laws Do Not Protect You From Toxic Chemicals

By Phillip Ellis  /  Washington, D.C. Office

Every day, just in the course of normal activities, we are exposed to an unbelievable range of toxic chemicals that we may not know about. Of the 80,000 plus chemicals that have been approved to be on the market in the United States, approximately 24,000 are “secret”. Literally, we don’t know what they are.

July 2, 2014

The Right to Know Reader: EPA Still Allowing Use of Toxic Lead

By Phillip Ellis  /  Northeast Office

Earthjustice is working to enact stronger protections from these toxic chemicals for our families, communities and the environment because everyone has a right to know the truth about harmful toxins.

Wind turbines in a Kansas wheat field.
June 27, 2014

Suit Filed to Stop Kansas Coal Plant

By Phillip Ellis  /  Northwest Office

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has given Sunflower Electric the green light to build a massive, dirty coal fired power plant.