July 2025
Earthjustice Program Report
Healthy Communities
Earthjustice reached milestones this past year in our fight for healthy communities. Our successes improved standards for everything — from the water we drink and the air we breathe, to the food we eat and the household products we buy. We helped secure health protections that, if implemented, will save more than 30,000 lives and at least $275 billion each year. Over 25 years, the rules could prevent at least 100 million asthma attacks, among many other benefits.
Although the Trump administration is attacking critical health rules, and abandoning environmental justice efforts, Earthjustice has long been preparing to fight back where we must and move forward where we can. We’re bringing razor sharp litigation and tapping into more state and local avenues to protect people from pollution and toxic chemicals.
When we fight to defend our federal health protections, we fight for every person in the country. We are fighting for rules that extend a lifeline to thousands of communities with skyrocketing cancer and premature death rates due to disproportionate exposure to pollution. These are rules that alleviate dire health concerns especially in lower-income communities in every state, and particularly for Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous families.
Earthjustice is not backing down — and we know it will take all of us to succeed. The progress we have secured is a testament to the fact that the law and science are on our side. It also reflects the desire of most people across the country for a safer and cleaner world.
Our shared wins represent decades of painstaking work, culminating in concrete measures that will save lives across the country. We’re celebrating our victories and the many opportunities ahead.
Fighting Forward with “Citizen Suits”
Because government enforcement cannot be everywhere all the time, when passing laws like the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, Congress gave people suffering from a known source of pollution the right to act as “private attorneys general.” They can sue the responsible polluter and potentially win a federal court order to reduce the pollution. The court can also impose financial penalties to deter future violations.
When members of the public stand in for government enforcement in this way, they also have the right to recover attorneys’ fees when they prevail, which relieves a significant burden on what are often small community groups standing up to deep-pocket corporations with massive legal teams.
Citizen suits, and other similar mechanisms of community-driven environmental enforcement, are powerful legal tools to hold polluters accountable, increase compliance with environmental laws, and potentially shift industry standards. They can also serve as a focal point to raise public awareness and spur civic engagement. Earthjustice has a great track record bringing this type of lawsuit, and we are building even more capacity to support courageous communities taking polluters to court.
Case in Point:
“No more normalizing this level of cumulative pollution for any community ... especially in a state that has acknowledged ... a human right to access clean air, land, water, and a better quality of life for all.”
Renée M. Chacon
Member of GreenLatinos
The Big Picture:
“No words can fully describe the emotional and psychological pain this relentless pollution has caused me.”
Robert Taylor
Founder of Concerned Citizens of St. John, on his experience living near the soon-to-be-closed Denka chemical facility
States Stepping Up
Progress in States
For decades Earthjustice and our clients have secured victories with state laws and agencies. We currently have hundreds of state-level cases, a vast majority of which are relatively insulated from federal interference. There is unlimited potential to ramp up this work.
Case in Point:
“Our health and the future of our kids hang in the balance, and we do not intend to quit now.”
Nayyirah Shariff
Director of Flint Rising
The Big Picture:
Shifting the Market
Over decades, Earthjustice and our partners have shown industry that the best path forward is one that guarantees cleaner air. And change is well underway at the market level. For example, car and truck manufacturers long ago began to shift their infrastructure to make electric vehicles, eager to capture early profits from what has long been deemed an inevitable, win-win clean energy transition. The writing is on the wall, and for many polluting industries, it isn’t financially feasible or advisable to go back.
Case in Point:
The Big Picture:
Towns Making Change
No matter what state you are in, there are entities such as townships, land-use boards, and county commissions with power to protect communities.
Case in Point:
The Big Picture:
Not Going Back
In early 2025, the EPA Administrator announced an intention to roll back 31 public health and safety regulations and initiatives that are backed by science and the law, including many that Earthjustice helped secure. It is extinguishing the institutions with expertise and authority to address some of the nation’s top health issues stemming from pollution and toxic chemicals. These actions harken more cancer, heart disease, respiratory illness, Parkinson’s disease, kidney failure, brain damage, and more. Children will suffer most.
But many threats, including those in executive orders, have not yet come to fruition, and many pronounced rollbacks could take years to formalize. An executive order isn’t a law. It is just a statement about the president’s policy preferences. And some of our public health victories are thus far unimpeded, such as the Lead and Copper rule requiring water providers to replace all lead pipelines — currently servicing as many as 22 million people. Also in our favor is a broad-based public backlash: No one voted for polluted air, dirty water, and soiled landscapes. No one wants increased cancer rates and health care costs, disease outbreaks, or food insecurity.
Rest assured Earthjustice is filing rapid fire challenges to defend and enforce the environmental protections we need to save millions of lives from chemicals and pollution. We’ve spent decades working to enshrine these protections into our laws. Our expertise in them is preeminent, and our ability to defend them unparalleled.
We Won’t Go Back |
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|---|---|
| Protections We Secured | Life-Saving Impacts |
|
Air Toxics Rulefor chemical and plastic resin plants |
96% fewer people with elevated cancer risk in communities near chemical plants that emit ethylene oxide and chloroprene |
|
Ethylene Oxide Rulefor commercial sterilizer facilities |
90% reduction of ethylene oxide pollution for 14,000,000 people who live within five miles of a sterilizer, lowering cancer risk from 6,000-in-1 million to 100-in-1 million |
|
Mercury and Air Toxics Rule Updatefor coal plants |
11,000 lives saved each year since we helped secure the rule in 2012; these and even more lives saved annually thanks to monitoring and reporting updates we secured in 2024 |
|
Particulate Matter (Soot) Rulefor power plants and heavy industry |
4,500 lives saved and 800,000 fewer asthma cases each year |
|
Heavy-Duty Truck Rulefor diesel trucks, buses, tractor-trailers, and similar large vehicles |
72,000,000 people breathing cleaner air in homes and workplaces near truck freight routes |
Some of the dozens of key rules we secured in 2024 and the life-saving impacts they will have when implemented. Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency issued more protections from toxic chemicals than it had in the last 35 years combined, thanks in large part to Earthjustice and our partners.
Thank you
Earthjustice is clear-eyed and on an indelible course to fight for a safe world for all, just as we have since our inception. Thank you for being with us.