Lawsuit Filed: Jun. 27, 2025
Protecting the Everglades from Massive Detention Center
What’s at Stake
The Everglades is the largest mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere and the most significant breeding ground for wading birds in North America. The detention center plan has gone through no environmental review as required under federal law.
Our Client
Friends of the Everglades
“This scheme is not only cruel, it threatens the Everglades ecosystem that state and federal taxpayers have spent billions to protect.”
— Eve Samples
Executive Director of Friends of the Everglades
About the Lawsuit
The Problem
The plan threatens to undermine billions U.S. taxpayers invested in restoring Florida Everglades.
Our Response
The lawsuit was filed against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Florida Division of Emergency Management, and Miami-Dade County.
“Cruelty aside, it defies common sense to put a mass of people, vehicles, and development in one of the most significant wetlands in the world. That’s why we’re going to court.”
— Tania Galloni
Managing Attorney for Earthjustice’s Florida Office
Lawsuit Filed: Jun. 25, 2025
Suing the Trump Administration for Allowing Nerve-Agent Pesticides on Our Fruit and Vegetables
What’s at Stake
In utero exposures to organophosphates are linked to autism, attention deficit disorders and impaired cognition in school-age children.
Our Clients
Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, Farmworker Association of Florida, Farmworker Justice, GreenLatinos, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, Natural Resources Defense Council, Pesticide Action and Agroecology Network North America, Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, UFW Foundation
“The EPA recognized a decade ago that organophosphates can impair children’s learning and behaviors, but the government keeps dragging its feet.”
— Patti Goldman
Senior Attorney in Earthjustice’s Northwest Office
About the Lawsuit
The Problem
The EPA’s own scientists found organophosphates pose serious health risks, even when used as directed.
Yet instead of acting, the agency missed deadlines and delayed imposing critical safeguards. Organophosphates cause countless instances of farmworker and community poisonings every year.
Our Response
Representing farmworker and public health groups, Earthjustice sued the EPA for failing to respond to a petition to ban organophosphate pesticides.
Feature
Learn about 17 organophosphates — the food crops they’re used on and their health impacts.
Lance Cheung / USDA
“This is an issue that goes beyond the damage done to our communities — it is about upholding human dignity and our right to humane labor standards as a whole.”
— Mily Trevino-Sauceda
Executive Director of Alianza Nacional De Campesinas
Lawsuit Filed: June 25, 2025
Suing Trump Administration for Terminating EPA Grant Programs
What’s at Stake
The grant-funded initiatives in rural, small town, and urban communities across the country include lead pipes replacement in drinking water systems, resilience projects to strengthen against more frequent, intensifying extreme weather events, and more.
Our Clients
The plaintiffs come from every region of the country and will be seeking class action certification and preliminary relief so that all 350 grant recipients who have been harmed by the wholesale termination of the EPA program may continue their initiatives.
Our Client
Danielle Villasana for Earthjustice
“We have been told by the Trump administration that clean air is a priority for all Americans. The illegal cancellation of these clean air grants will do the exact opposite.”
— Jennifer M. Hadayia, MPA
Executive Director of Air Alliance Houston
About the Lawsuit
What Happened
The Trump administration unlawfully terminated the EPA’s Environmental and Climate Justice Grant programs, despite a Congressional directive to fund them.
The community-based initiatives include improving climate disaster preparedness, combating high energy costs, and more.
Our Response
Earthjustice, Southern Environmental Law Center, Public Rights Project, and Lawyers for Good Government filed a legal challenge on behalf of grant recipients to seek the nationwide restoration of the program and to require the administration to reinstate awarded grant agreements.
“Terminating these grant programs caused widespread harm and disruption to on-the-ground projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to tackle environmental harms.
“We won’t let this stand.”
— Hana Vizcarra
Senior Attorney at Earthjustice
Lawsuit Filed: June 12, 2025
Challenging Email Shortcut Around Clean Air Protections
What’s at Stake
We are suing to stop the EPA from handing out permission slips to pollute via an absurdly simple process: Companies just have to email Trump’s EPA.
Our Clients
Air Alliance Houston, Clean Air Council, Downwinders at Risk, Montana Environmental Information Center, Sierra Club
About the Lawsuit
Trump’s EPA said polluters could email their way out of clean air laws. We’re sending it a lawsuit.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images
Map
EDF & EIP
About the Lawsuit
What Happened
EPA invited corporations to email the agency to request presidential exemptions from clean air standards. Dozens of coal-fired power plants sent in an email and got the exemption.
Our Response
On behalf of community and environmental groups, Earthjustice sued the Trump administration over its unlawful decision to exempt 68 coal power plants from mercury and arsenic pollution limits.
“This is a political favor for coal corporations that results in families and children breathing more mercury and arsenic, chemicals that cause cancers and birth defects.”
— Nicholas Morales
Attorney, Washington, D.C., Office, Earthjustice
Lawsuit Filed: June 5, 2025
Stopping Illegal USDA Grant Terminations
What’s at Stake
Farmers and nonprofits across the U.S. have faced serious economic hardship due to the Trump administration freezing funding for programs that provide essential support to rural communities.
Our Clients
Agroecology Commons, Oakville Bluegrass Collective, and the Urban Sustainability Directors Network are represented by FarmSTAND, Earthjustice, and Farmers Justice Center
“The Trump administration’s pattern of unlawfully terminating grants that benefit farmers is both cruel and illegal. The law does not allow the government to change the rules retroactively.”
— Carrie Apfel
Deputy Managing Attorney, Sustainable Food & Farming, Earthjustice
About the Lawsuit
What Happened
Each of the plaintiffs received from USDA a barely-edited form cancelling its grant on the basis that it “no longer serves agency priorities.” The organizations use USDA grants to create a healthier nation and a fair food system.
Our Response
Our lawsuit seeks to reverse the grant terminations and address the alarming trend of USDA’s cancellation of grant funding.
Lawsuit Filed: May 22, 2025
Defending the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument
What’s at Stake
In one of the world’s most pristine tropical marine environments, even short-term commercial fishing can inflict long-term, irreparable harm.
Our Clients
Kāpaʻa, Conservation Council for Hawai‘i, Center for Biological Diversity
Article
Kelvin Gorospe / NOAA
“The islands within the monument are part of Moananuiākea, a term used to describe the Pacific Ocean and its connection to Hawaiian culture, traditions, and values.”
— Solomon Pili Kaho’ohalahala
Founding Member of Kāpaʻa, Earthjustice client
About the Lawsuit
What Happened
President Trump signed a proclamation in April that seeks to strip protections around Jarvis Island, Wake Island, and Johnston Atoll, allowing vessels to fish commercially.
Our Response
Our lawsuit challenges President Trump’s proclamation as unlawful for exceeding the president’s constitutional authority and infringing upon the powers reserved to Congress.
Intervention Filed: May 22, 2025
Restoring Funds for National EV Network
What’s at Stake
The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program is a transformative, $5 billion initiative to build electric vehicle charging stations every 50 miles on major corridors across all 50 states.
Our Partners
Sierra Club, Climate Solutions, NRDC, Plug In America, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, CleanAIRE NC, West End Revitalization Association, Southern Environmental Law Center
About the Lawsuit
Thomas Barwick / Getty Images
About the Lawsuit
What Happened
The Federal Highway Administration and Dept. of Transportation acted without authority, unreasonably, and in violation of the Constitution when they indefinitely froze the NEVI Formula Program.
Our Response
Earthjustice filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit in which 17 states are challenging the administration’s actions. The coalition is seeking the nationwide restoration of NEVI funds to build EV charging stations along highways in every corner of the country.
Map
Rural and midwestern states may have more funds to lose, per person, if NEVI funds are rescinded. See your state.
“Without investments to build out electric vehicle charging, the United States will be left behind while the rest of the world moves forward.”
— Jan Hasselman
Senior Attorney in Earthjustice’s Northwest Office
Lawsuit Filed: May 20, 2025
Protecting Critically Endangered Rice’s Whale From Oil, Gas Impacts
What’s at Stake
The biological opinion allows a stunning amount of harm to Gulf species, including the critically endangered Rice’s whale.
Our Clients
Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, Turtle Island Restoration Network
About the Lawsuit
Paul Nagelkirk / NOAA Fisheries - NMFS ESA/MMPA Permit #21938
“The law requires that marine species get protection, and this biological opinion doesn’t provide it.”
— Chris Eaton
Senior Attorney in Earthjustice’s Oceans Program
About the Lawsuit
What Happened
Under the law, before the Inerior Dept. can lease areas of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drillers or authorize drilling activities, the National Marine Fisheries Service must first assess how threatened and endangered species, such as the Rice’s whale, are likely to be harmed.
Our Response
The lawsuit was filed to properly protect rare species from being harmed or killed by fossil fuel drilling and exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. NMFS admits that vessel strikes alone will kill nine Rice’s whales and seriously injure three more over the next 45 years.
Amicus Filed: May 15, 2025
What’s at Stake
Trump’s directive to stop all wind permitting and its implementation by federal agencies has halted most wind-energy development.
Our Client & Partners
Earthjustice represented Environmental Advocates NY. The amicus brief was filed by: NRDC, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Conservation Law Foundation, Environmental Advocates NY, Environmental Defense Fund, Environmental Protection Information Center, National Wildlife Federation, New York League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club, Southern Environmental Law Center
Benefits of Wind Energy
Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Images
Wind turbine service technicians have been the fastest growing U.S. job of the decade.
About the Lawsuit
What Happened
On day one of his second term, President Trump issued a memo directing federal agencies to stop all permitting for both offshore and onshore wind energy projects.
Our Response
Joined 10 environmental groups in supporting an effort by states and industry to overturn the government-wide ban on new wind energy projects.
“Wind plays a critical role in powering our lives ... Halting all wind project approvals indefinitely without any reasoned explanation is both arbitrary and unlawful.”
— Jill Tauber
VP of Litigation for Climate & Energy, Earthjustice
Lawsuit Filed: Feb. 19, 2025
Protecting Oceans From Oil and Gas Drilling
What’s at Stake
Opening up millions of acres of undeveloped public waters to future offshore drilling poses significant threats to nearly every coastal community in the United States.
Our Clients
Oceana, Center for Biological Diversity, the Surfrider Foundation, Greenpeace, Healthy Gulf, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Alaska Wilderness League, Turtle Island Restoration Network
“We defeated Trump the first time he tried to roll back protections and sacrifice more of our waters to the oil industry.
“We’re bringing this abuse of the law to the courts again.”
— Steve Mashuda
Managing Attorney of Earthjustice’s Oceans Program
President Biden permanently protected millions of vulnerable acres in the ocean. President Trump cannot legally undo those protections.
Areas withdrawn by Biden admin. from oil and gas leasing
Previously protected areas nearby
Pacific Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
Gulf of Mexico
Casey Chin / Earthjustice. Data: BOEM
About the Lawsuit
What Happened
Amid a flurry of anti-environment executive orders on his first day in office, President Trump issued an illegal order to revoke former President Biden’s withdrawal of vulnerable areas of the ocean from future oil and gas leasing.
The law does not authorize the president to revoke the withdrawals of prior presidents.
Our Response
Earthjustice has long worked to oppose offshore drilling. We’ve had decades of litigation success against dangerous plans for oil drilling, and we’ll do it again with our lawsuit against Trump’s illegal order.
Article
Gregg Pachkowski for Earthjustice
“I could smell the oil before I could see it.”
— JJ Waters of Pensacola Beach, Fla.
15 years after BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster, one of the worst oil spills in U.S. history. Read article.
About the Lawsuit
Brad Zweerink / Earthjustice
Video
David Gomez / Getty Images
“America is blessed with a strong suite of environmental laws.”
— Drew Caputo
Earthjustice’s VP of Litigation for Lands, Oceans, Wildlife, explains the legal challenge to block the Trump administration’s illegal ocean drilling plan
“Living on the Gulf Coast, I have seen first-hand the harmful impacts to people and places by the oil and gas industry.”
— Joanie Steinhaus
Ocean Program Director for Turtle Island Restoration Network, Earthjustice Client
Lawsuit Filed: Mar. 13, 2025
Bringing Clean Energy to Everyone: Challenging the Federal Funding Freeze
What’s at Stake
The Trump administration froze federal funding appropriated by the Inflation Reduction Act for clean energy, conservation, and other projects, leaving thousands of Americans in the lurch.
Our Clients
Cultivate KC, Faith In Place, GreenLatinos, Hendrix Farm, Red Fire Farm, Two Boots Farm
Our Client
Ann-Marie VanTassell
“The USDA is the backbone of agriculture in our country … The government knows that farming is not a profitable endeavor, so to get screwed like this really hurts.”
— Elisa Lane
Owner of Two Boots Farm in Hampstead, Md.
About the Lawsuit
What Happened
The Trump administration unlawfully withheld grant funds appropriated by Congress through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the landmark climate law that contained billions of dollars in funding to help the middle class and small businesses be a part of the clean energy transition.
Our Response
Earthjustice sued the Trump administration and USDA.
We filed this lawsuit on behalf of IRA grant recipients who have been harmed by the freeze in funding for projects, including farmers, local governments, community groups, and tribes.
About the Lawsuit
Alyssa Schukar for Earthjustice
Our Client
Brad Zweerink / Earthjustice
“We were ready for a year of growth and now, with the funding freeze, we are in a year of ‘Let's hold on to what we have.’”
— Brien Darby
Executive Director of Cultivate KC
Our Client
“This funding freeze is more than an administrative delay. It is actively harming the people.”
— Brian Sauder
President and CEO of Faith in Place
Eric Davis for Earthjustice
“This is not government efficiency. It is thoughtless waste that inflicts unwarranted financial pain on small farmers and organizations trying to improve their communities.”
— Hana Vizcarra
Senior Attorney at Earthjustice
Lawsuit Filed: Mar. 4, 2025
Challenging the Attempt to “Terminate” New York’s Congestion Pricing Program
What’s at Stake
The program is raising millions for public transit improvements, resulting in cleaner air, and significantly reducing traffic.
Our Clients
Riders Alliance, Sierra Club
“After a decade of organizing, everyday New Yorkers won congestion relief, and we’ll defend it with everything we have.
“We can’t afford to go back. There is no way to make traffic gridlock great again.”
— Betsy Plum
Executive Director of Riders Alliance, Earthjustice client, on the lawsuit filing
About the Lawsuit
What Happened
The Trump administration’s Dept. of Transportation is attempting to end the nation’s first Congestion Pricing program.
Sec. Duffy claimed he had discovered a secret loophole.
Our Response
On behalf of our clients, Earthjustice filed a legal complaint, charging that DOT made serious legal mistakes in its rush to deprive New Yorkers of the benefits of the Congestion Pricing program.
About the Lawsuit
Alexander Spatari / Getty Images
“In its rush to end congestion pricing, the Trump administration is selling a flimsy excuse to try and make an end run around what the laws require.”
— Dror Ladin
Attorney in Earthjustice’s Northeast Office
Lawsuit Filed: Feb. 24, 2025
Outcome Achieved: May 13, 2025
Stopping the Trump Administration’s Climate Censorship
What’s at Stake
Farmers were stripped of vital resources due to the purge of climate web content.
Outcome of the Lawsuit
Days before a motion was set to be heard in federal court, USDA reversed course, committing to restore the purged content.
Our Clients
Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, NRDC, and EWG are represented by Earthjustice and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.
“We’re glad that USDA recognized that its blatantly unlawful purge of climate-change-related information is harming farmers and communities across the country.”
— Jeffrey Stein
Attorney in Earthjustice’s Sustainable Food & Farming Program in an interview with The New York Times on the settlement
About the Lawsuit
Joshua A. Bickel / AP
About the Lawsuit
The Problem
The Trump administration removed climate-related information from government websites.
All farmers in the U.S. are facing extreme and changing weather patterns.
Our Response
Earthjustice sued the USDA, asking a court to restore access to vital climate information and prohibit further website purging.
We have long pushed the government to help farmers adapt through climate-smart agriculture practices and reducing industrial agriculture’s climate impact.
Video
Ujesh Krishnan / Unsplash
“You can purge a website of the words ‘climate change,’ but that doesn’t mean climate change goes away.”
— Peter Lehner
Managing Attorney of Earthjustice’s Sustainable Food & Farming Program, in an interview with The New York Times
Our lawyers measure success in clean air, clean water, and protected wild spaces.
Every one of our clients gets top-tier legal representation, free of charge. And we win.
Which is why your support is so crucial.
We can’t keep fighting for our planet without your help.
More Ways We Are Holding the Trump Administration Accountable
Featured
Trump Guts Environmental Justice Policies, but the Fight for Justice Continues
The administration is slashing initiatives meant to help communities of color and low-income communities facing high pollution burdens.
Millions of Americans Are Still Exposed to Lead. Take Action to Help.
Congress may repeal lead exposure protections, endangering millions of lives.
He Worked to Clean Up Superfund Sites.
Thousands of firings across the EPA and other federal agencies put our environment and public health at risk.
Featured
Polluters Can Now Email Their Way Out of Clean Air Laws, Courtesy of Trump
The administration is quietly stripping clean air standards from us by presidential decree, shifting pollution costs from corporate profit balance sheets onto our lungs.
Featured
The Trump Administration Is Trying to Put Our Federal Forests Up for Sale
If the Trump administration breaks the law to hold timber sales, we will see them in court.
Additional Photo Credits:
- An oil-coated feather washed onto a Pensacola beach on June 23, 2010, following the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill. (Tech. Sgt. Emily F. Alley / U.S. Air Force)
- Jellyfish in the "Whaley" Seamount in the Jarvis Island Unit of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument. The thick bright ends of its tentacles are where the nematocysts (stinging cells) are especially dense. (NOAA)
- Commercial fisherman Kevin Merrick dumps shrimp into an ice chest after a morning of shrimping on May 16, 2010, in Buras, Louisiana. (John Moore / Getty Images)
- A subway train on the 7 line in Queens. New York City's congestion pricing program is raising millions for public transit improvements and significantly reducing traffic. (Marco Bottigelli / Getty Images)
- Farmers have experienced record losses from climate-driven extreme weather in recent years. Steve Swenka prepares to chop up corn stalks in Tiffin, Iowa, during a drought in 2023. (Stefani Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images)