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From left: Walter Jim, Chair of the Orutsararmiut Native Council (ONC), Ray Watson, an ONC Council Member, and William Igkurak, Council President of the Native Village of Kwigillingok, presented at the 2025 Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in Eugene, Oregon, on the threat of the Donlin Gold mine to their Kuskokwim River communities.  (Rebecca Bowe / Earthjustice)
feature June 4, 2025

Mining Makes No Sense to the Southwest Alaska Tribes Challenging the Donlin Gold Mine

Alaska Native tribal leaders explain how a massive gold mine proposed in their region poses grave risks to villages, food security and continued tribal traditions

A Gulf of Mexico Rice’s whale — one of the world’s rarest whales — observed in the western Gulf of Mexico in 2024. The species is the only large whale species that lives year-round in North American waters. (Paul Nagelkirk / NOAA Fisheries - NMFS ESA/MMPA Permit #21938)
Press Release May 20, 2025

Groups Sue to Protect Critically Endangered Gulf Rice’s Whale From Oil and Gas Impacts

New federal biological opinion fails to address harm from fossil fuel drilling in the Gulf

A Rice’s whale, one of Earth’s rarest whales. (Lisa Conger / Beth Josephson / Permit #21938 / NOAA Fisheries)
case May 20, 2025

Protecting Critically Endangered Rice’s Whale From Oil and Gas Impacts in the Gulf of Mexico

On behalf of our clients, Earthjustice filed suit to properly protect rare species, including Rice’s whales and Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, from being harmed or killed by fossil fuel drilling and exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.

Press Release May 30, 2025

Urgent Intervention by Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Needed to Stop Eviction of Mapuche Community

Organizations ask the commission to defend the Lof El Sosneado community from forced removal in conflict with mining company on ancestral lands in Mendoza, Argentina

Southern resident orca J16 makes rainbows while surfacing in Puget Sound. The southern resident orca population is protected under the Endangered Species Act. (Miles Ritter / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
feature May 16, 2025

The Endangered Species Act Is Under Attack

The Trump administration is attacking the Endangered Species Act in unprecedented ways since the passage of our nation’s landmark conservation law.

More than 100,000 Native American archaeological and cultural sites, some dating to 12,000 B.C., are protected in Bears Ears National Monument. (Steven St. John for Earthjustice)
feature April 24, 2025

What You Should Know About the Antiquities Act and National Monuments

For over a hundred years, the Antiquities Act of 1906 has protected America’s natural and historic wonders from mining, drilling, looting, and industrial development.

Clockwise from top left: Laura Beth Resnick of Butterbee Farm. (Alyssa Schukar for Earthjustice) Controlled burn during BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. (Petty Officer First Class John Masson / U.S. Coast Guard) Subway train on the 7 line in Queens, New York City. (Marco Bottigelli / Getty Images) An oil-coated feather on a Florida beach in 2010, following the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill. (Tech. Sgt. Emily F. Alley / U.S. Air Force)
feature May 23, 2025

Our Lawsuits Against the Trump Administration

We will defend the progress we have made and keep moving forward.

Grey reef sharks and colorful schools of anthias in the waters of Jarvis Island at the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument. (Kelvin Gorospe / NOAA)
feature May 22, 2025

The Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument Is Under Attack

We’re suing the Trump administration for trying to illegally open one of the world’s most pristine tropical marine environments to commercial fishing

In the News: Tampa Bay Times February 26, 2025

Trump administration rolls back protections for rare whales off Florida coast

Steve Mashuda, Managing Attorney, Oceans Program: “If you’re concerned about whales being harmed by offshore energy, I’ve got a whale in the Gulf of Mexico I’d like you to meet. The Deepwater Horizon spill killed close to a quarter of the population alone. The Gulf doesn’t belong to the oil industry, the Gulf belongs to…

A deep water drill ship anchored in the Gulf of Mexico, off the Louisiana coast in 2021. (Brad Zweerink / Earthjustice)
Update: Victory March 28, 2025

Court Win Protects Whales, Sea Turtles, and 73 Million Acres of Ocean

A five-year offshore oil and gas leasing plan that will be announced later in September may include 10+ additional offshore oil lease sales.

The coal-fired Keystone Generating Station near Shelocta, Pennsylvania. (Jim West / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Article May 28, 2025

4 Ways Clean Air Is Under Attack from Trump and Congressional Republicans

New moves by the Trump administration and its congressional allies threaten to increase air pollution and harm public health.

In the News: WUSF February 27, 2025

Restrictions on ship speeds removed in endangered Rice’s whales’ Gulf habitat

Steve Mashuda, Managing Attorney, Oceans Program: “We’re at a point with Rice’s whales where we need to be doing everything possible within our power to save this species. Slowing vessels down just as they’re transiting this narrow band of Rice’s Whale habitat in the Gulf of Mexico is a thing that can be done immediately.…

In the News: The New York Times May 12, 2025

Farmers Sued Over Deleted Climate Data. So the Government Will Put It Back.

Jeffrey Stein, Attorney, Sustainable Food & Farming Program: “We’re glad that U.S.D.A. recognized that its blatantly unlawful purge of climate-change-related information is harming farmers and communities across the country.”

A Bureau of Land Management-maintained forest in Oregon. (Bureau of Land Management)
From the Experts May 21, 2025

House Natural Resources Committee Package Delivers Big Windfalls to Polluting Industries and Billionaires

The bill represents one of the most anti-environmental bills ever debated in the U.S. Congress.

document May 20, 2025

Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief: 2025 Gulf Drilling Biological Opinion

Earthjustice, on behalf of the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, and the Turtle Island Restoration Network, filed suit to properly protect rare species, including Rice’s whales and Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, from being harmed or killed by fossil fuel drilling and exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.

The United Nations recently adopted an oceans goal for the first time to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.”
(Rich Carey/Shutterstock)
From the Experts March 14, 2025

Protecting Our Ocean Protects Human Rights

Earthjustice presents to the United Nations Human Rights Council on the important relationship between the ocean and human rights.

A Rice’s whale, one of Earth’s rarest whales. (Lisa Conger / Beth Josephson / Permit #21938 / NOAA Fisheries)
Press Release: Victory August 20, 2024

Court Orders Government to Protect Rare Gulf Whales, Sea Turtles, and Imperiled Marine Species from Damaging Effects of Offshore Drilling

Court rules that the official biological opinion is not adequate to protect species

In the News: The Times-Picayune May 2, 2025

Air Products delays $8 billion Ascension plant, looking to find buyer for carbon capture, ammonia portion

Corinne Van Dalen, Attorney, Fossil Fuels Program: “This is great news for all the groups and community members who have been fighting this ill-conceived project from the start.”