James Pew

Senior Attorney

Washington, D.C. Office

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Bar Admissions

DC, PA (inactive)

James Pew

Senior Attorney Washington, D.C. Office

Tylar Greene
Public Affairs and Communications Strategist
tgreene@earthjustice.org

Jim Pew is senior attorney based in Earthjustice’s Washington, D.C. office.

He received a B.A. in history from Stanford University, a M.A. in law from Cambridge University, and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jim practiced at a private law firm in Philadelphia for three years, at the Natural Resources Defense Council for two years, and at Earthjustice since 1997.

Expert Posts & Articles

The massive coal ash disaster in Kingston, Tennessee.
May 2, 2025

Polluters can now email their way out of clean air laws, courtesy of Trump

Trump is handing out pollution waivers, leaving millions breathing more toxic air
March 10, 2025

New Congress Pushes for Worst Clean Air Rollback in History 

Congress introduced a CRA that could permanently remove protections safeguarding communities from some of the most toxic air pollution
Mercury levels in tuna have finally started to decrease, but the good news may be short lived if Scott Pruitt is allowed to head the EPA and overturn important limits on power plant pollution.
January 30, 2017

A Scott Pruitt Appointment Means More Mercury in Our Fish

Mercury levels in tuna have finally started to decrease, but the good news may be short lived if Scott Pruitt is allowed to head the EPA and overturn important limits on power plant pollution.
The Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.
June 30, 2015

Don’t Panic: The Supreme Court’s Decision on Mercury and Air Toxics

The fate of the Mercury and Air Toxics safeguards is still to be determined after the Supreme Court's decision grants a challenge to the EPA’s long overdue limits on toxic pollution.

Tylar Greene
Public Affairs and Communications Strategist
tgreene@earthjustice.org

Bar Admissions

DC, PA (inactive)

Quoted in the News

April 1, 2025

Politico

Trump admin. aims to undo crackdown on cancer-causing air emissions

“I just don’t see why forcing people to breathe toxic pollution for another two years is in the national security interests of the United States.”
March 27, 2025

The New York Times

E.P.A. Offers a Way to Avoid Clean-Air Rules: Send an Email

“It’s hard to imagine how these exemptions could be lawful.”
April 2, 2024

Grist

The EPA wanted to clean up steel mills. Then a group of Rust Belt senators got involved.

“The steel companies mounted a real disinformation campaign about the cost of the rule that I think put pressure on EPA to take out some provisions that would have been beneficial.”
March 25, 2024

Houston Landing

EPA gives ‘minor’ polluters a free pass, creating a regulatory void in Channelview

“Just getting the EPA to use the authority it has had all along would yield huge benefits.”
February 15, 2024

MinnPost

Minnesota tribes say EPA’s taconite mercury emission rules don’t go far enough

“That just isn’t enough. The EPA could fix this.”
December 12, 2022

Inside Climate News

A Gary, Indiana Plant Would Make Jet Fuel From Trash and Plastic. Residents Are Pushing Back

“This whole fight at the local, state, and federal levels is about getting gasification and pyrolysis incinerators rebranded as non-incinerators so they can … avoid installing pollution controls and monitoring and reporting their emissions. EPA’s regulations have defined facilities like Fulcrum as incinerators for almost 30 years.”

Latest Press Statements

May 1, 2025

Senate Allows Thousands of the Worst Polluters Shut Off Clean Air Controls  

Majority vote to gut core Clean Air Act protections, flooding communities with cancer-causing air pollution   
May 9, 2024

New EPA Rule Will Cut Highly Toxic Lead Pollution from Copper Smelters

The overdue standards will reduce lead and arsenic emissions released by copper smelters
April 15, 2024

EPA Denies Industry Petition to Deregulate Air Toxics-Emitting Combustion Turbines

The EPA’s denial directly addresses environmental and health concerns regarding the impacts turbines’ emissions have on people
Steel mills in East Chicago, Indiana, on the shore of Lake Michigan.
March 18, 2024

Final Steel Mill Rule Will Prevent 64 Tons of Hazardous Air Emissions Annually

Despite significant industry pushback, EPA takes important step to regulate steel production, one of the worst sources of toxic heavy metal air pollution
February 9, 2024

EPA’s Delayed Mercury Limits for Taconite Plants Fall Short

The rule doesn’t reduce taconite facilities’ dangerous mercury emissions enough
September 26, 2023

EPA Proposed Rule Leaves Trump-Era Air Toxics Loophole in Place 

The proposed rule fails communities by allowing polluters to dodge requirements to control and monitor the most toxic pollutants