Yasmine Agelidis

Supervising Senior Attorney

California Office

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Bar Admissions

CA

Yasmine Agelidis

Supervising Senior Attorney California Office

Zoe Woodcraft
Public Affairs and Communications Officer
zwoodcraft@earthjustice.org

Yasmine Agelidis is a supervising senior attorney based in Los Angeles, California, where she fights for clean air and the right to a healthy community as part of Earthjustice’s Right To Zero campaign. Living in one of the most heavily-polluted air basins in the country, she has seen firsthand how the goods movement industry pumps pollution into communities, affecting Angelenos’ health and daily lives.

Yasmine primarily works on accelerating transportation electrification in California and across the country. Much of her work centers on shifting the goods movement industry to zero-emissions, with a focus on electrifying heavy-duty vehicles like trucks, trains, and buses that spew especially toxic air pollution. Advocating before agencies in California and at the federal level, Yasmine has helped secure wins for a zero-emissions future, including the first regulation of its kind to replace all diesel-fueled refrigerated trucks with zero emissions units.

She also works closely with community groups, environmental and health organizations, and labor partners to hold the railroad industry accountable for cleaning up its dirty diesel equipment, and to get electric school buses, transit buses, and garbage trucks made with high-paying union jobs into the Los Angeles community.

Prior to joining Earthjustice, Yasmine clerked for Judge Robert W. Sweet on the Southern District of New York. She also worked as an associate at Sidley Austin, and interned with the ACLU of Southern California to advocate for gender and reproductive justice. Yasmine received her law and undergraduate degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.

Expert Posts & Articles

April 17, 2025

Another Day, Another Cynical Attempt by the Oil and Gas Industry to Drag Us Back to Dirtier Days

We’re stepping in to defend a trio of life-saving rules from a flurry of opportunistic lawsuits
A low angle photo of a train engine without cars attached.
July 9, 2024

Four Facts the Rail Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know About Zero-Emissions Trains

With California charting a course for zero-emissions rail, some of America’s oldest monopolies are conniving to hit the brakes on clean air. Don’t believe their misinformation.
Photo taken at sunset with the Port of Oakland behind the trains.
April 26, 2023

California is Bringing Rail into the Zero Emissions Era

Communities across California called on air regulators more than two decades ago to address the diesel crisis poisoning communities near railyards—and the California Air Resources Board is finally taking bold action.
A camera man looks down at camera filming an electric, green tractor.  In its mission to electrify everything, California is considering regulations for zero emissions off-road vehicles like tractors.
November 16, 2022

Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Roads: Electrifying Off-road Vehicles and Rail

California is considering key regulations for zero emissions rail, bulldozers, and tractors as it leaves no stone unturned in its marathon to electrify everything
Illustration of children joyfully waving to an electric school bus.
November 8, 2022

The Electric School Bus Is the Climate Hero We Need

The wheels on the bus are powered by clean energy.

Zoe Woodcraft
Public Affairs and Communications Officer
zwoodcraft@earthjustice.org

On Social Media

@yasmineagelidis

Bar Admissions

CA

Quoted in the News

July 2, 2026

Courthouse News Service

Environmentalists sue to block massive rail yard in California desert

“This massive rail facility will spew diesel fumes from the San Pedro Bay Ports to the High Desert of Barstow 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, adding to the dirty air that communities have been forced to breathe for decades.”
February 27, 2025

LAist

Compton’s electric buses

“The wheels are turning. And to take away funding now is to really put a wrench in a lot of that work.”
May 31, 2024

Chicago Tribune

Advocates meet in Chicago to call for new limits on freight train emissions: ‘Our lives literally depend on reform’

“One thousand people are passing away earlier than they would otherwise, just because of diesel locomotives.”
April 27, 2023

Washington Post

California to vote on ambitious locomotive emission rule

“It’s going to be groundbreaking, and it’s going to address the diesel crisis that’s been poisoning communities near railyards for literal decades.”
January 13, 2021

Grist

In the shadow of Amazon, resistance takes root in San Bernardino

“The pandemic has created this boom in retail that’s just made it a lot worse, and this impact is particularly felt by black and brown communities who are also being hit the hardest by COVID-19. This case — it’s fundamentally about human health, and it’s really about protecting people in a part of the country that has literally the worst air quality in the nation.”

Latest Press Statements

Trains in the foreground with homes and businesses rising on the hill behind.
July 2, 2026

Lawsuit Challenges Approval of Nation’s Largest Rail Facility in California

Five thousand-acre project would destroy desert lands, add pollution to Barstow, Los Angeles region
A low angle photo of a train engine without cars attached.
July 29, 2025

Legislation Reintroduced to Transform the United States’ Rail Network

All Aboard Act dedicates $200 billion over five years to build transportation system of the future
A low angle photo of a train engine without cars attached.
December 17, 2024

New Legislation from Senator Ed Markey Lays Tracks for All-Electric Rail Future in the U.S.

The All Aboard Act would provide $80 billion to expand passenger and high speed rail in the U.S. and $50 billion for a Green Railroad Fund
Trains in the foreground with homes and businesses rising on the hill behind.
September 30, 2024

California and Environmental Groups Successfully Defend Zero-Emissions Rail Rule in Latest Court Ruling

Environmental justice groups joined California Attorney General to defeat legal challenge from rail industry
Photo taken at sunset with the Port of Oakland behind the trains.
November 1, 2023

EPA Provides Clarity with New Rule: States Can Cut Dirty Locomotive Pollution

Environmental justice advocates win big on path for states and local governments to regulate pollution from locomotives
Earthjustice attorney Yasmine Agelidis speaks at a rally for electric school buses outside the Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters in 2022
October 17, 2023

Los Angeles Makes a Major Leap in Electrifying School Buses

LAUSD is making the single largest purchase of new electric school buses, chargers, and electric infrastructure owned and operated by a school district in the U.S.