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| Dear Friend, |
| As we fight the Trump administration’s attacks on the environment, we are celebrating the victories you've helped us achieve. |
| This month, we are celebrating a landmark climate win in New York, two important new bills signed in California, a case that forced the EPA to reverse course and enforce pollution standards, and a preliminary injunction against a new gas-fired power plant in New Jersey. |
| Your donations allow us to represent our clients free of charge. Together, we are building a more just, sustainable world. Thank you for making all of this possible! |
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| A Major Climate Case Win in New York |
In a landmark decision, the New York State Supreme Court ruled that the state is violating its nation-leading climate law and must issue regulations to reduce climate pollution by February 26.
The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act required the state government to issue regulations that would cut greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2030, with further reductions to follow. Those regulations had to be finalized by January 2024.
The state promised to implement a cap-and-invest program — which makes polluters pay for emissions, then uses revenue for climate action — by January 2025 but then cancelled those plans. So Earthjustice, along with clients and co-counsel, sued the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and won.
“The court confirmed the basic principle that the executive branch cannot unilaterally decide not to comply with the law,” said Rachel Spector, deputy managing attorney of Earthjustice’s Northeast Regional office. “New York’s climate commitments in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act are the law, and the legislature made clear that DEC must implement regulations so we can meet those commitments. It is more important than ever that New York continue to lead on climate, and this important decision holds the state accountable to do just that.” |
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| Support the Next Earthjustice Victory! |
| Friend, want to be part of the next Earthjustice victory? We rely on supporters to fund the lawsuits that protect our planet's future. Donate today to help fight back against the Trump administration’s environmental attacks. |
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| Two Great Climate Bills Signed in California |
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two important bills into law: one to reform utilities and lower energy bills, and the other to modernize manufacturing with zero-emission technology.
Bill #1: Lowering Energy Bills and Reforming Utilities: The California Ratepayer Protection Act (AB 1167), which was co-sponsored by Earthjustice and The Utility Reform Network, prevents utilities from forcing customers to pay for lobbying and advertising costs.
Matt Vespa, senior attorney on Earthjustice’s Right To Zero campaign, said this about the win: “For years, we’ve seen utilities slip millions of dollars in lobbying and promotional advertising costs into customer bills. Now, we’re establishing commonsense guardrails to protect Californians from utilities run amok. We’d like to thank Assemblymember Marc Berman for his vision and persistence to protect Californians in authoring this bill.”
Bill #2: Modernizing Manufacturing with Clean Technology: AB 1280 will help California manufacturers shift to zero-emissions equipment like heat pumps and thermal energy storage.
Adrian Martinez, director of Earthjustice’s Right To Zero campaign, said, “This legislation is a critical early step in modernizing California’s industrial sector — and next year, we hope to see Gov. Newsom and the legislature invest funds from cap-and-invest in the INDIGO program to ensure we keep pace with the rest of the world in the big shift to clean industrial equipment. In the end, it’ll deliver better health to Californians from the cradle to old age.” |
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| Feature Story: Protecting the Arctic |
| In a series of recent moves, the administration is opening most of the vast and precious Arctic ecosystem to drilling. Earthjustice has protected the Arctic for 50 years, and we will fight this new threat head on. Read the article. |
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| EPA Reverses Course on Toxic Emissions from Steel Industry |
The steel industry will have to reign in some of their most toxic emissions, after the EPA rescinded its delay of new air standards for steel industry coke ovens.
A few months ago, in a move that catered to corporate pressure, Trump’s EPA postponed new air standards until July 2027. Earthjustice and the Environmental Integrity Project filed a lawsuit on behalf of a coalition of clean air and community public health advocacy groups.
Rather than defend the interim final rule in litigation, EPA reversed course.
In western Pennsylvania, northwest Indiana, Ohio, Alabama, and other states, coke ovens — which burn coal to produce a hard deposit that facilities use to make steel — emit lead, mercury, benzene, and other hazardous, cancer-causing air pollutants. “Given the harm coke ovens’ emissions cause to communities, we are gratified to see EPA acknowledge that these facilities can and should meet emissions standards now,” said Adrienne Lee, an Earthjustice senior attorney. |
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| Construction Halted on New Gas-Fired Power Plant in New Jersey |
A federal court in New Jersey sided with communities in Newark, halting construction on a new gas-fired power plant in the city’s Ironbound neighborhood. This is a major win that guarantees there will be no further construction while the court undertakes the long process of considering the legal merits of the challenge filed by Earthjustice, on behalf of the Ironbound Community Corporation.
The facility would sit in one of the most polluted ZIP codes in New Jersey, where residents face shortened life spans and high rates of asthma, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. In just four square miles, over 50,000 residents, most of them working-class people of color, breathe the air pollution from existing gas plants, the state’s largest trash incinerator, and nonstop diesel truck traffic from one of the largest ports in the country.
“Today, the court took the reasonable step of pausing construction of what would be the fourth gas plant in the most overburdened community in New Jersey,” said Earthjustice attorney Jonathan Smith.
“This ruling validates what our community has been saying for years — Newark’s Ironbound should not be a dumping ground for polluting facilities. The court’s decision to pause construction gives residents a chance to keep fighting for the clean air and healthy future our families deserve,” said Hazel Applewhite, CEO of Ironbound Community Corporation. |
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| Photo Credits (top to bottom): Youth activists march from City Hall Park to Battery Park in New York City on September 24, 2021 as part of a global climate strike for climate week. (Karla Ann Cote/NurPhoto via AP); The highway winds along the Alaska Pipeline on Alaska's North Slope (Troutnut); The EES Coke Battery facility on Zug Island in River Rouge, Michigan. (Ted Auch / FracTracker Alliance). |
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