In H.B. 96, the Ohio General Assembly snuck anti-environment provisions into the bill at the last minute that removed important protections for Ohioans who want to file complaints against polluters while also invalidating community air monitoring data. These statutory changes have no relationship to Ohio’s budget and thus violate the Ohio Constitution’s requirement that all legislation include only one subject.
Have you ever gone for a walk outside, heard the birds, and felt it clear your mind? Even lift your mood? There's a reason why people say they need to "get outside" – our surroundings have a profound impact on the way we think, feel, and cope with our situations. But what is the effect when those surroundings are polluted, neglected, or even unsafe? Our environment impacts more than just our physical health; it has a substantial impact on our mental health too.
How Can We Help You?
As environmental justice and law nonprofit, we are excited to support systems-change that strengthen environmental justice outcomes. This can include:
Building Connections
Legal “Translation” + Bridging Information
Researching, Strategizing, and Educating about Legal and Policy Levers
Drafting Generalized Legal and Policy Templates
Engaging Community and Amplifying Issues
We can provide any of this support to nonprofits, coalitions, residents, and municipalities at no-cost. Please reach out today and let’s get to work.
Ohio has recently passed legislation that will protect activists against SLAPP suits - so what are these suits and why is this legislation so important?
SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. These are lawsuits aimed at silencing criticism and draining the resources of those who speak up against certain organizations.
An Environmental Justice Advisory Board (EJAB) is a group that advises government agencies on issues related to environmental justice, ensuring that policies and actions address the needs and concerns of marginalized communities disproportionately affected by environmental harms. These boards play a crucial role in promoting fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of race or income, in environmental decision-making processes.
On May 4, 2020, Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services filed a Petition to Redesignate Toms Creek on behalf of Friends of Toms Creek, a group dedicated to protecting, preserving, enhancing and restoring the natural, scenic, historic and aesthetic resources within the Toms Creek watershed, an important resource located in Southwest Adams County, Pennsylvania.
During this crisis people have been spending more and more time in nature, that’s great! We hope that folks are building new bonds with nature and, hopefully, inspiring new vigilance towards protecting it. At Fair Shake we are lucky to work with so many groups doing the hard work to lay the dirt paths that we are all enjoying. So we want to dedicate some love to them. In this blog post we’ll tell you about the “trials” behind the trails you love!
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that it would be suspending all enforcement of environmental protections. The full announcement can be read here.
Most people don’t think of estate planning as a tool that can be used for the environment, but they would be quite wrong. Estate planning is not only a great way to invest or to avoid headaches and hassles for your family after you pass away, but it can be a way to support the things you believe in long after you are gone.
The Allegheny County Health Department and United States Steel recently finalized their consent decree for violations of the Clean Air Act and the terms of the resulting Community Benefit Trust. The communities of the Monongahela Valley of Southwestern Pennsylvania who are impacted by the settlement have been long awaiting any information about the environmental trust. To provide better access to these funds, I have reviewed the terms of the environmental trust carefully and broken down its important facets as follows:
We are proud to announce our newest partnership with the William Penn Foundation, to create the very first Waterways Access Guidebook for the Delaware River Basin!
