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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.
We hope this blog can help shed some light on what Chevron was, why it was created, and how environmental advocates may be able to fill the gaps left in its place.
Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services would like to highlight these twenty-four champions of the environment in honor of Women’s History Month 2024. The Climate Crisis is not gender neutral—uplifting the voices of women and non-binary environmentalists is crucial to building sustainable environmental justice and conservation efforts. We want to take the time to celebrate the contributions of these amazing advocates and the inspiration they continue to provide us with to live in harmony with our planet and fiercely protect the places where we live, work, and play.
In response to the Planning Director’s comments in the media that the proposed development is a better land use than electroplating or some of the other things that could go on this property, it’s simply a legal falsehood that the City has to grant a conditional use permit and allow this proposed development to move forward.
On October 22, 2020, the East Pittsburgh Borough Zoning Hearing Board voted to affirm the Borough Council’s earlier decision to rescind approval for a natural gas well pad proposed on the U.S. Steel Edgar Thompson property, just outside the City of Pittsburgh.
Contact: Tim Fitchett, Attorney tfitchett@fairshake-els.org
On October 6, 2020, Clean Air Council (CAC), through counsel, filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue Sunoco Pipeline L.P. (SPLP) for violations of its Erosion and Sedimentation Control permits related to the Mariner East II pipelines.
Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services of Pittsburgh, PA, which is representing Clean Air Council in this matter, filed the notice outlining an alleged pattern and practice of preventing professional geologists (PGs) working on the pipeline from properly inspecting and investigating environmental conditions, including subsidence, near the pipeline. The Notice of Intent to Sue contends that:
● SPLP prevented the PGs from talking with drillers, depriving them of required information.
● SPLP prevented PGs from reporting potentially dangerous subsidence outside of an arbitrarily determined boundary.
● SPLP failed to adequately monitor subsidence incidents that were reported.
● SPLP required the PGs’ reports to be editable and altered those reports before submission to regulatory agencies.
● SPLP required the PGs to conform their findings with those of the Utility Inspectors, regardless of their actual findings.
Given the limitations placed on PGs and the potential alteration of their reports, CAC contends that SPLP has violated their Erosion and Sedimentation permits. Those permits require that SPLP submit true and accurate reports to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to ensure compliance with the Clean Streams Law.
“Sunoco is so scared of what its scientists will find in investigating its pipeline construction that it’s muzzled them and doctored their reports” said Joseph Minott, Executive Director and Chief Counsel of Clean Air Council. “Building pipelines based on fake science is dangerous and fraudulent.”
The Notice of Intent to Sue can be found here.
On September 2, 2020 WeConservePA, supported by attorney Ryan Hamilton and legal intern Emily Rollins of Fair Shake ELS, published a legal guide to Adverse Possession in Pennsylvania in order to help property owners understand the concepts behind this legal theory and provide practical advice for avoiding disputes.
On July 6, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States denied an application that would allow for the Keystone XL pipeline to continue construction pending an environmental review of their Nationwide Permit 12 (“NWP 12”). This means that construction for the pipeline is to be put on hold until it undergoes a strict and lengthy review process, which could last up until and into 2021. But there is a whole lot more to this story…
