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.
When the topic of estate planning is brought up, many people tend to think of the traditional nuclear family, maybe a hefty amount of assets, and the drafting a will or trust based on those variables. But given the opportunities that estate planning provides, we at Fair Shake ELS view this area of law as becoming a steward of the land— on smaller scale.
Jen joins Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services as a Staff Attorney in our new Philadelphia, Pennsylvania location. She started her early professional career as an engineer with Armstrong World Industries and The Boeing Company, working mainly in developing and improving manufacturing processes. While at Boeing, she became interested in advocating for people on an individual level and started attending law school in pursuit of that endeavor. In law school, Jen participated in the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic at Widener University which she found combined her passion for advocacy and her love of the natural world.
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.
