Environmental Justice

EELP collaborates with environmental justice and Tribal organizations and coalitions to identify legal pathways for laws, regulations, and policies to be more equitable. We produce legal research on how governmental agencies can drive meaningful engagement and produce more just environmental and public health outcomes for impacted communities.

Media Inquiries

Comments Filed

EELP submits statement on expanding flood insurance coverage to House Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance

Flooding is the most common and costly environmental disaster in the U.S., causing more than $85 billion in damages in 2021 alone. Yet most standard insurance policies do not include coverage for flood-related damages.

March 9, 2023

Comments Filed

EELP Contributes to Comments on Civil Rights Protections in EPA’s $27B Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund RFI

Alliance members urge EPA to take specific steps to ensure that the GHGRF directly benefits disadvantaged and low-income communities, and that recipients of GHGRF grants comply with their civil rights obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

December 7, 2022

CleanLaw Podcast

CleanLaw — Legislating Environmental Justice in New York with Prof. Rebecca Bratspies and Hannah Perls

What recent EJ legislative wins mean for environmental regulation and overburdened communities in the state.

October 6, 2022

Legal Analysis

The Inflation Reduction Act’s Implications for Biden’s Climate and Environmental Justice Priorities

A look at the IRA’s impact on the Biden administration’s regulatory priorities for addressing climate change and how it will support the administration’s EJ goals.

August 12, 2022

Legal Analysis

Breaking Down the Environmental Justice Provisions in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act

The Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) environmental justice (EJ) provisions represent the first time the Biden administration’s EJ agenda has been expressly included in a statute. However, the IRA leaves it […]

August 12, 2022

Legal Analysis

DOJ Revives Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) as Part of EJ Agenda

The history of SEPs in federal environmental enforcement and response to legal arguments made by the Trump DOJ alleging that SEPs and other third party-payments violate federal law.

June 13, 2022

CleanLaw Podcast

CleanLaw — Joel Scata and Hannah Perls on Fixing the National Flood Insurance Program

The history of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and the challenges facing the program in helping communities adapt to a climate-changed world.

February 14, 2022

Legal Analysis

Equitable Disaster Relief: An Analysis of FEMA’s Legal Authority to Integrate Equity under the Stafford Act

The act’s discretionary function exception gives FEMA extraordinary flexibility in integrating equity considerations by shielding most FEMA rules, policies, and other decisions from judicial review.

October 13, 2021

CleanLaw Podcast

CleanLaw — Hannah Perls and Aminta Ossom Talk about Human Rights and Climate Change

How looking at environmental problems through a human rights lens can provide new insights and legal strategies for addressing environmental injustice in the United States and beyond.

August 9, 2021