Earthjustice Quarterly Magazine - Winter 2019

2019·7.3 MB·English

Earthjustice
QUARTERLY MAGAZINE ^ Winter 2019
THE FUTURE TRIUMPH FOR
IS FLORIDA TRIBAL LAHDS
FROMOURSUPPORTERS
Growing up, Naomi Mindelzun loved exploring the woods and losing herself in nature.
In her studio in Palo Alto, Calif., Mindelzun recreates that journey through colorful,
abstract oil paintings of wildlife and landscapes. She is using her art to protect nature’s
beauty by donating part of her proceeds to Earthjustice. “Protecting our planet is the
only thing that’s important right now,” she says. “It makes me proud to know my
paintings can help a little bit in this impossible situation.”
We love seeing our readers moved to art and action. Share with us at
[email protected], or by tagging #earthjustice on Instagram.
0 EARTHJUSTICE
Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We
wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people’s health;
to preserve magnificent places and wildlife; to advance clean energy; and to
combat climate change. We exist because the earth needs a good lawyer.
Earthjustice Quarterly Magazine (Issue 149, Winter 2019) is a publication of
Earthjustice, 50 California St., Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94111. Copyright 2019
President Abigail Dillen Art Director Xuanlana Nguyen
Managing Editor Ben Arnoldy Photo Editor Chris Jordan-Bloch
Deputy Editor Jessica A. Knoblauch Contributing Designer Rob Chambliss
Associate Editor Rebecca Cohen Associate Writer Alison Cagle
Phone [phone]
Email [email protected]
FROMTHELEADERSHIP
Small talk isn’t what it used to be. The our web of life. We have never done
weather is divisive and scary. Politics are more to counter the threats to the
like the new sports — except divisive and health and well-being of people living
scary. In the usual places, I find myself near polluters. We have never won
in unusual conversations. We choose more decisively, in more states, in
our words differendy, but we are edging more cities, the argument for clean,
around the same fear for the future. affordable energy as we race to achieve
a just transition from fossil fuels.
On a recent fall afternoon in California,
gorgeously sunny, unseasonably warm, Make no mistake. These are not the
watching our kids play soccer, a fellow “easy,” early wins that flow from basic
parent asks me how the planet is failures to follow procedures. These are
doing. It’s a friendly nod to my work at wins that reinforce our constitution and
Earthjustice. And, on all the laws we can
a day when wildfires apply to protect our
are raging, when the OUR LAWS GIVE planet. And these are
power is out, it’s a victories that matter
real question. US UNIQUE AGENCY immediately.
Another real question In the Rosemont
TO SHAPE OUR
that comes up in case, our victory
otherwise casual stopped bulldozers
FUTURE, AND
moments: “Are from starting to dig
you afraid?” a mile-wide open-
WE ARE USING
Yes, I am afraid! pit copper mine on
lands sacred to tribes
But I also have a AND DEFENDING
in the Southwest
vantage point that gives
(page 32). The ruling
me hope, because I THAT POWER.
upholds protections
work with our staff
under mining law that
at Earthjustice, with
industry often flouts.
all of our clients and
And, we went all the
allies, with our supporters, and with people
way to the Supreme Court (page 14)
around the world leading in this moment
after winning twice in lower courts on a
What we see in the news is the critical defense of the Clean Water Act.
lawlessness of this administration. What
Our laws give us unique agency to
we hear too little about is the massive
shape our future, and we are using
pushback in the courts, the vindication
and defending that power. We are so
of our laws, and the rule of law itself.
fortunate to have your support in the
Earthjustice has never won so many fight of our lives.
lawsuits in one year. Among these
Hope and courage,
victories are resounding wins enforcing
the limits of executive power and
vindicating the force of our bedrock
environmental protections. —
We have never stopped - in the space
of a single year - so many well- Abigail Dillen
funded, disastrous efforts to destroy President, Earthjustice
Winter 2019 3
22 THE FUTURE IF
IMEIICn
CLIMATE FIGHT
By Alison Cagle
Florida is a window onto the
new reality of climate change.
Hurricane Irma pounded Florida in 2017 The state is
particularly vulnerable to changes in storm intensity, sea-
level rise, and heat waves. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
: ■ ■fiMH J
COVER STORY
]
14
By Jessica A. Knoblauch
Earthjustice attorney David Henkin defends
clean water at the Supreme Court.
Earthjustice attorney David Henkin stands among the Supreme
Court's pillars. He traveled there from Hawai i to argue a clean water
case with sweeping national implications.
Melissa Lyttle for Earthjustice
'
DEPARTMENTS
3 From the Leadership 12 The Big Picture
By Abigail Dillen By Emilie K. Surrusco
Earthjustice is dismantling a legacy
6 Frontlines
of agricultural pollution in Florida’s
By Emilie K. Surrusco
Everglades National Park.
Cases, Issues, and Victories
32 Conversation
11 Zoom In
By Alison Cagle
By Earthjustice Staff
Chairman Austin Nunez reflects on a
Honeybees are critical to victory that stopped a mining company
our environment — yet toxic from razing the Tohono O’odham’s
pesticides are killing them. spiritual and ancestral lands.
i
FRONTLINES
Cases, Issues, and Victories
ALASKA: TONGASS TREES SPARED
Nearly 1,200 acres of irreplaceable old-growth rainforest
have been spared from chainsaws for the time being.
In response to an Earthjustice lawsuit, a federal judge
issued a preliminary injunction to stop the U.S. Forest
Service from handing over ancient stands of trees in
Alaska's Tongass National Forest to the timber industry.
The judge's ruling applies to the initial sale in a 15-year
Trump administration plan to log 43,000 acres and
construct 164 miles of roads in a forest that serves as one
of the country's most important carbon sinks, combatting
climate change. As we've done for decades, Earthjustice
will continue to fight to safeguard these incomparable
public lands.
A recent Earthjustice court victory halted a timber sale on Prince of
Wales Island in Alaska. Melissa Farlow / National Geographic Creative
■
CALIFORNIA: HAZY LOGIC NORTH DAKOTA:
DAPL FIGHT RENEWED
The Trump administration has picked
a fight with California over the state’s The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has
strict emission standards for new cars. advanced its legal battle against the
Earthjustice and others are going Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).
to court to ensure this is a fight the A spill from DAPL, a major crude
administration will lose. Fortunately, oil pipeline that crosses the Tribe’s
the law in this case is long established ancestral lands, could be disastrous
and sits squarely in Trump’s way. The for the Tribe. The U.S. Army Corps
federal government wants to strip the of Engineers, which approved the
authority of California and 13 other pipeline, has failed to frilly assess the
states to set their own restrictions on car risks of such a spill, even when ordered
pollution. At the same time, the Trump to do so by a federal judge in 2017.
administration wants to relax federal On behalf of the Tribe, Earthjustice
tailpipe standards. If successful, these recently asked that judge to throw
new rules could increase pollution for out the Army Corp’s latest sham risk
more than 100 million Americans. assessment and shut down DAPL.
F
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m
NATIONAL: A WHALE OF A VICTORY
The world’s remaining 400 North Atlantic right whales - one of the most
critically endangered species in our oceans - will again swim free in
two large areas off the coast of New England. Last year, the Trump
administration bowed to the fishing industry and opened these
areas to dangerous gillnets that can trap and kill right whales
and other wildlife without going through the legally required
Endangered Species Act consultation process. Earthjustice and
its Conservation Law Foundation partners immediately filed
suit Last month, the judge said there was no need to appear
in court. Based on our briefs alone, the judge found that the
Trump administration violated the law and issued an order
once again prohibiting gillnets in the two areas.
NATIONAL: CUTTING CROSS-STATE SMOG
In a big win for public health, the D.C. Circuit Court of
Appeals recently ruled that the EPA is illegally failing to
control smog that travels across state lines. The decision, in
response to an Earthjustice lawsuit, requires the agency to
place tighter limits on industrial sources of air pollution. By
doing so, it will prevent thousands of premature deaths and
hundreds of thousands of cases of aggravated asthma. This
ruling also sets an important precedent requiring the EPA to
more promptly control cross-state pollution going forward.
8 Earthjustice | earthjustice.org
SAN DIEGO DANGEROUS PESTICIDES
GOES ELECTRIC OUTLAWED
CALIFORNIA
San Diego is about California recently announced a ban
to be a much easier on the use of 99% of all chlorpyrifos,
place to charge an electric bus a type of dangerous pesticide widely
or truck. The California Public used on apples, oranges, broccoli,
Utilities Commission approved and dozens of other types of produce.
a program to invest more than Earthjustice fought for this ban
$100 million in infrastructure because chlorpyrifos is harmful
and charging equipment for such to pregnant women and children.
vehicles, with at least 30% of the Earthjustice and others have been
infrastructure funds reserved pushing for bans at the state level
for disadvantaged communities. because, despite overwhelming
Earthjustice represented East Yard evidence of its harm, the Trump
Communities for Environmental administration has delayed outlawing
Justice and Center for Community chlorpyrifos at the federal level.
Action and Environmental Justice, In New York, the state legislature
whose members live in communities approved a bill that prohibits the use
of color and are exposed to toxic of chlorpyrifos in agriculture and
pollution from trucks and freight is now awaiting Governor Andrew
equipment, in advocating for the Cuomo’s signature.
new program.
Safe Ag Safe Schools members protest inside the
EPA building in Sacramento, California, during a
hearing about chlorpyrifos in November 2018. PROVNfcV
Martin do Nascimento / Earthjustice
rohibir f
F
R
O DEFYING EXTINCTION SCIENCE ON TRIAL
N NATIONAL
T
L
IN This summer, the Trump At Trump’s EPA, many independent
E
S administration issued a new scientists have been replaced by

set of regulations that attempt consultants for polluters on key
to dramatically weaken the advisory committees, according
Endangered Species Act, a to a recent report by Congress’s
bedrock environmental law that nonpartisan watchdog agency. This
has protected countless imperiled disturbing trend began after former
species of wildlife and plants EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt
for more than four decades. instituted a policy that bars anyone
Earthjustice, on behalf of seven who receives an EPA grant - in
national conservation groups, filed a other words, many of the scientists
lawsuit challenging these regulations and medical professionals who work
for violating the spirit and letter of in the public interest — from advising
the law. Seventeen states have joined the agency. Earthjustice recently filed
us in a companion case. In the midst a brief in the D.C. Circuit Court of
of what has been called our sixth Appeals to challenge this policy and
extinction crisis, Earthjustice will ensure that independent doctors and
continue to fight any attempt to roll scientists will still be able to speak up
back this important law. for scientific integrity.
- Emilie Karrick Surrusco
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