News Clips
- December 07, 2011 | The City Project Advocates Submit Comments on FTA's Environmental Justice and Title VI Circulars The Lawyers' Committee and diverse national, statewide, and local organizations and scholars that work on transportation justice have submitted public comments to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) on the proposed new Circulars on Title VI and Environmental Justice.
- September 01, 2011 Barbara Arnwine Speaks as a Panelist at EPA’s Environmental Justice Conference in Detroit, Discusses Agency Failure to Enforce Title VI Lawyers’ Committee Executive Director Barbara Arnwine participated on a panel called “Tools for Agency Accountability and Community Resolution: Civil Rights, Human Rights, Environmental Benefits Agreements, SEPs and Other Tools.” A poignant theme that emerged from the conversations was the longstanding failure of EPA to enforce Title VI environmental justice complaints. “We’re here in this frustration because we’ve been talking about this for decades," Barbara noted.
- April 29, 2011 Lawyers' Committee Submits Comments on the Environmental Justice Permitting Section of EPA's Draft Plan EJ 2014 In their comment letter, the Lawyers' Committee makes recommendations for including environmental justice issues in the environmental permitting process, recommendations which are drawn from its 2009 report "Now is the Time: Environmental Injustice in the U.S. and Recommendations for Eliminating Disparities.
- April 22, 2011 On Earth Day, We Reflect On the State of Environmental Injustice On Earth Day 2011, the Lawyers’ Committee would like to briefly reflect on the movement for environmental justice in America, an ideal that is often hard to pinpoint. At the movement’s core, environmental justice advocates seek to ensure that no one community shoulders the burdens and dangers associated with environmental hazards more than any other. Concentrations of pollution – including landfills, polluting industries, nuclear waste, and so on – in vulnerable communities leaves a stain on us all. As EPA administrator Lisa Jackson puts it, “If their air is not clean, then my air is not clean. If they can’t drink their water, you can’t drink your water either.”
- June 22, 2010 | EPA EPA Supports Superfund "Polluter Pays" Provision The Lawyers' Committee is pleased by the EPA's June 21st announcement supporting the reinstatement of the Superfund Tax.
- June 10, 2010 | EPA EPA and States Complete First Phase of Unprecedented School Air Monitoring Initiative In a June 10 press release, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the completion of the first phase of a new initiative to test air quality in schools. The Lawyers' Committee highlighted the importance of access to healthy schools, particularly for students from low-income communities and communities of color, in its newly released environmental justice report, "Now Is the Time."
- June 09, 2010 Lawyers' Committee Releases Environmental Justice Report As the nation continues to grapple with the recent disastrous Gulf Coast oil well leak, the largest environmental disaster in the history of the U.S., the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, in collaboration with numerous environmental justice advocates, is preparing to officially release its report, "Now is the Time: Environmental Injustice in the U.S. and Recommendations for Eliminating Disparities."
- May 14, 2010 Daria Neal Discusses Upcoming Environmental Justice Report Lawyers' Committee Environmental Justice Project Senior Counsel Daria Neal presented during Howard University's "The State of Environmental Justice in America" Conference on May 13, 2010.
- December 17, 2009 Lawyers' Committee's Daria Neal Reports from Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen Daria Neal, senior counsel, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law's Environmental Justice Project, is on the ground in Copenhagen during the United Nation's Climate Change Summit. Daily blogs outlining her experiences will be posted here.
- September 08, 2009 Lawyers' Committee Disappointed by Resignation of Van Jones and Negative Impact of Smear and Fear Rhetoric on American Democracy The Lawyers’ Committee is disappointed by the resignation of Van Jones and negative impact of smear and fear rhetoric on American democracy. The Lawyers’ Committee’s Environmental Justice Project, headed by Daria Neal, has worked diligently to protect the environment of America’s most vulnerable populations and ensure equal opportunity to live and be educated in safe, clean communities.
