CleanLaw

EELP Fellow Hannah Perls speaks with Naeema Muhammad and Elizabeth Haddix. Naeema is a life-long activist and the Organizing Co-Director of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, where she has worked for the past two decades leading state-wide campaigns and supporting grassroots efforts for environmental and social justice. Elizabeth is a Managing Attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She previously was the Senior Staff Attorney at the University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights where she led the center’s environmental justice docket from 2010 until 2017, when UNC eliminated the Center’s ability to represent clients, after which Elizabeth and the Center’s only other staff attorney, Mark Dorosin, formed the Julius Chambers Center for Civil Rights and continued to represent all their clients. In 2019, the Chambers Center became the Lawyers’ Committee’s only regional office. This is the second episode in a 2-part series in which we look at environmental justice litigation in eastern North Carolina, where communities are challenging pervasive air and water pollution from industrial hog operations. https://ncejn.org/ https://lawyerscommittee.org/ Transcript https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/CleanLaw-57-Hannah-Naeema-Elizabeth-NC-Hog-Farms-Title-VI-pt-2.pdf

In this episode EELP Fellow Hannah Perls spoke with Naeema Muhammad and Alexis Andiman. Naeema is a life-long activist and the Organizing Co-Director of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, where she has worked for the past two decades leading state-wide campaigns and supporting grassroots efforts for environmental and social justice. Alexis Andiman is a staff attorney with the Sustainable Food & Farming Program with Earthjustice. This is the first episode in a 2-part series in which we’ll look at some of the legal tools advocates are using to challenge the disparate impacts of pollution in environmental justice communities. In both episodes, we’ll be focusing on eastern North Carolina, where communities are challenging pervasive air and water pollution from industrial hog operations. Transcript https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/CleanLaw-56-Hannah-Naeema-Alexis-NC-Hog-Farms-Title-VI.pdf For more on Naeema's and Alexis's work: https://ncejn.org/ https://earthjustice.org/about/offices/sustainable-food-farming

Note: this episode was recorded in January, 2021. In this episode our staff attorney Caitlin McCoy was joined by Justin Gundlach and Elizabeth Stein to discuss their recent article "Harmonizing States' Energy Utility Regulation Frameworks and Climate Laws. A Case Study of New York."  Justin is a senior attorney at the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law. His work focuses on state-level energy and climate policy. And he's a coeditor of Climate Change, Public Health, and the Law, and the author of numerous publications and amicus briefs on legal and policy issues related to the impacts of energy use on climate and of climate change on infrastructure and public health.  Elizabeth is the lead counsel for energy transition at the Environmental Defense Fund. She engages in state proceedings to advocate for aligning energy policies with state climate policies. And she has a particular focus on reducing reliance on oil and gas in transportation and in the building sector. She's successfully developed and advocated for best practices in the electric system to make sure that the grid is resilient and supports sustainability and reliability. And an important part of her work of course is collaborating with state and local agencies.  Transcript https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/CleanLaw-55-Caitlin-Elizabeth-Justin-NY.pdf

Ari Peskoe, speaks with Scott Hempling, adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center about Scott’s new book, Regulating Mergers and Acquisitions of the U.S. Electric Utilities: Industry Concentration and Corporate Complication. Scott has also written about FERC’s review of utility merger applications in a 2018 Energy Law Journal Article entitled Inconsistent with the Public Interest: FERC’s Three Decades of Deference to Electricity Consolidation. Note: we recorded this episode in early November, 2020. See here for a full transcript of this episode. https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CleanLaw-54-Ari-and-Scott-Hempling-on-Electric-Utility-Mergers.pdf

In this episode our executive director Joe Goffman interviews climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Texas Tech Climate Center and Professor in Public Policy and Public Law in the Department of Political Science. Professor Hayhoe talks about the cutting edge science of climate change attribution, how she tries to help the public understand the reality of climate change by making it local, how best to assess and report the impacts of it, and why she is hopeful. Transcript https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CleanLaw-53-goffman-hayhoe.pdf

In this episode, our Electricity Law Initiative director Ari Peskoe speaks with Matto Mildenberger, assistant professor of political science at the UC Santa Barbara, about the politics of carbon pricing. Note - we recorded this episode in late October, prior to the presidential election. This is a link to the article they discuss http://bostonreview.net/science-nature-politics/matto-mildenberger-leah-c-stokes-trouble-carbon-pricing Transcript https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CleanLaw-52-Ari-and-Matto-on-Carbon-Pricing.pdf

In this episode, our executive director Joe Goffman speaks again with Cynthia Giles, our guest fellow and former Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. They discuss her ongoing work examining how well environmental rules do in ensuring compliance with pollution and waste reduction requirements, where they fail, and how to make sure they succeed. You can find a transcript of this episode here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/CleanLaw-51-Joe-and-Cynthia-Next-Gen-Compliance-3.pdf

In our 50th episode of CleanLaw, Erin Brockovich speaks with Caitlin McCoy about some of the major water issues in the U.S. today and what people can do to work toward better water quality in their communities and beyond. Their conversation covers community science, tips for effective advocacy, legacy water pollution issues, and the problems with current laws and regulations. Erin shares an inspiring message that we all have the power to demand better drinking water and smarter approaches to regulation. You can read more in Erin's new book, Superman's Not Coming. Transcript of this episode https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/CleanLaw-50-Caitlin-and-Erin-Brockovich-Supermans-Not-Coming.pdf

Robin Just interviews our former EELP Fellow Laura Bloomer about changes in the Department of the Interior under the Trump administration. Laura interviewed dozens of former DOI career staff, former political appointees, and natural resources and American Indian law experts and distills their insights in our newest white paper - link below. She breaks down how these changes have been implemented, and makes recommendations for a new administration to repair the damage. Transcript https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CleanLaw-49-Robin-Laura-DOI-Report.pdf Laura's paper https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/managing-public-lands-under-the-trump-administration-and-beyond/

In this episode Caitlin McCoy talks with Aladdine Joroff, clinical instructor and staff attorney at our Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, about the recent decision by the Massachusetts Attorney General disapproving Brookline, MA’s law seeking to limit the use of natural gas in buildings, and comments the Clinic submitted on behalf of Mothers Out Front Massachusetts, arguing that Brookline’s law is a traditional exercise of municipal authority and could co-exist with state law. Transcript of this episode https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/CleanLaw-48-Caitlin-Aladdine-Brookline-Gas-AD-Decision.pdf You can find the links to the AG's decision and the Clinics comments, as well as a link to Caitlin’s recent white paper, The Legal Dynamics of Local Limits on Natural Gas Use in Buildings, here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/cleanlaw-caitlin-mccoy-and-aladdine-joroff-on-recent-mass-ag-decision-on-local-natural-gas-usage-laws/