Opposing permit for new liquefied natural gas plant along the Lower Laguna Madre
The Clinic is co-counseling with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid to represent Vecinos Para el Bienestar de la Comunidad Costera and the Fishers and Shrimper of the RGV.
Environmental Clinic
Clinic students use the environmental permitting and rulemaking process, litigation, and public education to improve public health and environmental quality for communities throughout Texas. Among other things, students work on environmental permitting challenges, draft comments on rules, develop public education materials, participate in public meetings and contested case hearings, and assist with enforcement cases and rulemaking challenges in federal court.
The Environmental Clinic’s clients include individuals, neighborhood associations, nonprofits and local governments. We frequently partner with Texas legal services organizations and with national environmental non-governmental organizations on our cases and projects.
Cases and Projects
Working to help secure safe drinking water
The Clinic is investigating statewide compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act, researching common Texas violations, and identifying possible solutions and funding sources. We are identifying system with long-standing, health-based violations and are developing a guide to help legal aid attorneys work with their clients and local public water systems to clean up unsafe drinking water.
Challenging environmental civil rights violations in Beaumont
The Clinic worked with Earthjustice and the Yale Environmental Justice Clinic to require the Environmental Protection Agency to respond to a civil rights complaint filed over a decade ago by Sierra Club and a Beaumont pastor.