Rising second-year student Chloe Gossett ’24 has received the 2022 Stuart Henry Environmental Law Fellowship, a fellowship created in honor of Stuart Henry, renowned Austin environmental attorney and activist, who died in 2018. The first fellowship was first awarded in summer 2019.
The summer fellowship funds students to work with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofits providing legal services or law-related advocacy on behalf of underrepresented individuals or communities working to preserve Texas’ natural resources and to protect the Texans who rely on those resources. The William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law administers the fellowship at the law school, with the assistance of the Texas Law Environmental Clinic. The fellowship is part of the law school’s Summer Public Service Program.
Gossett is working with Lone Star Legal Aid’s Environmental Justice Team in Houston representing low-income communities by challenging air and water quality permits, commenting on proposed liquified natural gas lines, enforcing deed restrictions, and looking into waste issues. She is working on cases in federal and state court and before the Texas State Office of Administrative Hearings. “Being part of Lone Star’s Environmental Justice Team has been a dream,” said Gossett. “I am able to help communities advocate for equal protection from environmental hazards. It is a privilege to work to protect the environment and everyone who relies on it.”
As a first-year student, Gossett was a member of the Environmental Law Society and volunteered with the Mithoff Pro Bono Program. She is a student co-lead of the group organizing Change It Up! 2022, the law school’s annual social justice orientation. She majored in Environmental Sciences at the University of Missouri and worked environmental enforcement and consulting in Florida before attending law school. She hopes to pursue a career in environmental law.
“I’m thrilled that the Stuart Henry Fellowship is funding Chloe’s work to help address the significant environmental injustices facing communities in and around Houston,” said Kelly Haragan, director of the law school’s Environmental Clinic.