Our Mission
Southern Coalition for Social Justice’s (SCSJ) Environmental Justice Program seeks to empower economically and politically disadvantaged communities and communities of color (together, “impacted communities”) in their efforts to overcome environmental injustice at a time when climate impacts exacerbate environmental inequities.
Environmental injustice is pervasive throughout the South due to historical redlining and discriminatory land use policies that locate polluting industries in impacted communities. Gentrification in these areas also perpetuates the erasure of these communities and their history. We provide impacted communities with long-term support that is responsive to community needs rather than organizational directives. SCSJ is unique in the environmental justice field in our community-based lawyering approach that empowers the community itself as the agent of change and the experts in their own needs. SCSJ’s primary role is to use our organizational legal, research, and communications resources to improve access to a justice system that has historically excluded and failed to serve impacted communities.
Our Work
How We Advance Environmental Justice
Support Community Legal Education
Community legal education empowers organizing and collective action by equipping EJ communities with the resources for self-advocacy on an ongoing basis. SCSJ further empowers advocacy and facilitates community connections by providing research and communications support in addition to our legal expertise.
Strategic Counseling & Advice
We provide strategic counseling and advice to both community members and decision-makers. For community members, this goes beyond general community legal education. It is tailored to community-specific issues faced by our partners and their communities and will depend on community-identified needs.
Provide Rapid Response Direct Legal Services
While litigation is a measure of last resort and not appropriate to achieving desired outcomes in every scenario, it is a necessary and powerful tool to enforce justice, improve equity, and empower EJ communities.
Environmental Justice News
Greensboro City Council Bows to Community Demands for More Input Over Bingham Park Toxic Waste Removal
GREENSBORO, N.C. (July 19, 2024) — The Greensboro City Council has cancelled its July 23 meeting on the contaminated waste from the Bingham Park cleanup project in response to extensive joint community organizing in opposition, and it will consider options beyond taking toxic waste from one community of color and dumping it in another. A…
Read More Greensboro City Council Bows to Community Demands for More Input Over Bingham Park Toxic Waste Removal![Sign that says Bingham Park is Closed to the Public in Greensboro, NC](https://southerncoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/DSC00296-scaled.jpg)
SCSJ Condemns Merger of Enbridge, Dominion
RALEIGH, N.C. (July 12, 2024) – Southern Coalition for Social Justice stood alongside environmental and community advocates to condemn the potential merger of Dominion Energy and Enbridge. Anne Harvey, SCSJ’s Chief Counsel for Environmental Justice, gave comments and sent a letter to the North Carolina Utilities Commission on July 8, urging the Commission to deny…
Read More SCSJ Condemns Merger of Enbridge, Dominion![Liquified natural gas storage facility transposed on top of a decorate background in a collage-style design](https://southerncoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/SCSJ-Condemns-Merger-of-Enbridge-Dominion-.png)
Environmental Justice Cases
Key Contacts
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James Huey Counsel, Environmental Justicejames@scsj.org
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Katie Crisp Paralegalkatie@scsj.org
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Anne Harvey Chief Counsel, Environmental Justiceanne@scsj.org