Dear John,
I’ll cut to the chase – Tuesday’s election results are a loss for the environment. We’ve seen a Trump Administration’s playbook before, and ELPC is prepared.
We roll up our sleeves. We fight back with smart and effective solutions to protect the Midwest’s environment, public health, people, and communities. We work both in the court of law and in the court of public opinion. ELPC plays to win on both offense and defense, and get positive things done.
ELPC is based across the Midwest states from the Great Lakes to the Great Plains. We are uniquely situated to pivot quickly; going on the offense for environmental progress at the state level while playing defense on the federal side against the Trump wrecking crew.
Here’s ELPC’s plan to protect the Midwest’s environment in these challenging times:
1) Ensure Midwest states step up when the federal government steps back from protecting our vital natural resources, including the Great Lakes and the Midwest’s many special places that we greatly enjoy. ELPC litigators and policy experts will use the “state NEPAs” to protect the environment in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. In Illinois, we plan to innovatively assert the Illinois Constitution’s Article XI, which provides for a “right to a healthful environment.” This strategy will provide more environmental protections for the public’s interest if the Trump administration sadly pulls back from federal environmental protections. ELPC has recently hired three experienced new senior litigation attorneys and a Michigan senior policy advocate for our expanded Great Places – Great Lakes Program.
2) Accelerate clean renewable energy deployment and other climate change solutions through the seven Midwest state public utilities commissions. ELPC’s excellent Clean Energy Program team is actively engaged and has strong relationships, respect, and impacts with the Midwest utility commissions. We will be hiring additional attorneys and energy technical experts to accelerate renewable energy progress in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. There should be a race to the top for clean renewable energy and a more energy efficient future that outlives any one federal administration in DC.
3) Insulate state environmental laws from federal intrusion. We will work with Midwest governors and key state attorneys general to better insulate and defend state environmental and public health laws against Trump administration attacks. Our states should not be prevented from better protecting the environment. And, when the federal government doesn’t act against polluters, ELPC will step up our enforcement litigation in compelling cases to make sure that pollution doesn’t pay. We will be hiring new attorneys to protect our Great Lakes.
4) Find bipartisan solutions for Great Lakes Restoration and fight bad ideas in DC: ELPC has a strong history of advancing bipartisan solutions to better protect the Great Lakes and elevate the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). There are “green scissors” opportunities to cut wasteful spending on programs that claim to benefit the environment, but don’t. ELPC knows how to get things done.
5) Make no mistake, ELPC litigation attorneys will be in the courts defending our nation’s core environmental protection laws. We play to win in the courts of law and the courts of public opinion.
We will be meeting the challenges with a focused plan and expanding ELPC’s firepower by hiring more new effective litigation attorneys and policy advocates to protect the Midwest’s environment.
No one ever said that public interest environmental advocacy would be easy, and it won’t be.
We know what to do: roll up our sleeves, step up to the challenges, define and seize the strategic opportunities in the Midwest states, and get things done.
That’s what ELPC is all about, that’s ELPC’s mission, and that’s what we’ll do. If you are with us, support ELPC with a donation today.
