Environmental Justice
what we do
Legal, policy, and grassroots advocacy
ACLC represents individuals, families, and grassroots groups working to address both immediate environmental threats and structural injustices. We help residents respond to hazardous waste dumping, advocate for clean and affordable drinking water, and hold state agencies and corporations accountable through litigation and policy advocacy.
Our staff are experts in coal mining regulations and environmental permitting, and we bring that expertise to bear in both state and federal courts. We have more than a decade of experience dealing with the environmental laws and regulations that are most at play in our region.
We believe communities must lead the fight for justice. In all our work, we center the needs and goals defined by the people most affected. Our partnerships often span years, building trust, supporting leadership development, and working side-by-side to achieve community goals.
We use a range of tools: litigation, public education, policy analysis, and support for grassroots organizing. And we fight to ensure communities have the information they need to make informed decisions and advocate for themselves.
Environmental justice is not just about repairing harm. It’s about building power. At ACLC, we are proud to support Appalachian communities as they fight for clean water, safe land, and a future rooted in justice and self-determination.
In Central Appalachia, generations of extractive industry have left lasting harms, such as polluted water, destabilized land, and weakened public health systems. These costs have fallen most heavily on low-income and working-class communities, while decisions continue to be made without their input or consent.
Our Approach
We provide community lawyering services free of charge to groups throughout Central Appalachia that are organizing to demand a clean, safe, and healthy environment.
We work closely with community groups organizing around environmental justice issues and provide capacity to support organizing work.
We ensure that the decision-makers that are supposed to protect the health and environment of the communities we serve are hearing our clients’ voices.
We advocate for our clients’ abilities to meaningfully and effectively participate in decisions affecting their communities and the environmental issues they face.
We ensure that the communities and families we serve have access to all public information related to the environmental issues they face.
HOW WE HELP
Advocate in the Coalfields
Safe, Affordable Drinking Water
We fight for safe, affordable drinking water for those in communities with neglected infrastructure.
Fracking Waste
We hold extractive companies who dump waste accountable to communities they harm.
Landowner Rights
We challenge Kentucky’s state law in order to restore
fundamental rights to landowners in Kentucky.
Coal Bankruptcy
We confront coal companies who are using bankruptcy protection to abandon their obligations to reclaim mines.
