Safeguarding Environmental Justice: CBE's Legal Triumphs for Clean Air

One group is a ray of hope in a world where environmental risks can impact individuals and communities.

A committed justice organization, the Center for Environmental Health (CBE) works nonstop to safeguard people's and communities' health. Motivated by a deep dedication to consumer product safety, clean air, safe water, and environmental justice, CBE uses its legal advocacy and expertise to address urgent environmental and public health issues. Their goal is to ensure a healthier and more sustainable future for all people by ensuring that everyone, regardless of background or circumstances, lives in an environment free from harmful exposures.

Environmental justice principles serve as the foundation for CBE's legal advocacy. This idea emphasizes that everyone should have equal protection from environmental harm, regardless of background or socioeconomic status. The legal team at CBE promotes this cause by taking on cases involving problems like pollution, hazardous materials, and dangerous products that disproportionately impact marginalized and vulnerable communities.

Key legal victories

1. Halting the Expansion of Dirty Oil Projects: CBE sued Chevron and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District in 2014 for allowing Chevron to expand its Richmond refinery in California. One of the state's main industrial climate polluters, the expansion, may have resulted in more air pollution. Following CBE's legal challenge, a settlement was reached that necessitated a reevaluation of the project to ensure it complied with clean air laws and more stringent regulations.

2. Preventing the Construction of a Hazardous Power Plant: In 2009, CBE successfully blocked the construction of a proposed power plant in the City of Vernon, near Los Angeles. This victory was crucial in protecting the health of residents already burdened by pollution sources, preventing hundreds of premature deaths in the process.

3. Challenging Pollution Credits: In 2007, CBE brought legal action against South Coast Air Quality Management District regulations that would have encouraged the construction of new power plants and resulted in the emission of millions of pounds of pollution into the atmosphere. Their legal victory stopped many new power plants that needed pollution credits to run from being built.

4. Reducing Pollution from Oil Companies: Reducing Pollution from Oil Companies: Five oil companies were using a junk car buy-back program, which CBE challenged, to obtain the right to junk older cars and thereby increase their emissions of hazardous pollution. Due to the legal action of CBE, these companies were compelled to install vapor recovery equipment on their marine tankers to reduce pollution.

5. Protecting Water Sources from MTBE Contamination: Following victories in settlements, eight major oil companies were forced to clear out more than 700 MTBE-contaminated locations, many of which were near drinking water sources. The state of California outlawed MTBE in part because of this legal victory.

6. Shutting Down a Chrome-Plating Facility Near a School: CBE collaborated with locals and parents to file a lawsuit under California's Proposition 65, which resulted in closing a chrome-plating facility in southeast Los Angeles adjacent to a school. The health of the local residents and students was preserved thanks to this legal action.

Significant progress has been made in the fight for environmental justice thanks to CBE's legal advocacy. Their unwavering dedication to public health and tireless efforts to shield communities from ecological hazards are shaping a future in which everyone has the right to safe products, clean air, and safe water—not just a select few. They tirelessly strive to ensure a better, healthier world for everyone, and through their legal victories, they act as a ray of hope for those impacted by environmental challenges.