The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) is a Washington, D.C.-based environmental nonprofit organization that advocates for more effective enforcement of environmental laws.
The organization was founded in 2002 by former
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon pro ...
(EPA) attorneys Eric V. Schaeffer and Michele Merkel. EIP is known for its
legal
Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...
and investigative efforts to reduce air and water pollution from
coal-fired power plants
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dead ...
, oil and gas facilities,
factory farms
Intensive animal farming or industrial livestock production, also known by its opponents as factory farming and macro-farms, is a type of intensive agriculture, specifically an approach to animal husbandry designed to maximize production, while ...
, and other sources including
incinerators
Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of substances contained in waste materials. Industrial plants for waste incineration are commonly referred to as waste-to-energy facilities. Incineration and other high ...
and
waste water treatment plants. The group also focuses on
environmental justice
Environmental justice is a social movement to address the unfair exposure of poor and marginalized communities to harms from hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses.Schlosberg, David. (2007) ''Defining Environmental Justi ...
and pollution in the
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...
. EIP is headquartered in
Washington, DC
)
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morg ...
, and it has another office in
Austin, TX
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city i ...
and staff in Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Georgia. In 2013,
Charity Navigator
Charity Navigator is a charity assessment organization that evaluates hundreds of thousands of charitable organizations based in the United States, operating as a free 501(c)(3) organization. It provides insights into a nonprofit’s financial ...
, an independent charity evaluator, rated EIP as a four-star charity organization.
EIP maintains Ashtracker.org, a website that provides records about groundwater contamination at
coal ash dumps. The site relies on industry-reported data from state and company records.
Mission
The Environmental Integrity Project’s objectives are “1) To provide objective analysis of how the failure to enforce or implement environmental laws increases pollution and affects the public's health; 2) To hold federal and state agencies, as well as individual corporations, accountable for failing to enforce or comply with environmental laws; 3) To help local communities in key states obtain the protection of environmental laws.”
See also
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Environmental law
Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental Legal doctrine, legal principles, focu ...
References
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Environmental law in the United States
Environmental organizations based in Washington, D.C.