Launched in 2019, the Environmental Justice Clinic is open to Vermont Law and Graduate School master’s and JD students.
At the Environmental Justice Clinic, students represent and partner with disenfranchised communities fighting racial and economic disparities in the distribution of polluting sources, while also fighting for a say in decisions affecting their future.
The Environmental Justice Clinic (EJC) at VLGS is one of just a few law school clinics in the United States specifically devoted to environmental justice – an interdisciplinary practice at the intersection of civil rights and the environment. Students are involved in real-life cases. They work in partnership with low-income communities and communities of color to address racial disparities and ensure that residents can fully participate in decisions affecting their health and welfare. They gain experience working on law and policy issues at the nexus of environment, race, and policy, while also learning essential community lawyering skills.
The EJC strives to further the environmental justice movement by representing and partnering with environmentally overburdened communities of color and low-income communities. The clinic seeks to enforce civil rights in the environmental context while providing technical assistance and sharing resources to develop and implement other legal strategies. To that end, the clinic trains students to be ethical and effective advocates for their clients while adhering to the Principles of Environmental Justice.
This report shares highlights from January 2024 through June 2025 featuring EJC faculty, staff, and students.
This report traces the history of environmental justice legislation in Connecticut, evaluating its efficacy and making recommendations for future action. The report was prepared on behalf of the Connecticut Coalition for Economic & Environmental Justice (CCEJ) by research teams from the Environmental Justice Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School, the Environmental Justice Capstone at the Yale School of the Environment, and the Yale Law School Environmental Justice Clinic.
Read the Executive Summary
Manure biogas systems might seem like an easy, profitable, and beneficial method of climate change mitigation in the animal agriculture industry. But what does relying solely on manure biogas leave out of the picture?
Globally, animal agriculture contributes approximately 20 percent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, making it a significant contributor to climate change. One approach to mitigate this impact is the use of anaerobic digestors to capture emissions from manure lagoons, which creates a new fuel source and new revenue stream from the waste.
These benefits sound promising—but what are we missing when we talk about manure biogas? Relying on manure biogas systems to mitigate livestock GHG emissions ignores both the extensive emissions created throughout the lifecycle of the livestock industry before lagoon storage and the environmental justice impacts that perpetuating confined animal feeding operations, the only profitable user of manure biogas systems, will have on communities impacted by factory farms.
Written by Ruthie Lazenby, Staff Attorney at the Environmental Justice Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School, “Rethinking Manure Biogas: Policy Considerations to Promote Equity and Protect the Climate and Environment” dives deep into the existing policies incentivizing manure biogas operations, the environmental justice impacts of locking in existing systems of industrial animal agriculture, as well as alternative methods of capturing livestock emissions and recommendations for policymakers.
The report focuses specifically on the equity implications of manure biogas, aligning with two Executive Orders by President Biden, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad” and “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.”
This publication was made possible with support from the United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Library, Agricultural Research Service.
View the Report
This report summarizes the findings from a semester-long study in spring 2021 conducted by students in VLGS’s Climate Justice Practicum, a partnership with the Center on Climate Change and Health at Yale School of Public Health. Researchers engaged with communities most affected by climate change in Connecticut.
“Federal Dereliction of Duty: Environmental Racism Under COVID-19” exposes the Environmental Protection Agency’s contributions to the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on People of Color, Indigenous Peoples and low-income communities.
As COVID-19 spread across the US in March 2020, the EPA announced a dramatic deregulation of environmental monitoring and enforcement. The announcement came three days after a request in writing by the American Petroleum Institute, which represents 600 oil and gas companies. This deregulation policy lifted oversight on all federally-regulated sources of pollution, including chemical manufacturing, coal-fired power plants, mining and smelting, sewage and waste facilities, and factory farms. By June, the EPA had further eased regulations intended to protect farmworkers against pesticide exposure. In the meantime, multiple studies early in the pandemic demonstrated links between poor air quality and health risks from COVID-19.
This report is the first in-depth analysis of the EPA’s failure to address the environmental injustice of its policy allowing polluting industries to “self-regulate,” just as evidence was mounting about the connections between toxic air pollution and severe illness and death from COVID-19.
The report calls for: an investigation into the impacts of EPA’s rollback; a mandate for all federal agencies to prioritize mitigation of harm to at-risk communities; monitoring tools for communities to assess environmental risks and harms, building on new EPA efforts to address health disparities; enforcement of EPA’s existing environmental and civil rights laws; and passing the Environmental Justice for All and Environmental Justice Acts to establish enforceable environmental justice and civil rights protections that cannot be ignored by future administrations.
Authors include WE ACT for Environmental Justice, the Farmworker Association of Florida, Just Transition Alliance, Indigenous Environmental Network, and Los Jardines Institute, in partnership with the Vermont Law and Graduate School Environmental Justice Clinic.
Read the Executive Summary
View the Report
In Spring 2022, a team of Yale University and Vermont Law and Graduate School students, in partnership with the non-profit organization, Operation Fuel, conducted a study to explore how Connecticut residents perceive their energy costs, utilize different forms of energy throughout the year, and take actions for lowering energy costs – either through energy assistance programs or by taking steps to weatherize homes.
Letícia Felix Boisson
Lindi von Mutius JD’08
Taylor Cox MFALP’23
Terrence Neal
Presented by the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law (VJEL), this year’s symposium, “Sustainable Development Around the Globe” focuses on sustainability practices and their impacts through four key panels: Best Practices in Sustainable […]
The Environmental Law Center and Maverick Lloyd School for the Environment at Vermont Law and Graduate School (VLGS) host numerous events throughout the year, including symposia, podcasts, and lectures that […]
Our diverse lineup of environmental clinics, externships and experiential learning through the Tuholske Institute for Environmental Field Studies is an integral part of Vermont Law and Graduate School’s academic programs. […]
Below is a selection of recent news highlights featuring members of Vermont Law and Graduate School’s faculty and staff. 13 Foods You Should NEVER Eat After They Expire, According to […]
Below is a selection of recent news highlights featuring members of Vermont Law and Graduate School’s faculty and staff. Understanding Heirs PropertyJuly 11, 2025Lincoln Institute of Land PolicyFrancine Miller LLM’17, […]
The Environmental Justice Clinic is a growing program open to Vermont Law and Graduate School master’s and JD students. For questions about the clinic, please email ejc@vermontlaw.edu.
Connect with a Recruiter
Book a Campus Tour
Contact Admissions
Start Your Application