Environmental litigation plays a crucial role in the enforcement of important statutes like the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and more. Analytics reveal how much litigation is taking place in this space, who is being sued, and who is bringing the cases.
According to Docket Alarm, there have been 2,591 environmental lawsuits since 2020. The distribution of these cases has remained steady over the years.
Unsurprisingly, the United States of America brings the most environmental lawsuits, as it is home to the Environmental Protection Agency. The federal government brought 448, or just under 20%, of the lawsuits. On average, they bring 90 cases per year to federal court.
The rest of the top plaintiffs comprise noted environmental non-governmental organizations, like the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club, and Wildearth Guardians, as well as many local groups focused on protecting a particular environmental feature.
While environmental litigation is a stable trend over the last five years, litigation filed by the federal government as plaintiff has plummeted – but not entirely – since the beginning of the second Trump administration earlier this year. One case, filed by the federal government against the state of Michigan, suggests that the state’s purported intent to sue fossil fuel companies contradicts policy that is the purview of the federal government.
Looking to the defendants in these cases is also revealing. The top defendant in environmental litigation since 2020 the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Forest Service is the runner up. The federal government, agencies, or the administrators of those agencies comprise the entire top 10 of environmental litigation plaintiffs. The top corporate defendants include 3M, Corteva, and Chevron.
Geographically, cases track a mixture of population trends and environmental indicators. The Central District of California is the top site for environmental cases, and it is the most populous judicial district in the nation. However, other California districts are highly ranked, as are districts in Washington, Oregon, and Montana, home to large quantities of parkland and federal land. The District of Columbia is, expectedly, another important site of litigation.
