Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (ANHE)

Activities

The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments uses the trusted image of nurses to lend scientific legitimacy to policy advocacy, including lobbying regulators and engaging in campaigns tied to international climate negotiations, which have gone beyond traditional healthcare. ANHE offers continuing education courses with topics that have included the oil and gas industry, environmental science, and a “more just and equitable economy.” The organization also has sent representatives to the United Nations climate conferences, including COP30. ^{3  4}

ANHE has taken credit for helping push a successful ban on fracking in Maryland in 2017 and for supporting the 2016 passage of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act, which tightened federal regulations of substances like lead, mercury, PFAS, and asbestos. ⁵

The organization has made expanding its advocacy reach a priority. ANHE’s executive director Katie Huffling noted that the COVID-19 pandemic proved an “unlikely boon” for the organization, since virtual hearings meant nurses no longer needed to fly to Washington D.C. to testify, which significantly increased the number of members who could participate in government proceedings. ⁵

Advocacy

Opposition to Nuclear Energy

The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments’ webpage as of 2026 stated the group’s opposition to hydrocarbon energy and nuclear energy, arguing that nuclear energy poses “serious risks to human health.” ANHE’s website links a report from Physicians for Social Responsibility that denounces the use of nuclear power as “dirty” and “dangerous.” ⁶

Climate Policy

In October 2018, ANHE was one of twelve nursing organizations that signed a joint position statement committing the nursing profession to climate action, including educating nurses on climate health impacts, advocating for climate policy at the local, state, and national level, and working to address what it called the “equitable distribution of resources for disproportionally affected populations.” Other signatories included the American College of Nurse-Midwives, the National Black Nurses Association, the National Student Nurses’ Association, the National Association of Hispanic Nurses, and the Nurse Alliance of SEIU Healthcare. ⁷

Litigation

In March 2026, Earthjustice filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the D.C. Circuit challenging the repeal of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. Earthjustice as well as the Clean Air Task Force represented a coalition of left-of-center advocacy groups, including the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, Air Alliance Houston, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Clean Air Council, Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future, Environmental Defense Fund, Environmental Law and Policy Center, and others. ⁸

In February 2026, a coalition of health and environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the EPA in the D.C. Circuit, represented by Earthjustice. The case challenged the EPA’s repeal of the 2009 Endangerment Finding, which claimed to have found that carbon emissions are a threat to public health and welfare, as well as the EPA’s elimination of vehicle emissions standards. ANHE was named as a plaintiff in the suit, represented by the Clean Air Task Force, alongside the American Public Health Association, the American Lung Association, and Clean Wisconsin. ⁹ The executive director of ANHE, Katie Huffling, claimed in a statement that the EPA’s repeal was “climate denialism” and that the EPA no longer protects people “from climate change.” ¹⁰

Financials

Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments has not filed an independent publicly disclosed tax return since 2014. At that time, the organization reported $0 revenue and $155.48 in assets.  ¹¹

ANHE’s website states it is “a joint plant [sic] of work with Virginia Organizing.” ¹² Virginia Organizing is a left-of-center community organizing group that collects donations on behalf of its partner organizations, including ANHE, so all contributions to ANHE flow through Virginia Organizing’s books. ¹³

ANHE offers a fellowship program which is financially supported by the Kresge Foundation through Virginia Organizing. ¹⁴ From 2021 through 2024, the Kresge Foundation granted the ANHE program $699,000. ^{15  16  17  18}