The Eco-Justice Collaborative is a Champaign, Illinois-based environmentalist group. The group took part in efforts to close reliable coal-fired power plants in Chicago. ¹

In December 2021, the group co-signed a letter opposing the nuclear power production tax credits offered in the U.S. House of Representatives’ version of the Build Back Better Act. ²

Background

Lam and Pam Richart founded the Eco-Justice Collaborative in 2008. ³ In the 1990s, the two took a series of trips to Central America and decided to include a justice component in their work. The group promotes what it calls environmental, economic, and social justice. ⁴

Advocacy

Coal Plant Closures and Regulations

In 2012, the Eco-Justice Collaborative led a campaign to close the Fisk and Crawford coal-fired power plants which were in neighborhoods where racial minorities lived in Chicago’s southwest side. The group founded the Chicago Clean Power Coalition to advocate for their closures. The city of Chicago decided to close both power plants in 2012. ⁵

In 2013, the group successfully persuaded the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to stop distributing the Illinois Coal Education Curriculum, which it claimed was “climate denying.”  ⁶

The group fought for a coal severance tax to fund coal mining communities and encourage them to develop their economies to wean themselves off coal. The coal severance tax plan failed in 2016. ⁷

The group has led efforts to require the cleanup of coal ash by power companies. The group joined forces with the Prairie Rivers Network, Earthjustice, Sierra Club Illinois, the Environmental Law and Policy Center, and the Illinois Environmental Council to encourage the passing of the Coal Ash Pollution Prevention Act, which the Illinois legislature passed in 2019. ⁸

Weather-Dependent Energy

The Eco-Justice Collaborative supported legislation passed by the Illinois legislature in 2021 which mandated that Illinois generate 100 percent of its electricity from intermittent, weather-dependent energy sources such as wind turbines and solar panels. The legislation also funded jobs programs to encourage those working in the coal industry to transition to jobs supporting weather-dependent energy. ⁹

Nuclear Power

In December 2021, the Eco-Justice Collaborative was one of more than 100 groups that co-signed an open letter opposing the nuclear power production tax credits offered in H.R. 5376, the House of Representatives proposal for the Build Back Better Act. The groups identified nuclear power as one of several “unproven and unnecessary technologies” and “harmful energy sources” that “would extend demand for fossil fuels.” ¹⁰

Carbon Capture Pipelines

The Eco-Justice Collaborative opposed a proposed 1,300-mile carbon dioxide pipeline by Navigator Ventures that will pass through five states and dump carbon dioxide into a reservoir near Taylorville, Illinois. The group says carbon dioxide pipelines are a threat to human health and the land, support the fossil fuel industry, and do not promote weather-dependent energy. ¹¹

Leadership

The Eco-Justice Collaborative chair is Martha Boyd, who is a program director for Chicago’s Urban Initiative of Angelic Organics Learning Center. She is a founding board member of the group. ¹²

Finances

According to the Eco-Justice Collaborative’s 2022 tax return, the group had $27,030 in revenue, $24,087 in expenses, and $11,342 in assets. ¹³

1. “Mission and Work Highlights.” Eco-Justice Collaborative. Accessed July 8, 2024. https://ecojusticecollaborative.org/mission-work-highlights/.
2. Asian Pacific Environmental Network, et al . . . Letter to U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee for December 14, 2021. “Dear Senate Majority Leader Schumer, Senate Finance Committee Chair Wyden, Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow, and Committee Members . . .” Accessed July 8, 2024. https://unitedfrontlinetable.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/No-False-Solutions-in-BBBA-Letter-to-Senate-20211214-FINAL.pdf
3. “Mission and Work Highlights.” Eco-Justice Collaborative. Accessed July 8, 2024. https://ecojusticecollaborative.org/mission-work-highlights/.
4.  “Member Interview: Pam Richart, Eco-Justice Collaborative.” REAMP Commons. Accessed July 8, 2024. https://www.reamp.org/member-interview-pam-richart-eco-justice-collaborative/.
5. “Mission and Work Highlights.” Eco-Justice Collaborative. Accessed July 8, 2024. https://ecojusticecollaborative.org/mission-work-highlights/.
6. “Mission and Work Highlights.” Eco-Justice Collaborative. Accessed July 8, 2024. https://ecojusticecollaborative.org/mission-work-highlights/.
7. “Mission and Work Highlights.” Eco-Justice Collaborative. Accessed July 8, 2024. https://ecojusticecollaborative.org/mission-work-highlights/.
8. “Mission and Work Highlights.” Eco-Justice Collaborative. Accessed July 8, 2024. https://ecojusticecollaborative.org/mission-work-highlights/.
9. “Mission and Work Highlights.” Eco-Justice Collaborative. Accessed July 8, 2024. https://ecojusticecollaborative.org/mission-work-highlights/.
10. ^[1] Asian Pacific Environmental Network, et al . . . Letter to U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee for December 14, 2021. “Dear Senate Majority Leader Schumer, Senate Finance Committee Chair Wyden, Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow, and Committee Members . . .” Accessed July 8, 2024. https://unitedfrontlinetable.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/No-False-Solutions-in-BBBA-Letter-to-Senate-20211214-FINAL.pdf
11. “Mission and Work Highlights.” Eco-Justice Collaborative. Accessed July 8, 2024. https://ecojusticecollaborative.org/mission-work-highlights/.
12. “Martha Boyd, Board Chair.” Eco-Justice Collaborative, September 4, 2021. https://ecojusticecollaborative.org/martha-boyd-board-chair/.
13. “Eco Justice Collaborative NFP, Full Filing – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica. Accessed July 8, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/208763609/202301159349201610/full.