The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) is a left-of-center watchdog organization that advocates tougher enforcement of environmental laws. The EIP has opposed the use of zero carbon nuclear energy. It is composed of former U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforcement attorneys, analysts, public interest lawyers, and investigators. The EIP assists in enforcing environmental laws through taking legal action against suspected offenders. ¹ The EIP is funded by left-of-center organizations such as the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. ^{2 3}

The EIP’s executive director, Eric Schaeffer, was the director of the EPA, a federal agency involved in environmental regulation ⁴ and R. John Dawes, the president of its board of directors, is the executive director of the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds. ⁵

Activities

Environmental Integrity Project lawsuits target those it has accused of being major polluters such as coal-fired power plants, factory farms, oil and gas industries, refineries, and factories. ⁶ It will also take legal action against government agencies if they do not abide by environmental laws and regulations. ⁷

In July 2022, EIP, the Sierra Club, and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., against the EPA, claiming that its formulas undercount releases of emissions and had not been updated since 1998. Federal law states that the EPA must reconsider them every three years. On February 9, 2023, the EPA agreed to reevaluate its methods for estimating landfill emissions. ⁸

The EIP created a scholarship at the University of Texas School of Law called the Scholarship in Environmental Justice Law. It includes networking and mentorship opportunities with attorneys from the EIP. ⁹

Opposition to Nuclear Energy

In May of 2021, EIP was one of 715 groups and businesses listed as a co-signer on a letter to the leadership of the U.S. House and Senate that referred to nuclear energy as a “dirty” form of energy production and a “significant” source of pollution. The letter asked federal lawmakers to reduce carbon emissions by creating a “renewable electricity standard” that promoted production of weather dependent power sources such as wind turbines and solar panels, but did not promote low carbon natural gas and zero carbon nuclear energy. ¹⁰

Nuclear power plants produce no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions, and as of 2021 accounted for 19 percent of American electricity production—the largest source of zero carbon electricity in the United States. ¹¹ An October 2018 proposal from The Nature Conservancy noted that zero-carbon nuclear plants produced 7.8 percent of total world energy output and recommended reducing carbon emissions by increasing nuclear capacity to 33 percent of total world energy output. ¹²

Funding

Environmental Integrity Project has received funding from left-of-center grantmaking organizations such as the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, ¹³ a foundation created by David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard in 1964. ¹⁴ The EIP also received funding from 2009 to 2018 from the Town Creek Foundation, ¹⁵ a grantmaking organization founded by Edmund Stanley in 1981 that provides grants to support left-of-center changes to environmental policy in Maryland. ¹⁶

People

Eric Schaeffer has been the executive director and co-founder of the Environmental Integrity Project since 2002. From 1997 to 2002, he was the director of the Environmental Protection Agency. ¹⁷ While working for the EPA, Schaeffer spent six years working for members of Congress on Capitol Hill. ¹⁸

John Dawes is the president of the EIP’s board of directors. Since 1994, Dawes has been the executive director of the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds, ¹⁹ an environmentalist grantmaking organization that supports pollution cleanup nonprofits in Pennsylvania. ²⁰

1. “Who We Are.” Environmental Integrity Project. Accessed April 28, 2023. https://environmentalintegrity.org/who-we-are/
2. “Environmental Integrity Project.” The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Last modified April 18, 2023. https://www.packard.org/grants-and-investments/grants-database/environmental-integrity-project/.
3. Letter from Center for Biological Diversity et. al. to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Joe Manchin, and Rep. Frank Pallone. “RE: CONGRESS SHOULD ENACT A FEDERAL RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY STANDARD AND REJECT GAS AND FALSE SOLUTIONS.” May 12, 2021. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/energy-justice/pdfs/2021-5-12_600-Group-Letter-for-RES.pdf?_gl=1*1c9h3t8*_gcl_au*MTc3NjM3MTM1Mi4xNjg5OTU1MzAz
4.  “Our Staff.” Environmental Integrity Project. Accessed April 24, 2023. https://environmentalintegrity.org/who-we-are/our-staff/.
5. “Our Board of Directors.” Environmental Integrity Project. Accessed April 24, 2023. https://environmentalintegrity.org/who-we-are/our-board/.
6. “EIP Focuses on Four Major Issue Areas.” Environmental Integrity Project. Accessed April 27, 2023. https://environmentalintegrity.org/what-we-do/.
7. “Enforcement Actions.” Environmental Integrity Project. Accessed May 1, 2023. https://environmentalintegrity.org/enforcement-actions/.
8. Mindock, Clark. “EPA Agrees to Reevaluate How It Counts Landfill Emissions.” Reuters. Last modified February 9, 2023. https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/epa-agrees-reevaluate-how-it-counts-landfill-emissions-2023-02-09/.
9. “Environmental Integrity Project – Scholarship in Environmental Justice Law.” The University of Texas School of Law. Accessed April 27, 2023. https://law.utexas.edu/publicinterest/scholarships/environmental-integrity-project-scholarship-in-environmental-justice-law/.
10. Letter from Center for Biological Diversity et. al. to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Joe Manchin, and Rep. Frank Pallone. “RE: CONGRESS SHOULD ENACT A FEDERAL RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY STANDARD AND REJECT GAS AND FALSE SOLUTIONS.” May 12, 2021. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/energy-justice/pdfs/2021-5-12_600-Group-Letter-for-RES.pdf?_gl=1*1c9h3t8*_gcl_au*MTc3NjM3MTM1Mi4xNjg5OTU1MzAz
11. “Nuclear explained.” U.S. Energy Information Administration. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/nuclear/us-nuclear-industry.php
12. “The Science of Sustainability.” The Nature Conservancy. October 13, 2018. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/the-science-of-sustainability/
13. “Environmental Integrity Project.” The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Last modified April 18, 2023. https://www.packard.org/grants-and-investments/grants-database/environmental-integrity-project/.
14. “Our History.” The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Last modified June 23, 2017. https://www.packard.org/about-the-foundation/our-history/.
15. “Environmental Integrity Project.” Town Creek Foundation. Accessed April 24, 2023. https://towncreekfdn.org/recipients/environmental-integrity-project/.
16.  “History & Mission.” Town Creek Foundation. Accessed April 24, 2023. https://towncreekfdn.org/about-us/history-mission/.
17. “Our Staff.” Environmental Integrity Project. Accessed April 24, 2023. https://environmentalintegrity.org/who-we-are/our-staff/.
18. “Our Staff.” Environmental Integrity Project. Accessed April 24, 2023. https://environmentalintegrity.org/who-we-are/our-staff/.
19. “Our Board of Directors.” Environmental Integrity Project. Accessed April 24, 2023. https://environmentalintegrity.org/who-we-are/our-board/.
20. “Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds.” Community Foundation for the Alleghenies. Last modified March 29, 2022. https://www.cfalleghenies.org/foundation-for-pennsylvania-watersheds/.