San Francisco Baykeeper

San Francisco Baykeeper has previously sued petroleum companies for alleged petroleum pollution in the San Francisco Bay Area with similar left-of-center groups including the Sierra Club, Surfrider Foundation, and Heal the Bay. ^{3 4}

History and Leadership

San Francisco Baykeeper (also known as Baykeeper) was founded in 1989. ⁵

Sejal Choksi-Chugu is the executive director of Baykeeper as of 2024. Choksi-Chugu joined Baykeeper after graduating from the University of California, Berkeley law school with a certificate in environmental law in 2002. She began as an Equal Justice Works fellow before becoming a program director and in-house attorney. ⁶ She has previously worked for, or was affiliated with, similar left of-center environmentalist groups including EnviroPros de Color, Sustainable Lafayette, Waterkeeper Alliance, California Coastkeeper Alliance, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and Earthjustice. ⁷

Activism

San Francisco Baykeeper is a left-of-center environmentalist activist organization that promotes environmentalist activist policy campaigns surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. ¹ Its primary activities have included investigations, activism, and litigation on environmentalist issues. ²

Baykeeper claims to advocate in favor of environmental justice ⁸ and further claims to have access to resources to patrol and investigate potential pollution within the San Francico bay area including boats, planes, kayaks, and drones. ⁹ The organization specifically files litigation and legal action against organizations it views as industrial polluters, ¹⁰ affiliations with the fossil fuel industry, ¹¹ urban runoff, ¹² and sewage spills. ^{13 14}

The group has previously sued petroleum companies for alleged petroleum pollution in the San Francisco bay region. ⁴ It has partnered with environmentalist groups including the Sierra Club, Marie Harrison Community Foundation, and the Southern Environmental Law Center on releasing public statements including a September 2024 statement opposing the City of San Francisco’s challenge to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule on offshore pollution. ^{15 5}

In 2022, San Francisco Baykeeper celebrated the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Clean Water Act. Since its founding, San Francisco Baykeeper claims to have won more than $12 million through litigation for nonprofits working on environmentalist efforts in the San Francisco Bay Area. Much of these funds has been distributed as grants through the left-of-center Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment. ¹⁶

Through the Rose Foundation, funds from San Francisco Baykeeper’s litigation have supported several environmentalist organizations including Literacy for Environmental Justice, GreenAction for Health and Environmental Justice, the Center for Race, Poverty, and the Environment, Greenbelt Alliance, Communities for a Better Environment, Turtle Island Restoration Network, Student Conservation Association, New Voices Rising, and the Watershed Project. ¹⁶

San Francisco Baykeeper has previously joined lawsuits filed by the Sierra Club, Surfrider Foundation, and Heal the Bay to sue energy company ExxonMobil for alleged pollution. ³

Funding

San Francisco Baykeeper receives funding from individual contributions and grants. ¹⁴ In 2022, the organization reported revenue of $2,105,029 and $2,268,695 in expenses. San Francisco Baykeeper reported revenue of $2,570,056 and expenses of $1,680,433 in 2021. ¹⁷

In 2020, San Francisco Baykeeper received $80,000 from the Resources Legacy Fund. ¹⁸ The organization also received $25,000 from the Waterkeeper Alliance in 2018, ¹⁹ $190,000 from the California Community Foundation in 2016, ²⁰and $27,000 from the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment in 2016.²¹ San Francisco Baykeeper also has received support from the Marin Community Foundation. ²²