Priority Projects | Southern Environmental Law Center

SELC is tackling the major environmental issues affecting our region, and we are achieving results that have earned us a reputation as one of the most effective organizations in the nation. SELC chooses its work for maximum impact—to set important precedents or to strengthen and enforce far-reaching policy—but we also pursue dozens of site-specific cases and projects to protect places too special to lose.

Featured Priority Projects

SELC Responds to the Trump Administration

Facing aggressive actions in Washington, D.C., aimed at gutting environmental protections, the Southern Environmental Law Center is defending the fundamental laws and policies that have been put in place to safeguard the quality of our air, water, and natural treasures.

Raleigh 540 Extension Would Toll Drivers and Environment

The North Carolina Department of Transportation is pushing ahead with outdated plans to expand an expensive toll highway that would extend an outer loop around areas surrounding Raleigh.

Raleigh 540 Extension Would Toll Drivers and Environment

Attorneys: Kym Hunter, Ramona McGee

Protecting Our Clean Water

Attorneys: Blan Holman, Geoff Gisler, Bill Sapp, Sean Helle, Frank Holleman

Plant Vogtle Nuclear Expansion

Attorneys: Kurt Ebersbach, Jill Kysor, Katie Ottenweller

Solar Initiative

Attorneys: Katie Ottenweller, Lauren J. Bowen, David Neal, Blan Holman, Gudrun Thompson, Kurt Ebersbach, Peter Stein, Jill Kysor, Christina Andreen

Offshore Drilling

Attorneys: Sierra Weaver, Christopher K. DeScherer, Deborah M. Murray, Bill Sapp, Nat Mund, Derb S. Carter, Jr., Catherine Wannamaker, Mary Maclean Asbill, Brooks Rainey Pearson, Blakely Hildebrand

Risky and Unnecessary Natural Gas Pipelines Threaten Our Region

Attorneys: Greg Buppert, Gudrun Thompson, David Neal, Charmayne Staloff

Protecting Our Southern Appalachian National Forests

Attorneys: Amelia Burnette, D.J. Gerken, David W. Carr, Jr., Sam Evans, Patrick Hunter

Paving through the Croatan National Forest

Attorneys: Geoff Gisler, Kym Hunter

World’s Only Wild Red Wolves in Jeopardy

Attorneys: Sierra Weaver, Derb S. Carter, Jr., Ramona McGee

Coal Mining: A Threat to Alabama Waters

Attorneys: Catherine Wannamaker, April Lipscomb, Barry Brock

Fracking in the Southeast

Attorneys: Mary Maclean Asbill, Greg Buppert, Kristin Davis, Nat Mund, Brooks Rainey Pearson, Gil Rogers, April Lipscomb

Coal Ash

Attorneys: Frank Holleman, John Suttles, D.J. Gerken, Greg Buppert, Deborah M. Murray, Nick Torrey, Myra Blake, Chandra Taylor, Amelia Burnette, Patrick Hunter, Jonathan Gendzier, Chris Bowers, Kurt Ebersbach, Keith Johnston, Leslie Griffith, Nate Benforado

Georgia Coastal Initiative

Attorneys: Bill Sapp, Megan Huynh, April Lipscomb, Hutton Brown

Birmingham, Alabama: Northern Beltline

Attorneys: Gil Rogers, Sarah Stokes

Uranium Mining - A Risky Experiment

Attorneys: Will Cleveland

Restoring the Harpeth River

Attorneys: Anne Passino

Biomass Energy in the South

Attorneys: David W. Carr, Jr., Derb S. Carter, Jr., Heather Hillaker

Reed Environmental Writing Award

The Reed Environmental Writing Award is given annually for published works in two categories, Non-fiction Book and Journalism, and is judged by some of the top environmental writers, journalists and activists of our time. Learn More

Clean Power Plan: An Opportunity to Accelerate Our Clean Energy Transition

Attorneys: Frank Rambo, Kurt Ebersbach, Gudrun Thompson, Amanda Garcia, Blan Holman, Will Cleveland, Myra Blake, Keith Johnston

Energy Efficiency: The Cleanest, Cheapest Energy Resource

Attorneys: Gudrun Thompson, Amanda Garcia, Christina Andreen, Blan Holman, David Neal, Frank Rambo, Jill Kysor, Keith Johnston, Kurt Ebersbach, Will Cleveland, Nate Benforado