Legal Department

Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) is a California environmental health and justice nonprofit membership organization that has pioneered innovative, community-based approaches to pollution prevention since 1978.

CBE's strategy combines the tools of law and science with community organizing and education to achieve clean air, safe water, and toxic free neighborhoods, and to ensure that all people have a meaningful voice in environmental decision-making.  CBE's legal team plays an integral role in CBE's campaigns and environmental justice work.  We have an extensive track record in preventing industrial pollution and securing environmental justice for low-income communities of color.  The legal team uses the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), California’s Proposition 65 and Unfair Competition Act, the federal Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, and other environmental statutes to pursue and achieve environmental justice.