On September 29, 2023, the Environmental Law Program co-hosted a hybrid people’s hearing along with the Climate Protection & Restoration Initiative (CPRI) and the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi.  The hearing sought to answer the question: What more should the United States do about climate change?

In June 2022, CPRI petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to phase out greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution and compel major climate polluters to clean up their mess.  The petition asserted that under the Toxic Substances Control Act, the EPA is required to determine if GHGs present an unreasonable risk to health or the environment.  The EPA declined to act on the petition, on the basis that it was already addressing climate change.  Accordingly, the people’s hearing sought to provide the EPA with additional perspectives on the climate crisis so that if and when the U.S. federal government reconsidered its position, it could hit the ground running.

This five-hour event featured testimony from community members, lawyers, students, and scientists.  In total, there were over thirty testifiers from across the nation both in-person and online.  Notably, EPA Region 9 was in attendance and watched the hearing remotely.  A few Richardson students testified including Oriana McCallum ‘25, Eleng Guo LLM, Sophie Tidler ‘25, Josh Eddington ‘25, Brian Piotrowski ‘26, and Holly Doyle ‘24.  We also heard testimony from Assistant Professor Tanigawa-Lum ʻ19 who spoke of the devastating wildfires that swept across Maui in early August.

To watch the entire hearing and view the list of testifiers, click here!

A special thank you goes out to our wonderful volunteers who assisted with event-day tasks including:

Brandon Ajari ‘25

Hugh Kojima ‘25

Anna Meeks ‘26

Eva Muller LLM

Evan Suemori ‘24

Mary Trillo ‘25

Sophie Tidler ‘25

MW 11/30/23