It’s been a pretty bleak year for the fight against climate change.
Researchers found that last year, Earth’s trees, soil and wetlands absorbed almost no carbon. That’s a major problem that could accelerate global warming beyond scientist’s predictions. It’s a predicament so massive, you’d think it might spur governments to action. But the majority of countries and cities, including Philly, are behind on their climate goals. Our lack of action is going to have horrific consequences that will disproportionately affect people of color and people living in poverty if we don’t act. Now.
“The climate crisis is not an equal opportunity situation,” says Michael Sklaroff, an attorney formerly with Ballard Spahr. “There are neighborhoods that are right next to industrial pollution, and it’s ongoing.”
PA has a little-known but powerful tool that could help Pennsylvanians fight for the environment. The ERA. No, not the Equal Rights Amendment that has sat stagnant in the federal government for decades. Here, ERA stands for Environmental Rights Amendment. It’s an amendment to the Commonwealth’s constitution that guarantees current and future residents the right to clean air and water, and the preservation of natural resources.
The problem? Practically no one knows about it — including, says Sklaroff, a good number of Pennsylvania attorneys and many elected officials. Even those running government agencies don’t have a clue we have this provision — even though they’re trusted with enforcing it. Ordinary citizens don’t know that they can call upon the ERA to protect them from pollution and other environmental threats.
That’s why Sklaroff launched the PA Bipartisan Climate Initiative last year. The nonprofit aims to educate Pennsylvanians statewide about how we can use the ERA to fight climate change.
Why don’t people know about the ERA?
Pennsylvania passed the ERA with unanimous, bipartisan support in 1971. The amendment was a response to a series of mining disasters — the Knox Mine Disaster, Centralia mine fire and the Glen Alden mine water discharge, amongst others — in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. People wanted the pollution to stop, so politicians crafted a constitutional amendment guaranteeing clean air, water and the preservation of natural resources for current and future residents of the Commonwealth.
After 1971, not much happened. For the first 42 years, only three major PA cases invoked the ERA. It wasn’t until 2010, when Pittsburgh banned fracking, that the ERA got its teeth. The state legislature responded with Act 13, an amendment to the Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Act that would force every Pennsylvania municipality to allow oil and gas drilling. Several townships banded together to challenge the law and won. Republican Chief Justice Ron Castille sided with them, writing that the ERA prevented the amendments from becoming law.
PA’s Environmental Rights Amendment is “right up there with the right to vote, freedom of religion, the right to own property.” — Michael Sklaroff, PA Bipartisan Climate Initiative
“There had been over 100 leases within the City of Pittsburgh to drill,” says former Pittsburgh Mayor William “Bill” Peduto. Peduto, a long time environmental advocate, is a member of the PA Bipartisan Climate Initiative’s advisory board. His advocacy started in 1987, when he was an intern on Capitol Hill listening to testimonies from Native Americans who opposed oil drilling in the Arctic. “The Environmental Rights Act amendment really is the basis of where I believe Pennsylvania municipalities can flex their muscle and to be able to ensure what is guaranteed to every Pennsylvanian and to future generations of Pennsylvanians.”
Sklaroff, then a real estate lawyer with Ballard, thought the decision would be huge, but it still didn’t do much. He’d long loved the outdoors, playing in Fairmount Park as a child, learning to identify different birds from his algebra teacher. He wanted to protect the environment and knew teaching other lawyers about the ERA would help do that. Sklaroff started off with sessions for attorneys held through the state bar association. He even briefed then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro and the AG’s office on the amendment. (The AG’s office is one of the key enforcers of the ERA; that position is up for election this year).
The ERA isn’t just for lawyers, though. Every member of PA’s government is required to uphold the amendment. So citizens should be able to bring it up at zoning meetings or in conversation with elected officials and have them take action. Citizens shouldn’t have to sue to use their rights.
Having educated attorneys, Sklaroff pivoted and founded The PA Bipartisan Climate Initiative to help non-law-degree-holding citizens get in on the act. The organization incorporated as a nonprofit in 2022 and held a launch event in October 2023. “They can hold their officials’ feet to the fire,” says Ashlei Tracy, the Initiative’s deputy director. “To be honest, some officials in the Commonwealth seem like they don’t even want to hear about it, because once they know about it, maybe they ethically have to do something. But for now, they can claim ignorance.”
Not just for lawyers
Since their launch last year, the PA Bipartisan Climate Initiative has held six public and private trainings on the ERA. They tailor each session to meet the needs of the group they’re speaking with.
When they speak with lawyers, they’ll talk about case law. If they’re speaking with students or neighborhood groups, they’ll define what the ERA is and how people can use it. They say that one of the easiest ways to invoke your rights under the ERA is to call your state and local representatives and tell them you think a particular project or proposal violates your rights under the amendment. The ERA could apply in a variety of cases — from residents opposing fracking like in Pittsburgh, to opposing construction projects that could contaminate streams and groundwater. Environmental activist groups like the Clean Air Council, PennFuture the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and others have evoked the ERA in a number of pieces of ongoing litigation in recent years.
Next, they want to partner with the American Association of Municipalities to create training for city leaders and state officials on how to use the ERA.
“The climate crisis is not an equal opportunity situation. There are neighborhoods that are right next to industrial pollution, and it’s ongoing.” — Michael Sklaroff, PA Bipartisan Climate Initiative
“This part of our Constitution is the [state] Bill of Rights. It’s right up there with the right to vote, freedom of religion, the right to own property,” Sklaroff says.
Scott Sheely is the secretary for the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture. In September, Sklaroff spoke with their members about the ERA at an event on local and national climate issues Now, the two groups are building a broader partnership.
“Before I hooked up with [Sklaroff] I had no idea about the ERA,” Sheely says. “It provides a basis for understanding what is the right place for change on the issue, and you can begin to do that in your practical work, day in, and day out.”
Bringing bipartisanship to the fight against climate change
For years, climate change was an issue progressives claimed and conservatives ignored. Today, pretty much everyone recognizes its reality and threat. Surveys conducted by Yale University researchers in 2023 found the issue concerns a majority of residents of every PA county; 68 percent of Pennsylvanians believe climate change will harm future generations; 78 percent want the government to fund renewable energy research.
Tracy says most of us “want some sort of climate action through policy, through legislation. The fact that most Pennsylvanians are supportive of that goes against the current narratives that people put forth.”
Putting “Bipartisan” in the group’s name was intentional, as they work with all parts of PA’s political spectrum. Peter Longstreth, son of longtime Philly Republican Councilmember Thacher Longstreth, is on the Initiative’s advisory board. So is Sister Mary Scullion, a nun and prominent progressive advocate for homeless people.
“There are people who are supportive of what we’re doing who are Republicans, who are Democrats, who are whatever,” Sklaroff says.
One way they’ve been able to reach conservative Pennsylvanians: churchs. They’ve done a number of events for religious groups, educating them about the amendment. “The congregations are taking this as a protection of God’s creation,” Tracy says. “They’re really doing a lot of the bipartisan work for us and in conjunction with us.”
“To be honest, some officials in the Commonwealth seem like they don’t even want to hear about the ERA, because once they know about it, maybe they ethically have to do something.” — Ashlei Tracy, PA Bipartisan Climate Initiative
They’re also working with medical professionals to help get out the word. In early October, they held an event with the Philadelphia College of Physicians to honor Justice Castille. The reason they want to reach physicians is twofold: First, the public has high levels of trust in medical professionals. So, if a doctor talks with them about their environmental rights, they’ll be inclined to listen.
Second, Tracy and Sklaroff view the ERA as a tool for advocating for public health. Climate change can affect air quality. Remember those Canadian wildfires that turned Philly’s sky bright red last year? We had the worst air quality of any major city on the globe that day. Health impacts of climate change-induced extreme weather events range from creating stress to … death.
Such issues are personal for Tracy. She has asthma, and several of her family members have developed cancer that she believes is connected to pollution in Chester County, where grew up. Her family came to Coatesville, known for a steel mill that produced some of the beams in the Twin Towers, as part of the Great Migration. Pollution from steel mills has been linked to health conditions, like the ones Tracy and her family are facing.
“I just found myself more and more [interested in] environmental racism,” Tracy says. “I was more and more engaged in how that was impacting the Earth and therefore impacting my community.”
An idea other states are stealing
Six other states — New York, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Montana — also have environmental rights amendments. California and New Jersey’s legislatures are currently considering their own ERAs. Michigan, Arizona and New Mexico have considered them in the past.
In New York, residents have used their ERA to challenge private landfill companies for their greenhouse gas emissions and protest PFAS pollution. These cases are either pending or under appeal, so we don’t know the results yet. Kids, teens and young adults in Montana are using their state’s ERA to argue that their state legislators are required to act to stop climate change — and that they need to effectively ban fracking.
PA has one of the oldests ERAs. It’s also unique, Peduto says, because “it doesn’t only guarantee the rights to us, but to the future generations of Pennsylvanians.” He wants to see the Commonwealth reprioritize using our ERA, not just for the environment, but also for the economy. “It’s absolutely critical that Pennsylvania is a leader. If we don’t lead, we will be left behind. Companies will leave, talent will leave and our economy will suffer,” he says.
In Philly, activists have used the ERA to test Philadelphia Gas Works’ power to continue growing. People in other parts of the state have used the law to limit fracking. Other states believe these constitutional amendments have the power to protect wetlands and other carbon sinks.
“There’s no greater right the individuals have in Pennsylvania than the right to be able to breathe nontoxic air, than the ability to know when their children brush their teeth that the water is safe,” Peduto says. “It’s absolutely critical that environmental organizations are explaining the rights.”
Every Voice, Every Vote funds Philadelphia media and community organizations to expand access to civic news and information. The coalition is led by The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Lead support for Every Voice, Every Vote in 2024 and 2025 is provided by the William Penn Foundation with additional funding from The Lenfest Institute for Journalism, Comcast NBC Universal, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Henry L. Kimelman Family Foundation, Judy and Peter Leone, Arctos Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, 25th Century Foundation, and Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation.
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