As I remember it — The Start of the Clean Air Council 

I’ve been a Clean Air Council member since the nonprofit first began to fight for everyone’s right to breathe clean air. On a steamy late August day in the summer of 1967, I arrived at the University of Pennsylvania to start my graduate degree program in “Operations Research”. I had been accepted as a dorm proctor in the Upper Class Triangle Dorms at 37^th and Spruce Streets and assigned a single dorm on the second floor, which had a screened window that looked out the back to a walkway. I had bought an Inquirer newspaper at a coin newspaper box and dropped the paper on the window sill, which was open to allow for a breeze. 

After unpacking and traveling around campus to run my many errands, I returned late that afternoon exhausted and ready to eat my hoagie and read the Inky. I picked up the paper on the window sill and was astonished to see the black newsprint on the front page slide right off the page! This illusion was caused by a layer of fine black soot, likely air particulate matter, in the air that deposited through the window screen over roughly 5 hours and landed on the newspaper. I was astounded and concerned that I had been breathing this same air all day! 

Black soot and fine particulate matter is a public health problem that kills millions of people each year. As someone concerned about air quality and the environment, I was a regular contributor and member of the American Lung Association. I learned they had initiated another independent health group to promote clean air. The group would work to fight air pollution in the Philadelphia area. This was before the first Earth Day and before national legislation such as the Clean Air Act was passed.

They invited the public to attend the first meeting. Given my concern for the sooty air I was breathing since moving into the city, I made it a point to be at this meeting. 

The meeting had about 25 attendees. The meeting chair was from the Lung Association of Chester County. The Chair specifically noted they were not turning on the overhead fluorescent lights and only using the ambient light from the windows and the room was not air conditioned but it felt quite comfortable. There were two brothers, one a professor in communications at Temple, the other a well known Philadelphia personality/news host for a major local TV channel.  It was the latter who was initially chosen to lead this new group called the Clean Air Council.

I’m proud to be a Clean Air Council member 54 years later and contribute to defending everyone’s right to a healthy environment. 

By longtime Clean Air Council member, James Castellan. 

Clean Air Council Transportation Program Director Nick Zuwiala-Rogers spoke at a policy hearing held to address the rising numbers of vehicle related pedestrian deaths and injuries. Senator Sabatina’s district surrounds part of Roosevelt Boulevard which is regarded as one of the most dangerous roads in the country. Read our full testimony below.

 

(Philadelphia, PA–April 5, 2019)–Thank you for the opportunity to present testimony on behalf of Clean Air Council today. My name is Nick Zuwiala-Rogers and I am the Transportation Program Director at Clean Air Council. Clean Air Council sponsors Philadelphia’s pedestrian advocacy organization, Feet First Philly. The Council and Feet First Philly are members of the Vision Zero Alliance, a diverse coalition working to reduce traffic deaths to zero.

The Council is a member supported environmental advocacy organization whose mission is to protect everyone’s right to a healthy environment. Because transportation is the leading contributor of greenhouse gas emissions, the Council has a major focus on promoting sustainable forms of transportation, including walking. Feet First Philly works to promote walking as a form of transportation and recreation, protect the rights of pedestrians, and improve the pedestrian experience in Philadelphia.

News reports from earlier this year showed that pedestrian deaths in Pennsylvania were up 41% in the first half of 2018 over the same period in 2017, raising widespread concerns. While this trend is alarming, a lack of pedestrian safety is nothing new. Based on the last 5 years of publicly available crash data, pedestrians are 4-5 times as likely to be killed in a crash than non-pedestrians. On state roads, this increases to 6.5 times as likely for pedestrians to die in crashes. While state roads and local roads make up about the same number of crashes involving pedestrians, 75% of the ones that result in a fatal injury are on state roads. I say this to highlight the importance of the state taking a lead role in ensuring pedestrian safety. Local municipalities like Harrisburg, Bethlehem, and Philadelphia are engaging in Vision Zero policies, and the state should be a leader in these initiatives. This statistic also highlights that the most dangerous places to walk are the arterials that connect people to jobs, commercial corridors, healthcare, and public transit options. These state roads that are so critical to mobility are the same ones that are engineered with cars in mind first, and often provide no safe way for people to walk. This presents a clear and unfortunate equity issue where the lives of those who cannot afford a car matter less.

It is fitting we are holding this hearing in Northeast Philadelphia, not far from Roosevelt Boulevard, one of the deadliest roads in the country, which has been unfortunately referred to as “the Boulevard of death.” Roughly one person dies on this road every month, and about half of those people are pedestrians. On this road, last year, the state voted to allow an automated speed enforcement pilot in order to decrease the loss of life here. Expanded use of automated enforcement techniques, including for running red lights and speeding, are some of the tenants of Vision Zero that have worked well in other places. Vision Zero is the concept that fatalities as a result of traffic violence are avoidable, and none should be acceptable. The policy focuses on reducing traffic deaths to zero, with a focus on the most vulnerable road users – pedestrians.

Another tenant of Vision Zero is how we engineer our roads. Being a pedestrian can be a daunting experience, particularly on state roads where pedestrians are so much more likely to be killed. These roadways are clearly designed for cars not people, which is fundamentally wrong in my opinion, and I will guide you through the pedestrian experience walking in Pennsylvania. Being a pedestrian on a state road means you likely will not have a safe space to walk, like a sidewalk. Instead, you might be walking directly beside cars traveling at high rates of speed that will kill you in the event of human error. Even if you do have a sidewalk, you might have to walk up to a mile to the nearest safe crossing. When you get there, there may or may not be a crosswalk. If there is one, there is a good chance it is blocked by a parked car, or a car who did not stop behind the stop bar, as is the norm. When you get the opportunity to cross in that crosswalk, you will now be competing with turning cars who will race to get through the intersection before you have a chance to establish your right of way. As you cross a wide arterial road, you will quickly start to run out of time and could be stranded on the median as cars speed by you, if you are lucky enough to find refuge space in the center of the road.

This experience is the result of decades of prioritizing designing roads to maximize how many and how fast we can move cars, and ignoring the safety of actual people. As a legislative body, you should task our state’s DOT with prioritizing safety over throughput – lives saved over moving as many cars as quickly as possible. Sometimes that means we get places a little slower, but that sacrifice means we save lives.

The good news is there are a few bills that are either already introduced, proposed in previous sessions, or soon to be introduced this year that can help to improve pedestrian safety. I will outline four of them here, and the ways they would protect pedestrians. Two of these bills will specifically target two of the most dangerous behaviors identified by PennDOT’s crash data – speed and distracted driving.

RADAR for Local Law Enforcement (previously SB 251) – Simply put, speed kills. A pedestrian hit at 40 mph has a 10% chance to survive. That number increases to 50% at 30 mph, and a pedestrian hit at 20 mph has a 90% chance to live. In the absence of other automated enforcement techniques, radar should be implemented as a minimum way for officers to objectively track speed. Pennsylvania is the only state in the country not to use this basic technology.

Hand Held Ban (HB 37) – Distracted driving is a major cause of pedestrian fatalities in the state, and is one of the most dangerous behaviors according to crash data. Preventing distracted driving from cell phone use is common sense. According to AAA, 85% of people think cell phone use is a threat to safety, and all of our northeast neighbor states have cell phone restrictions. The gravity of the danger cell phone use generates cannot but overstated, we cannot allow drivers to be distracted by these devices while operating on our public roadways any longer.

Vulnerable Highway User Protections (previously HB 1646) – PA has a minimum 4 foot law for passing cyclists, and this bill would put the same protections on pedestrians and other vulnerable road users, and raise the fines where careless driving results in the death of a vulnerable user. Vulnerable road users do not have the same protections as those in a vehicle, including air bags and other safety features. Many parts of the state do not have sidewalks, especially on the particularly dangerous state roads. When pedestrians are not afforded a safe distance when cars pass them, it creates a lack of human dignity and speaks to equity concerns of whose lives matter. An important piece of this legislation is that it considers the principle of Vision Zero that human error is inevitable, and we should control for it.

Protected Pedestrian Plazas and Pedalcycle Lanes (previously HB 1657) – Legislation is needed to allow cities like Philadelphia who are interested in implementing Vision Zero strategies to do so. One of the best ways to protect pedestrians is by installing protected bike lanes, which is often done by using parking as the protection area. This actually has a greater impact on pedestrian safety than bicyclists because it shortens the crossing distance of the road, allow pedestrians a “head start” to establish themselves in the crosswalk before turning cars, and overall calms speeds by narrowing the cartway.

In closing, I want to bring this back to the foundation of the issue, and that is people and their dignity. Everyone at some point is a pedestrian. People – whether, drivers, transit users, pedestrians, children, seniors, people with a disability – however they use the road, should have the dignity to know they can make it to work, or to a family member’s house, or to the store, and back home again without dying, no matter how they are getting to those places. Currently, that is not true for Pennsylvanians who walk in our public spaces. Pedestrian safety cannot wait any longer and requires this legislative body to take action.

Thank you for your time today, and I look forward to working with all of you to move these policies forward.

Join Clean Air Council, the U.S. Navy, PIDC, LUX Products, Penn State, and many more for the Navy Yard’s Sustainability Day. This free outdoor lunch event takes place on Thursday, October 4th from 11:00am to 1:30pm at the Marine Parade Grounds.

Sustainability Day includes, yoga, electronic waste disposal, food trucks, prizes and more. This event is a great opportunity become more involved with local environmental groups and learn about Navy Yard companies that are doing their part to protect the environment.

Green Bears Cafe Flyer

 

On Thursday, Councilman Mark Squilla, Chair of the Streets and Services Committee, introduced three bills on the Council floor proposing two new bike lanes, and eliminating parking along Torresdale Avenue where the Pennypack Trail crosses in Holmesburg.

This came a day after the Streets and Services Committee moved forward on the bills. According to Plan Philly, City Spokesman Mike Dunn told them in an email that he hopes the lanes will be open by the end of the year.

One of the proposed bike lanes would be installed along Race Street between 8th and 5th streets in Chinatown. This particular corridor is heavily trafficked, especially during rush hour, with vehicles headed toward the Ben Franklin Bridge. Race Street turns from three to four lanes that are not clearly marked, adding to potential driver confusion.

The new lane would be parking protected from 8th to 6th, and would also create a much safer connection between Chinatown and Franklin Square, which is one of the only green spaces in the neighborhood.

The second bill is to install non-protected bike lanes in both directions along Island Avenue and Enterprise Ave in Southwest Philadelphia near the airport. These lanes will allow cyclists who work in this business and industrial area a safe path from nearby transit stops like the Eastwick Regional Rail Station.

The third bill, proposed in committee by Councilman Henon, removes parking along the 8100 block of Torresdale Avenue in order to allow Pennypack Trail users a clear place to cross the road. This is a wooded stretch of Torresdale Avenue is a key crossing point of the 14.4 mile trail that runs from Huntingdon Valley in Montgomery County all the way to Holmesburg in Northeast Philadelphia.

We spoke with Councilman Squilla briefly outside City Council chambers. “Councilman Henon introduced a bill, and we’re strongly in favor of the bill to allow the trail to continue,” Councilman Squilla said.” “I think it’s a great way to have more open space.”

All three of these are key to the success of Philadelphia’s Vision Zero plan. Safe connections like the Pennypack Trail at Torresdale Avenue will allow people to pursue alternative modes of transportation, and ease the pollution and congestion cars produce every day.

“This just lends the City’s upward motion to keep people who have different modes of transportation and ways of getting to different locations through this trail connector which is a great thing for not only the City but hopefully throughout the Commonwealth,” Councilman Squilla said. “Any time you can have dedicated trails, and people where they are put in a place where it’s safer to transverse, it definitely will help with our plan for Vision Zero.”

Project overview

Clean Air Council was awarded an Azavea 2017 Summer of Maps fellowship program to better understand the state of Philadelphia’s bicycle parking demand, and pinpoint areas in Center City with limited bicycle parking infrastructure, or where the infrastructure did not meet the demand. The project centered on finding variables that could explain the bike parking demand, using employment data, on road bike facilities, Indego trips, and other data. One of the major goals is to be able to predict bike parking demand in other locations, in order to provide appropriate bike parking infrastructure. Data collected from this study will be used to identify gaps in bike parking, and lay the groundwork for interested investment in safe and secure bike parking.

Philadelphia’s 2013 bike rack study, conducted by the Mayor’s Internship Program, created a baseline for bike parking in Center City. The results of the City’s 2013 study found the number of bikes parked on sidewalks exceeded the existing bike rack capacity. The study also revealed formal bike parking was not being utilized on streets with bike racks. Bike parking exceeded demand in some Center City areas while not satisfying demand in other areas.

Data wrangling

The Council made the most of the opportunity to work with an Azavea fellow with expertise in geospatial data analysis by not only getting in-depth analysis, but also collecting a new round of data. In order to understand the factors that contribute to an area’s bike parking demand, the Council first needed to determine which downtown Philadelphia areas are in most need of bike parking by locating and identifying every existing bike rack in Center City, as well as every bike that is parked in Center City, and whether it is to a rack or another informal structure.

The Council used the Fulcrum app to collect data using cell phones. Staff from Azavea and Clean Air Council used the app to geolocate bikes and bike racks on all streets between the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers from South Street to Vine Street. Locating formal bike rack parking included differentiating between inverted U/staple racks, bike corrals, and parking meters. The study also documented informal bike parking including bikes locked to railings, trees, poles, scaffolding, and fences. Conflicts that prevented bicycles from correctly locking to a rack, and bike racks appearing damaged or in disrepair were also noted.

The whole process of walking all of center city during daytime, work week hours took 12 staff and volunteers between the two organizations, 6 days, and collected 4,000 data points!

Analysis

Capturing existing bike parking infrastructure allowed Azavea to provide accurate mapping images of bike parking demand. Azavea’s analysis was based on several data sets ranging from census job data to transit station locations to bicycle trip data.

 

Indego bikeshare’s public data allowed Azavea to look at the number of one-way weekday trips from 7-11am from April through September 2016. This gave a baseline of how many cyclists were travelling to different parts of Center City during work week morning hours. Total number of jobs, in addition to land use, helped identify areas in Center City most likely to host employees commuting by bike. Proximity to bike lanes and distance to train stations were also added factors to the predicted demand equation.

Conclusions

Azavea found a linear regression equation to be the best fit in determining the need for bike parking, while being easy to interpret and able to be written as a formula, Y = β0 + β1X1 + β2X2 + β3X3 + Ɛ.  The final list of variables that can be used to predict the demand for bicycle parking include: formal capacity, total jobs, Indego bike trips, commercial consumer land use, commercial business and professional land use, and mixed commercial and residential land use.

In addition to pointing out all over Center City where there is a clear need for increased bike parking infrastructure due to the level of informal bike parking, the model also identifies a few areas that should be looked at more because they show high demand in the model. The study found three areas where eight to ten additional bike parking spaces are needed. These areas include 13th and Market Street around the entrances to the El station, around Liberty Place on Market Street between 17th and 18th Streets and around the department stores near Jefferson Station between Market Street and Filbert Street and from 7th to 10th Streets. The study found the City’s Municipal Services Building, between JFK Boulevard and Arch Street between Broad and 15th Streets, and Jefferson Hospital’s Lubert Plaza between 10th and 11th Streets and between Locust and Walnut Streets to be where bike parking was used the most.

Around Liberty Place

Limitations

This model shows the best correlation between actual use and predicted demand of bike parking, though the model did produce some inaccurate results. In areas shown in dark red, the model over predicted the need for bike parking. In the dark blue areas, the model under predicted demand. It was pointed out by Azavea’s fellow that the census data used was wide in scope for a study as precise as ours. Lastly, the Fulcrum app used to collect bike rack data would sometimes locate racks on the opposite side of the street leading to some inaccuracy.

The equation used for this analysis was not tested outside Center City, but the Council hopes to do this in the future. Indego bike trips were used in the final prediction formula making models outside of Indego’s service area inaccurate, but another formula that did not include Indego as a predicting variable was also created so that this could be used in other areas of the city.

Access Full Report Here

 

Exactly 17 days passed since Emily Fredricks was struck and killed by a private garbage truck while riding in the bike lane along Spruce Street before another cyclist was again struck by a turning truck while riding in a bike lane. This time the crash occurred near 13th and Pine Streets, just a couple blocks from where Fredricks was killed, and is once again igniting the call for more protected bike lanes throughout Philadelphia.

This morning, over 100 people gathered today to again form a human barrier between traffic and the bike lane along 13th Street, and show support for Becca Refford, 24, who was commuting to work when she was hit. Refford waved and smiled at the people who made the human bike lane from her hospital bed via Facetime.

Another serious crash so soon after the death of Emily Fredericks should make clear that paint-buffered bike lanes are not good enough protection on the most used, high traffic streets in Philadelphia.

Last week, the City took a small step by committing to a short section of protected bike lanes on South Street and 27th Street near the South Street Bridge. Unfortunately this is a compromise from the original plan to include a protected bike lane along Lombard Street as well.

Spruce Street, Pine Street, Lombard, and 13th Street are some of the most highly traveled bike lanes in Philadelphia. It is important that these roads be upgraded from lines of paint to physical barriers, the past three weeks have clearly demonstrated the need. Call Councilmen Kenyatta Johnson and Mark Squilla to thank them for the small addition to the City’s protected bike lane network, and demand that they take further steps to rapidly install protected bike lanes on all of center city’s bike lanes.

 

 

 

 

Clean Air Council and partners Moms Clean Air Force, Clean Water Action, and Earthworks joined residents affected by natural gas operations and a Harrisburg-area physician to speak at a press conference and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) air quality committee meeting. 

Members from Clean Air Council and their partners spoke on the steps of the Rachel Carson State Office Building, just a few blocks from Governor Wolf’s office. You can watch excerpts from the press conference below.

The comments were a continuation of advocacy that has spanned three years urging Governor Wolf to fulfill his campaign promises on methane controls for the natural gas industry.  At the meeting, the DEP presented the final draft of permits to control methane pollution from new and modified natural gas operations.

The Department also presented concepts to control volatile organic compounds from existing natural gas operations, which are the bare minimum they are required to do under federal guidelines. You can read the full press release here.

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

December 14, 2017

Contact:

Justin Wasser, Clean Air Council: 814-242-3156

Impacted Residents, Health Experts and Environmental Advocates Urge Gov. Wolf to Advance Methane Pollution Standards for the Natural Gas Sector

Harrisburg, PA (December 14, 2017)- The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) presented today the final draft of permits to control methane pollution from new and modified natural gas operations to the Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee (AQTAC). Residents affected by natural gas operations, as well as environmental and public health advocacy groups from across the Commonwealth, spoke at a press conference and at the AQTAC meeting during the public comment period.  The comments were a continuation of advocacy that has spanned three years urging Governor Wolf to fulfill his campaign promises on methane controls. Wolf first promised to cut methane pollution from all new and existing gas operations on the campaign trail in 2014. He announced his methane reduction strategy in January 2016.  

Environmental and public health advocacy groups and impacted residents were pleased to finally see progress made on the methane reduction plan at the meeting, but say that the Wolf administration must quickly finalize general permits and require companies to comply with them. Groups raised concerns about the administration’s proposed concepts for weaker rules covering existing source of methane pollution — a major departure from what the governor promised to do.

“While the progress being made on methane standards covering new natural gas sources is encouraging, the Wolf administration must move quickly to regulate existing sources in a similar way,” said Joseph Otis Minott, Executive Director and Chief Counsel of Clean Air Council. “What DEP is proposing to implement on existing sources is the bare minimum required by law. Governor Wolf must go well beyond the bare minimum in protecting the health of Pennsylvania citizens. We elected this governor based on his promises to be a leader in addressing methane pollution and climate change. Pennsylvanians deserve that leadership.”

Methane, a very potent greenhouse gas, is accompanied by air pollutants harmful to human health when it leaks from natural gas operations. Emissions in Pennsylvania continue to rise year after year.  

The standards for new and modified sources will be implemented through two general permits, which allow for a streamlined approval process if industry operators agree to adhere to the permit conditions. One permit, GP-5A, covers unconventional gas wells and pigging operations and the other, GP-5, covers processing plants and compressor stations, including those on large transmission pipelines.

“Comprehensive methane rules for existing sources of pollution must be broader in scope and more stringent than the requirements found in EPA guidelines,”  said Robert Routh, staff attorney for Clean Air Council. “These guidelines represent the national floor.  Governor Wolf and DEP need to lead here and aim much higher for the sake of all Pennsylvanians.”

“The citizens of the commonwealth are suffering needlessly when we have the tools and technology available to greatly limit methane pollution and help clean our air,” said Dr. Robert Little, a family physician and president of the Harrisburg/Hershey chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility. “It bears emphasizing that we need to clear our air of both toxic hydrocarbons and emissions of methane – reducing one kind of pollution without the other gets us nowhere.”

“Until these new source rules are applied to existing sources, people in my community and others dealing with methane pollution right now are still looking at an unfulfilled promise by Governor Wolf,” said Lois Bower-Bjornson, an impacted resident of Washington County, PA. “I am urging Governor Wolf to be that leader who campaigned on a promise of holding the natural gas industry accountable to the people of Pennsylvania and move forward on rules for existing sources of methane pollution and VOCs immediately.”

“Today, my children and 3,200 of their classmates are attending school next to a gas well pad roughly half a mile away exposing them to a known health and safety risk from oil and gas air pollution including emissions of methane and volatile organic compounds,” said Patrice Tomcik, a mother of two sons from Butler County and a Field Consultant with Moms Clean Air Force, a 1 million member strong organization. “Let’s be clear: This problem will not be resolved unless and until DEP addresses these toxic pollutants like benzene, as well as methane emissions.”  

 

[Nov. 06, 2017-PHILADELPHIA] — On behalf of Clean Air Council and two Pennsylvania children, Hausfeld filed suit today in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against the federal government to prevent it from rolling back policies, programs, laws, rules, and regulations previously in place to address and ameliorate climate change and its consequences. This pro bono litigation focuses on the federal government’s knowledge (dating back over fifty years) that climate change presents a clear and present danger to life, and represents an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to human societies and the planet. You can read the full complaint here.

The United States has experienced a steady increase in extreme weather events caused by climate change, as exemplified most recently by the devastating impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and the October California wildfires. If not adequately addressed, climate change will cause human deaths, shorten human life spans, result in widespread damage to property, threaten human food sources, drastically affect human air quality, and dramatically alter the planet’s ecosystem to the detriment of the plaintiffs in this case, their children and grandchildren, and all future generations.

The federal government has relied on junk science to implement reckless climate change policies in the face of indisputable U.S. and international scientific consensus. It is the government’s responsibility to protect the lives and welfare of citizens and the life-sustaining resources they depend on. These acts of deliberate indifference are increasing U.S. contributions to climate change, thereby increasing the frequency and intensity of its life-threatening effects, and violating the constitutional rights of all U.S. citizens.

Plaintiffs are leading Philadelphia environmental nonprofit Clean Air Council and two child plaintiffs who have been personally impacted by climate change. The Federal Government Defendants include President Donald Trump, the Department of Energy, Secretary Rick Perry, the Environmental Protection Agency, and Administrator Scott Pruitt.

Clean Air Council Executive Director and Chief Counsel Joseph Minott said: “We will not stand idly by while President Trump and his agencies raze crucial environmental protections, ignore climate science, dispute well-documented facts and force future generations of Americans to suffer the consequences of this administration’s reckless choices and ignorant policies. We must hold the federal government accountable for the long-term environmental harm that is propagating under its direction. It’s time to fight back.”

Scientists refer to climate change as the most important issue of our time. Human contribution to climate change, which exacerbates its effects, has reached a critical moment, the consequences of which are potentially irreversible. Hausfeld Chairman Michael D. Hausfeld stated: “By deliberately engaging in this rollback of climate policies and programs, the government is affirmatively endangering the lives and welfare of its citizens.”

This lawsuit comes on the heels of the federal government’s release of the National Climate Assessment, which, in stark contrast to the administration’s environmental policies, affirms that climate change is almost entirely caused by human action and is a growing threat to the United States.

Hausfeld attorneys working on this case include Michael D. Hausfeld, Seth R. Gassman, Katie R. Beran, Braden Beard, and Michaela Spero.

For further information or to arrange interviews please contact:

Deborah Schwartz
Media Relations
(240) 355-8838
deborah@mediarelationsinc.com

Jamie Kloss
Braithwaite Communications
(215) 564-3200 ext. 162
jamie@gobraithwaite.com

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Hausfeld

Hausfeld is a leading global law firm with offices in Berlin, Boston, Brussels, Düsseldorf, London, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. The firm has a broad range of complex litigation expertise, particularly in antitrust/competition, financial services, sports and entertainment, environmental, mass torts, consumer protection, and human rights matters, often with an international dimension. Hausfeld aims to achieve the best possible results for clients through its practical and commercial approach, avoiding litigation where feasible, yet litigating robustly when necessary. Hausfeld’s extensive experience with alternative and innovative fee models offers clients a diverse menu of engagement options and maximum flexibility in terms of managing their cost exposure.

Hausfeld is the only claimants’ firm to be ranked by the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners as a top tier firm in private enforcement of antitrust/competition law in both the United States and the United Kingdom. For more information about the firm, including recent trial victories and landmark settlements, please visit: www.hausfeld.com.

About Clean Air Council

Clean Air Council is a member-supported, non-profit environmental organization dedicated to protecting everyone’s right to breathe clean air. The Council is headquartered in Philadelphia and works through public education, community organizing, advocacy, and government oversight to ensure enforcement of environmental laws. For more information, please visit www.cleanair.org.