Overview
NRDC is a non-profit environmental advocacy organization. We use law, science, and the support of 3.1 million members and online activists to protect the planet’s wildlife and wild places and to ensure the rights of all people to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities. NRDC was founded in 1970 and our people helped write some of America’s bedrock environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act and many of the implementing regulations. Today, our team of more than 700 lawyers, scientists, economists, policy advocates, communications experts, and others work across the United States and the globe from our offices in Beijing; Bozeman, Montana; Chicago; New Delhi; New York; San Francisco; Santa Monica; and Washington, D.C.
NRDC is seeking a Drinking Water Environmental Justice Legal intern to work with the Safe Water Initiative team associated with our Washington and Chicago office.
Position Summary
As the Flint drinking water crisis and many other lead tap water disasters have taught us, contaminated drinking water often disproportionately affects communities of color. NRDC has partnered with community activists in several cities across the country in an effort to attack drinking water contamination problems, with a heavy focus on lead contamination. We filed litigation challenging the inadequacies of USEPA’s Lead and Copper Rule for drinking water, and have brought litigation or offered legal support on behalf of local residents in Flint, Newark, NJ, Benton Harbor, MI, Pittsburgh, and other cities.
We are seeking a Drinking Water Environmental Justice Legal Intern to assist us in our legal work nationally and in multiple locations on lead in drinking water issues. Among the important topics we expect this intern to tackle will be statutory and regulatory history research and writing on the USEPA’s lead in drinking water rules, and state and local legal research in key states and municipalities regarding lead in drinking water issues.
Responsibilities
- Legal research and writing on EPA’s authority and statutory responsibility to require certain key measures in an updated Lead and Copper Rule. Likely will involve research on the Safe Drinking Water Act and its legislative and regulatory history, as well as possibly on other statutes and case law. This may including drafting comments to EPA on the rule.
- Legal research on state and local laws/ordinances/codes regarding lead service lines and lead in drinking water, in certain key locations where NRDC and our local partners are actively seeking to address lead in tap water challenges
Qualifications
Required
- Commitment to NRDC’s mission and values.
- Must have a strong commitment and interest in environmental justice.
Preferred
- Prefer a student who has taken administrative law and constitutional law, and ideally at least one course in environmental law.
- Some knowledge and coursework in civil rights law a plus.
NRDC is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, both in our work and in our workplace. We believe that celebrating and actively welcoming diverse voices and perspectives is essential to solving the planet’s most pressing environmental problems, and we encourage applications from candidates whose identities have been historically under-represented in the environmental movement.
We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
This position is a paid internship with a stipend of $10,000 paid bi-weekly over the course of 10 weeks.
The incumbent will not qualify as an employee, fellow, volunteer, or independent contractor of NRDC, nor will the incumbent be guaranteed employment at the end of the internship term.
Our offices are open and we are operating in a hybrid model. We offer NRDCers flexibility, and we encourage them to come into the office and spend meaningful time there in collaboration with their colleagues. We call this purposeful presence.
As a science-based organization, NRDC aims to do our part to help contain the COVID-19 public health crisis. For the sake of health, safety, and equity, we ask that people be vaccinated unless they have an approved medical or religious accommodation or other exemption in accordance with state and local law. We consider a person to be vaccinated two weeks after receiving one full course of a CDC-approved vaccine. In accordance with state or local law, new hires will be asked to attest to vaccination. Those wishing to do so may request medical or religious accommodations or other exemptions. NRDC treats all vaccination-related data confidentially, in keeping with local, state, and federal laws.
To apply, visit www.nrdc.org/careers and upload your résumé and cover letter. Please mention where you saw this posting and upload any additional materials that showcase your abilities. Due to the high volume of applications, we will contact only those candidates we would like to interview. Please no phone calls, emails, or in-person résumé drop-offs.
If you experience technical problems while applying or if you are a person with a disability and need assistance applying online, please reach out to iCIMS Customer Care at 1-800-889-4422.
For more about NRDC, visit www.nrdc.org.
