Jeremy Orr
Director of Litigation and Advocacy Partnerships for Earthjustice and Adjunct Professor | Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, UNITED STATES
Jeremy Orr's legal career has focused on drinking water and source water protection issues.
Media
Publications:
Documents:
Videos:
Audio/Podcasts:
Biography
Jeremy Orr is the Director of Litigation and Advocacy Partnerships for Earthjustice where he leads the organizational strategy on engaging and partnering with communities and other stakeholders. Prior to Earthjustice, he served as a Senior Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council on the Safe Water Initiative. In that role, he focused on drinking water and source water protection issues, working to ensure that all people have access to safe, sufficient, and affordable drinking water.
With a background in community lawyering and community organizing around environmental justice and climate justice issues, he has previously served as an Environmental Justice Attorney with the Transnational Environmental Law Clinic at Wayne State University Law School, as the Executive Director of the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, and as a National Director with the Peoples Climate Movement. He is also a current member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council and the Michigan Environmental Rules Review Committee.
He was named the 2022 Senior Fellow in Residence of the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy at Boston College Law School. He received his B.S., M.S., and J.D. from Michigan State University.
Areas of Expertise (6)
Environmental Law
EPA
Environmental Justice
Climate Justice
Source Water Protection Issues
Water Quality
Accomplishments (1)
Senior Fellow in Residence of the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy, Boston College Law School (professional)
2022
Education (3)
Michigan State University: J.D.
Michigan State University: M.S.
Michigan State University: B.S.
Affiliations (2)
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council
- Michigan Environmental Rules Review Committee
Links (2)
News (3)
Detroit environmental lawyer selected for Obama leadership program
BridgeDetroit online
2023-08-02
“We’re a city that fights back, we’re a city that finds solutions–we’re the Renaissance city,” Orr told BridgeDetroit about Detroit. “It’s really an honor to be a part of that and bring that same kind of hard-working, blue-collar fighting spirit to this cohort and talk about ways that we really revamped our city to be a hub for tech, clean energy… and climate change.”
Ask the expert: Flint water crisis and its impact
Michigan State University online
2022-09-22
Jeremy Orr is an adjunct professor of law in the Michigan State University College of Law with expertise in water sustainability and issues of access and affordability. Orr explains how events like climate change and the aftermath of the Flint water crisis have spurred government and communities to invest in efforts to sustain water resources and make them accessible to everyone.
Profiles in the fight for environmental justice: Jeremy Orr
Planet Detroit online
2020-12-10
Jeremy Orr was working on a paper mill cleanup project as a community activist and organizer when he realized two things: that a person’s environment dictates their physical wellbeing and health, and that a lack of representation in decisions on the environment affecting Black and brown people was pervasive.
