Impact at CLIPI
After graduating from Yale Law School, Nichols began her legal career as a CLIPI staff attorney from 1971 to 1974. At CLIPI, she pioneered litigation under the newly enacted Clean Air Act, focusing on air pollution issues in Southern California. Notably, her City of Riverside v. Ruckelshaus litigation led to the first court decree mandating that Los Angeles basin air quality planning must be designed to attain the health-based Clean Air Act goals, despite the political and practical difficulties of their achievement.
Nichols’s work at CLIPI laid the foundation for a distinguished career in environmental law and policy. She went on to serve in several high-profile roles, including Chair of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for almost twenty years (serving as chair under Governors Jerry Brown, Gray Davis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gavin Newsom). She also served as Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the Clinton Administration, State of California Secretary for Resources (under Grey Davis), and Director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. She has been described as “the most influential environmental regulator in history.” Under her leadership, California became a global model for environmental regulation, advancing clean air initiatives and vehicle emissions standards adopted nationwide. Nichols continues to be a sought-after advisor on climate policy, environmental law, and public health.
