Huang, Albert
Albert Huang
Albert Huang is the Environmental Justice Director at NYU School of Law’s Institute for Policy Integrity. He is on the American Bar Association’s Environmental Justice Committee. He is an appointed New York City Environmental Justice Advisory Board member. He worked for over 17 years on environmental justice at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in New York City. Huang completed his J.D. and Master in Environmental Law and Policy from Vermont Law School. As a lawyer, he provides legal and technical assistance to grassroots organizations in low-income communities and communities of color that face disproportionate environmental burdens, like toxic pollution. His work is grounded in environmental justice principles and the Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing that social change comes from the ground up.
“Working in this field will make a person look at the word ‘community’ differently. They will see ‘community’ as it relates to people on the local, national, and global levels. It forces a person to think about the world as a more interrelated and interactive body; to engage in and care about the world around them.” - Albert Huang, 2005
Albert Huang was born to Chen-Ya, a public health physician, and Vivian Huang, a homemaker, in 1975. He grew up with his younger brother and older sister in New Jersey. Huang recalls that New Jersey was a heavily populated place rich with racial diversity when he was growing up. He and his siblings were raised there with a strong sense of community. Unfortunately, New Jersey is also the nation’s capital for Superfund sites. These sites are known to impact low-income communities and communities of color disproportionately. Huang witnessed this for himself. Living in New Jersey, close to New York, made Huang aware of how population, income levels, and diversity affect the quality of living for some people.
Huang first became interested in a career in the environmental field as a high school student canvassing for the Sierra Club. It was a state and national campaign involved in grassroots work, and his job was getting petitions signed. His first job was as a field manager for Sierra Club campaigns.
Huang completed a B.A. from Hamilton College in English and Environmental Studies in 1997. By 2001, he had received his J.D. and Master in Environmental Law and Policy from Vermont Law School.
While attending law school, Huang was a legal fellow at the Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment. This national environmental justice organization provides legal, organizing, and technical support to grassroots groups in low-income communities and communities of color. He was a legal fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California. From 2002 to 2005, Huang worked as a policy advocate and staff attorney at a grassroots environmental justice organization, the Environmental Health Coalition, in San Diego, California.
For the next 17 years, from 2005 to 2022, Huang focused on environmental justice at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in New York City. While at NRDC, he led institutional environmental justice and equity work and litigated cases on behalf of environmental justice communities nationwide. Over the years, he provided legal, policy, and technical assistance to countless community-based grassroots organizations. Huang was a Senior Attorney in the Environmental Justice division of the NRDC’s Healthy People and Thriving Communities Program, utilizing a model that emphasizes community-led initiatives. From 2011 to 2018, Huang was also an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School, teaching environmental justice law and practice.
In August 2022, Huang became the Environmental Justice Director at NYU School of Law’s Institute for Policy Integrity. Huang uses his law training to provide legal and technical assistance to grassroots organizations in low-income communities and communities of color which face disproportionate environmental burdens, like toxic pollution. His work is grounded in environmental justice principles and the Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing that social change comes from the ground up.
He is on the American Bar Association’s Environmental Justice Committee. He is an appointed New York City Environmental Justice Advisory Board member. He has been on full-time secondment with the Environmental Justice Health Alliance and Coming Clean, where he was a Senior Legal and Policy Analyst.
View Albert’s blogs and policy writing from NRDC here: https://www.nrdc.org/experts/albert-huang.
Huang draws inspiration from his mentor, Luke Cole. Mr. Cole was an attorney and author on environmental justice issues. Huang says, “He trail-blazed a new model of practicing law in the civil rights movement. He created an empowerment model for community members so that they would be in the forefront of their fight against environmental injustice and lawyers would be used as a last resort.”
Huang encourages young people of color to pursue careers in the environmental field. He believes it is a great way to give back to the community. Working in this field, Huang says, will make a person look at the word “community” differently. They will see “community” as it relates to people on the local, national, and global levels. “It forces a person to think about the world as a more interrelated and interactive body…to engage in and care about the world around them.”
Greenfield, Rebecca. 2015. Photo credit. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/crusader-justice.
Huang, Albert. n.d. Albert Huang, Alum: Blogs and Policy Resources. National Resources Defense Council. Accessed February 15, 2023. https://www.nrdc.org/experts/albert-huang.
Policy Integrity. 2022. Staff Spotlight: New Environmental Justice Director. Institute for Policy Integrity: NYU School of Law. April 20, 2022. https://policyintegrity.org/news/newsletter/april-2022-at-policy-integrity.
Rosen, Dan. 2015. Crusader for Justice. National Resources Defense Council. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/crusader-justice.
Taylor, Dorceta E., Editor. 2005. “The Paths We Tread: Profiles of the Careers of Minority Environmental Professionals.” August 2005. Minority Environmental Leadership Development Initiative, University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment.
NYU School of Law