Air and water pollution are rising in China, and so is the number of lawsuits against polluters. Access to the courts is growing: Chinese prosecutors and some NGOs have been empowered to sue polluters, and activist lawyers increasingly participate in lawsuits. Recently, five activist lawyers brought a lawsuit against Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei Province, charging these local governments with not doing enough to reduce pollution. Previously, inspectors from China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and its local Environmental Protection Bureaus (EPBs) had censured officials in Tianjin for failing to address serious environmental problems.