Posted on 06/30/2011 5:49:28 PM PDT by girlangler
Federal Act Could Limit Environmental Lawsuits, Awards
By Etta Pettijohn
The practices of two environmental groups best known for suing federal agencies to end logging, grazing, mining on public land and to hamstring wildlife agencies could be halted if legislation sponsored by western Congressional members becomes law.
The Government Litigation Savings Act, introduced to Congress in late May, would amend the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA). Supporters say it would not, as some critics of the measure claim, reverse the opportunity for disadvantaged plaintiffs to recoup legal fees as recourse against government actions.
The EAJA, passed in 1980, was intended to reimburse legal costs of private citizens with a net worth of less than $2 million, or small non-profit organizations with a net worth of less than $7 million, that successfully sued the federal government for non-compliance with federal laws.
Several western lawmakers have co-sponsored the amendment to the EAJA, including New Mexico Rep. Steve Pearce. It was introduced by Wyoming Republicans Sen. John Barrasso and Rep. Cynthia Lummis.
The proposed amendment would limit the use of EAJA funds to those who can prove a personal monetary or property interest, personal injury, or are likely to suffer irreparable harm.
Under the act, reimbursement of these fees would be curtailed if the claimant has unreasonably protracted the proceedings, been oppressive or acted in bad faith, or has utilized attorneys pro bono. Moreover, all attorneys’ fees would be capped at $175 per hour, and limited to $200,000 for any single lawsuit. No more than three EAJA awards in any calendar year would be awarded to the same claimant.
Moreover, all EAJA payments would be reported annually, and a searchable database would identify the amount and to whom the funds were paid (including sealed settlement agreements), the agency sued, hourly rates of expert witnesses and related costs, the names of presiding judges in each case, and their basis for finding the position of the agency concerned was not substantially justified.
The amendment would cap attorney fees to groups with a net worth of less than $7 million.
When Congress stopped tracking and reporting the payments under EAJA in 1995, Rep. Pearce and other supporters of the measure say the abuse by wealthy environmental organizations began, creating a cottage industry that challenged all sorts of traditional uses of public lands, and raking in millions for the groups.
“The Equal Access to Justice Act is a good, important law, designed to protect the disadvantaged by promising a legal recourse for people who need protection from actions of the federal government,” Pearce told the Sentinel this week. “Unfortunately, it has been recklessly abused by environmental lawyers seeking to make a profit by attacking our way of life.
“The proposal I am supporting is intended to restore the EAJA to its original intent: to empower the underprivileged, not to line the pockets of lawyers with political agendas. We need to make sure that people with legitimate claims against the government are not being pushed to the backburner by those who would abuse our laws.”
According to a recent article in the New York Times, two environmental groups, the Tucson, AZ-based Center for Biological Diversity and Santa Fe-headquartered WildEarth Guardians, are among the leading organizations abusing the system. Together they have filed more than 100 lawsuits, involving 1,100 species, against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) over delays in listing under the federal Endangered Species Act since 2007.
Once a petition is filed, the agency must determine if it warrants further investigation within 90 days, a deadline most often missed because of case workloads.
The Times’ article said the Center for Biological Diversity boasts 20 staff attorneys in more than a dozen offices across the country. The center raised $7.5 million in 2009, according to its annual report, including $4.8 million from membership donations and $1.2 million in what it calls “legal returns.”
The Karen Budd-Falen Law Firm in Wyo., which is researching the payments for the Western Legacy Alliance, found that $37 million in taxpayer money has been distributed to successful litigants under EAJA since 2002, in what attorney Karen Budd-Falen says is a rampant abuse of a system in desperate need of fixing.
“I absolutely believe that these cases are more about gathering attorneys fees than ‘damages,’” Budd-Falen told Fox News back in 2009. “There is no evidence that one dollar of these fees awarded to any group has gone into on-the-ground habitat or species protection actions.
“A majority of environmental groups use in-house attorneys, but they are requesting private attorney rates, in some cases up to $600 per hour. These fees make money for the organizations to be used to fund more litigation.”
Winston rancher Laura Schneberger, vice president of the Gila Livestock Breeders Association, knows firsthand the difficulty of fighting obscure federal rulings that can shut down many traditional user activities on public and private land. The U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land
Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—all agencies with an enormous presence in Sierra County—are among the most targeted by these lawsuits.
“I think the law (EAJA) was intended for those who couldn’t afford the legal fees to have an equal chance to litigate against bad federal judgments,” said Schneberger. “It was not designed to pad the pockets of those already wealthy.”
While these organizations are raking in millions to kick ranchers and the public off of “public” land, groups like the 450-member Gila Livestock Breeders Association must “hold bake sales, dances, whatever we can to raise funds to travel across the region to represent ourselves in these issues, including hiring legal representation,” Schneberger said.
Oh, did you know the New Mexico state bird is the greater roadrunner! You gotta like a state that elevates a cuckoo to state bird, dontcha?
All the best, girlangler, and hope to hear more from you in the future. Enjoy the Land of Enchantment!
Last winter I had the chance to see a roadrunner beside the road.
And I am VERY close to the refuge you speak of.
I wrote an article already about the wolves, published it in a local newspaper a few week s ago.
The Gila is wonderful, I am leaving Saturday for Catron County — a very fruitful place for story ideas (LOL).
Life is good, no doubt. I didn’t ask for this, but will do the best I can when faced with where life takes me.
Welcome back.
It is good to hear from you. We have missed you.
Excellent article.
Thanks george. I have missed all my freeper friends too. I’ve been incredibly busy, had to get my house ready to sell (I’ll need lots of luck with that one), and back working for several newspapers.
Thank you ll for the nice comments. Hope you all have a great and safe 4th. Remember those who have given all for us so that we enjoy the freedoms we do.
How wonderful to hear from you my friend!!! I had just checked on your posting history the other day to see if I had missed you along the way.
You sound happy. I am glad. And glad you are writing again.
Was going to email you tonight. It’ll take a novel to tell you what all has been going on. Yes, I’m very happy and working hard on being healthy. I just finished swimming a mile and am exercising my brain again writing.
Hope you and yours are doing okay.
I’ll email later. It’s always good to hear from you.
Unfortunately all the creeks here in New Mexico are dry (LOL). They call them aroyos. Can’t find a fish in them!!!
Glad to be back and to hear from you Jaz.
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