Thursday, July 26, 2012
Friday, July 6, 2012
Wilderness groups sue U.S. Forest Service over plan to use helicopter
So my question is, when did horses arrive in north America? Lets be fair here, horses should not be allowed in a wilderness area. Why, well as much as Americans claim the horse is the icon of the west and culture. A horse is not native to the wilderness areas. If the antis don't want cattle grazing on BLM land then "all hoved beast" need to be removed from BLM and wilderness land.
Shocking as it may seem it is the only fair soultion.
Regards, BPB
Wilderness groups sue U.S. Forest Service over plan to use helicopter
Two wilderness groups have sued the U.S. Forest Service over its decision to allow an irrigation company to use a helicopter to fly in materials needed to repair a dam in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. Wilderness Watch and Friends of the Clearwater filed suit in U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy’s court in Missoula last week. The groups say the agency’s decision to allow the irrigation company up to two helicopter flights to the Fred Burr Dam site violates the Wilderness Act and other environmental laws. The irrigation company wants to replace a deteriorating catwalk and log boom on the nearly century-old dam. The company had planned to do the work later this year. The catwalk provides access to the head gate valve and the log boom serves to protect the spillway from becoming plugged...more
Let's see, Tombstone can't repair the city's waterlines, this dam can't be repaired in Montana, and a Lincoln County, NM Commissioner who had just experienced a fire that started in a wilderness says:
“If you had asked me 10 years ago what I thought of the White Mountain Wilderness I would have told you I was in favor of it. The White Mountain Wilderness terrain is beautiful and unique, which should absolutely be protected. However, after years of drought, massive bug tree kill, and blown down trees, this area has become excessively under managed and highly prone to fire damage. Even though the Forest Service has proposed thinning and restoration projects in these forests, lawsuits and appeals by the Wild Earth Guardians, Center for Biological Diversity and others have totally hampered the ability of the Forest Service to manage it. The restrictions on roads and motorized vehicles, chainsaws, and grazing by livestock have also hurt the ability to manage this area. In my opinion, forests in the Southwest, especially those near an urban interface, should never be designated as wilderness areas. As long as the wilderness designation stands, we will not be able to control the area appropriately. This leaves us incredibly vulnerable to disastrous fire damage. We need to consider removing the wilderness designation from the White Mountain Wilderness.”---Mark Doth, Lincoln County Commissioner
But that's OK, go ahead and surround Las Cruces with Wilderness, National Monuments or whatever restrictive designation you can think of. I'm sure everything will be just hunky dory for our residents.
Shocking as it may seem it is the only fair soultion.
Regards, BPB
Wilderness groups sue U.S. Forest Service over plan to use helicopter
Two wilderness groups have sued the U.S. Forest Service over its decision to allow an irrigation company to use a helicopter to fly in materials needed to repair a dam in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. Wilderness Watch and Friends of the Clearwater filed suit in U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy’s court in Missoula last week. The groups say the agency’s decision to allow the irrigation company up to two helicopter flights to the Fred Burr Dam site violates the Wilderness Act and other environmental laws. The irrigation company wants to replace a deteriorating catwalk and log boom on the nearly century-old dam. The company had planned to do the work later this year. The catwalk provides access to the head gate valve and the log boom serves to protect the spillway from becoming plugged...more
Let's see, Tombstone can't repair the city's waterlines, this dam can't be repaired in Montana, and a Lincoln County, NM Commissioner who had just experienced a fire that started in a wilderness says:
“If you had asked me 10 years ago what I thought of the White Mountain Wilderness I would have told you I was in favor of it. The White Mountain Wilderness terrain is beautiful and unique, which should absolutely be protected. However, after years of drought, massive bug tree kill, and blown down trees, this area has become excessively under managed and highly prone to fire damage. Even though the Forest Service has proposed thinning and restoration projects in these forests, lawsuits and appeals by the Wild Earth Guardians, Center for Biological Diversity and others have totally hampered the ability of the Forest Service to manage it. The restrictions on roads and motorized vehicles, chainsaws, and grazing by livestock have also hurt the ability to manage this area. In my opinion, forests in the Southwest, especially those near an urban interface, should never be designated as wilderness areas. As long as the wilderness designation stands, we will not be able to control the area appropriately. This leaves us incredibly vulnerable to disastrous fire damage. We need to consider removing the wilderness designation from the White Mountain Wilderness.”---Mark Doth, Lincoln County Commissioner
But that's OK, go ahead and surround Las Cruces with Wilderness, National Monuments or whatever restrictive designation you can think of. I'm sure everything will be just hunky dory for our residents.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
EPA's Regional Administrators Love Activism, Litigation
WOW over the years as these people names came up I make a few comments after looking into each individuals background. You can now see a full profile of why the EPA and government is out to stop business. Once again ~over the years I've featured many government top employees in notes and Internet forum short stories. It's refreshing to see someone put them all together to highlight their life's achievements. My wife mentioned one night,"if I had been paid for all the work I've done we'd be millionaire's today!"
BPB
EPA's Regional Administrators Love Activism, Litigation
Submitted by Paul Chesser on Tue, 07/03/2012 - 07:50
Printer-friendlyEmail to friend The suspicions of Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe were correct: Rather than sitting before the House Energy and Commerce Committee three weeks ago to explain the ways he “crucified” oil and natural gas companies, instead Al Armendariz – who cancelled his appearance at the last minute – met with the Sierra Club for a job interview.
This time the recently resigned EPA’s Region 6 administrator will eagerly attack another fossil fuel, joining the litigious environmental group as part of its “Beyond Coal” campaign. If there was any question that Armendariz unfairly regulated the gas and oil businesses under his authority in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and other neighboring states, the Sierra Club announcement left no doubt.
“I know how important it is to transition to cleaner sources of energy that don’t pollute the air that our children breathe,” he said, “and I’m proud to be working on a campaign with a proven track record for success.”
Inhofe proved prescient in remarks to National Journal on June 7th.
“Rather than testifying in the House and being accountable for carrying out the Obama-EPA’s ‘crucify them’ agenda, it appears Mr. Armendariz may have had a job interview with the Sierra Club,” Inhofe said. “With such an impressive job-killing resume, it would be no surprise if the Sierra Club is recruiting him for their ‘Beyond Gas’ campaign designed to ‘prevent any new gas plants from being built’ and to end natural gas production in this country.”
Okay, so the Sooner senator mis-prognosticated about which attack agenda that Armendariz would focus. Nevertheless he noted that whether eco-activists are toiling in the government or for environmental pressure groups, they have a common mission.
“Dr. Armendariz follows numerous Obama administration officials who have come from or moved to radical Left and green groups,” Inhofe said in a statement on Friday. “It’s as if there is a revolving door between the White House and organizations such as the Sierra Club and the Center for American Progress.”
As NLPC reported in April when Armendariz’s “crucify” remarks were revealed by Inhofe, the former Southern Methodist University professor often worked on behalf of green activists, including Environmental Defense, WildEarth Guardians, Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action, and Dallas-based Downwinders at Risk. That information was not disclosed on his EPA bio, nor was his past collaboration with Sierra Club, which the organization’s Bruce Nilles divulged on Friday.
And once again Inhofe accurately explained the relationship between the Obama administration and green groups. An examination of the work histories of the other EPA regional administrators shows extension backgrounds in environmental activism, litigation, or both:
Region 1 Administrator Curt Spalding served as executive director of Rhode Island-based Save the Bay for nearly 20 years. He recently praised EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson for her implementation of greenhouse gas standards on coal-fired power plants, despite the fact that the new regulations would lead to the destruction of coal-mining communities like those in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Region 2 Administrator Judith Enck(better known in NY as the Bottle Bill Lady~bpb) was senior environmental associate with New York Public Interest Research Group and was executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York. Her bio states she “worked with the New York State Legislature to pass a number of the state’s most far-reaching environmental laws….”
Region 3 Administrator Shawn Garvin rose up through the ranks of EPA, earlier serving as a special assistant to the regional administrator, and “earning numerous EPA gold, silver and bronze medals.” Prior to that he was an aide for then-Sen. Joe Biden.
Region 4 Administrator Gwendolyn Keyes-Fleming has an extensive background in law enforcement and prosecuting criminals, but no apparent specialties in environmental activism.
Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman is a veteran attorney who has litigated environmental cases as part of the University of Maryland Environmental Law Center, as counsel for the Environmental Law and Policy Center, and as senior assistant attorney general in the Illinois Attorney General’s office. Last August she joined dozens of environmental activists outside her Chicago office to celebrate the expected implementation of EPA’s Mercury Air Toxics Standard, which was released in December.
Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks, a lawyer, was executive director for the Idaho Conservation League and is author of Before Earth Day: The Origins of American Environmental Law, 1945-1970.
Region 8 Administrator James Martin was senior attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund and also headed the Natural Resources Law Center at the University of Colorado School of Law. NLPC reported in May that Martin is so extreme on the global warming issue that he believes, “You could have a convention of all the scientists who dispute climate change in a relatively small phone booth.”
Region 9 Administrator Jared Blumenfeld – a former employee of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare – was the director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment before joining EPA. In that role a plastic bag ban and a 2020 zero waste goal were among the accomplishments he was proud of enough to put in his bio.
Region 10 Administrator Dennis McLerran, an attorney, was previously executive director of Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, and before that was city attorney for the City of Port Townsend and director of the Seattle Department of Construction and Land Use. He was also a member of Seattle’s Green Ribbon Commission, former chair of the Land Use and Environmental Law Section of the Washington State Bar Association, and past president of the Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials, the national association of local air agencies in the United States.
With a litigious bunch like that, many with historical ties to aggressive green groups, perhaps President Obama might consider saving taxpayers some money, eliminate the positions, and subcontract the regulation out to groups like Sierra Club and Environmental Defense directly. No one would notice the difference.
Paul Chesser is an associate fellow for the National Legal and Policy Center.
BPB
EPA's Regional Administrators Love Activism, Litigation
Submitted by Paul Chesser on Tue, 07/03/2012 - 07:50
Printer-friendlyEmail to friend The suspicions of Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe were correct: Rather than sitting before the House Energy and Commerce Committee three weeks ago to explain the ways he “crucified” oil and natural gas companies, instead Al Armendariz – who cancelled his appearance at the last minute – met with the Sierra Club for a job interview.
This time the recently resigned EPA’s Region 6 administrator will eagerly attack another fossil fuel, joining the litigious environmental group as part of its “Beyond Coal” campaign. If there was any question that Armendariz unfairly regulated the gas and oil businesses under his authority in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and other neighboring states, the Sierra Club announcement left no doubt.
“I know how important it is to transition to cleaner sources of energy that don’t pollute the air that our children breathe,” he said, “and I’m proud to be working on a campaign with a proven track record for success.”
Inhofe proved prescient in remarks to National Journal on June 7th.
“Rather than testifying in the House and being accountable for carrying out the Obama-EPA’s ‘crucify them’ agenda, it appears Mr. Armendariz may have had a job interview with the Sierra Club,” Inhofe said. “With such an impressive job-killing resume, it would be no surprise if the Sierra Club is recruiting him for their ‘Beyond Gas’ campaign designed to ‘prevent any new gas plants from being built’ and to end natural gas production in this country.”
Okay, so the Sooner senator mis-prognosticated about which attack agenda that Armendariz would focus. Nevertheless he noted that whether eco-activists are toiling in the government or for environmental pressure groups, they have a common mission.
“Dr. Armendariz follows numerous Obama administration officials who have come from or moved to radical Left and green groups,” Inhofe said in a statement on Friday. “It’s as if there is a revolving door between the White House and organizations such as the Sierra Club and the Center for American Progress.”
As NLPC reported in April when Armendariz’s “crucify” remarks were revealed by Inhofe, the former Southern Methodist University professor often worked on behalf of green activists, including Environmental Defense, WildEarth Guardians, Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action, and Dallas-based Downwinders at Risk. That information was not disclosed on his EPA bio, nor was his past collaboration with Sierra Club, which the organization’s Bruce Nilles divulged on Friday.
And once again Inhofe accurately explained the relationship between the Obama administration and green groups. An examination of the work histories of the other EPA regional administrators shows extension backgrounds in environmental activism, litigation, or both:
Region 1 Administrator Curt Spalding served as executive director of Rhode Island-based Save the Bay for nearly 20 years. He recently praised EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson for her implementation of greenhouse gas standards on coal-fired power plants, despite the fact that the new regulations would lead to the destruction of coal-mining communities like those in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Region 2 Administrator Judith Enck(better known in NY as the Bottle Bill Lady~bpb) was senior environmental associate with New York Public Interest Research Group and was executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York. Her bio states she “worked with the New York State Legislature to pass a number of the state’s most far-reaching environmental laws….”
Region 3 Administrator Shawn Garvin rose up through the ranks of EPA, earlier serving as a special assistant to the regional administrator, and “earning numerous EPA gold, silver and bronze medals.” Prior to that he was an aide for then-Sen. Joe Biden.
Region 4 Administrator Gwendolyn Keyes-Fleming has an extensive background in law enforcement and prosecuting criminals, but no apparent specialties in environmental activism.
Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman is a veteran attorney who has litigated environmental cases as part of the University of Maryland Environmental Law Center, as counsel for the Environmental Law and Policy Center, and as senior assistant attorney general in the Illinois Attorney General’s office. Last August she joined dozens of environmental activists outside her Chicago office to celebrate the expected implementation of EPA’s Mercury Air Toxics Standard, which was released in December.
Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks, a lawyer, was executive director for the Idaho Conservation League and is author of Before Earth Day: The Origins of American Environmental Law, 1945-1970.
Region 8 Administrator James Martin was senior attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund and also headed the Natural Resources Law Center at the University of Colorado School of Law. NLPC reported in May that Martin is so extreme on the global warming issue that he believes, “You could have a convention of all the scientists who dispute climate change in a relatively small phone booth.”
Region 9 Administrator Jared Blumenfeld – a former employee of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare – was the director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment before joining EPA. In that role a plastic bag ban and a 2020 zero waste goal were among the accomplishments he was proud of enough to put in his bio.
Region 10 Administrator Dennis McLerran, an attorney, was previously executive director of Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, and before that was city attorney for the City of Port Townsend and director of the Seattle Department of Construction and Land Use. He was also a member of Seattle’s Green Ribbon Commission, former chair of the Land Use and Environmental Law Section of the Washington State Bar Association, and past president of the Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials, the national association of local air agencies in the United States.
With a litigious bunch like that, many with historical ties to aggressive green groups, perhaps President Obama might consider saving taxpayers some money, eliminate the positions, and subcontract the regulation out to groups like Sierra Club and Environmental Defense directly. No one would notice the difference.
Paul Chesser is an associate fellow for the National Legal and Policy Center.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC) Corporate Video (5/12)
My GOD an American manufacturing corporation!
Another epic failure of "YES WE CAN"! Abound Solar GONE!
By Mark Jaffe, The Denver Post 06/28/2012 - 3:36 PM EDT
The bankruptcy of Abound Solar, the solar panel maker with facilities in Longmont, Loveland and Fort Collins, will cost taxpayers $40 million to $60 million, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
The company will close its doors next week and file for liquidation, according to a company statement. The closing will affect about 125 workers.
In July 2010, Abound received a $400 million loan guarantee from the DOE to build an Indiana factory and expand its Longmont plant.
Follw the link to read more. For me I've seen enought BullShit to last a life time!
Bankruptcy of Colorado's Abound Solar could cost taxpayers $60 million
If you want a detailed article read this one. Details the Denver liberal didn't tell you about.
At the center is wealthy Colorado philanthropist Pat Stryker, whose Bohemian Companies had significant investment in Abound. News Web site The Complete Colorado revealed “fingerprints” of a “pay-to-play agenda” when Abound received its conditional approval in September 2010. Stryker had donated $475,599 to federal Democrat candidates and causes over the 2008 to 2012 election cycles, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Included in that amount was $11,900 in maximum contributions to President Obama’s two campaigns for the White House, and Stryker also was an $87,500 bundler for the president’s Inaugural Committee, the People’s Press Collective discovered, and she donated $50,000 herself. The Sunlight Foundation also reported that she gave $35,800 to the 2012 Obama Victory Fund, and in October 2009 Stryker also visited the White House.
###
Yes we can! Strip you of every dime!
Reguards
BPB
The bankruptcy of Abound Solar, the solar panel maker with facilities in Longmont, Loveland and Fort Collins, will cost taxpayers $40 million to $60 million, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
The company will close its doors next week and file for liquidation, according to a company statement. The closing will affect about 125 workers.
In July 2010, Abound received a $400 million loan guarantee from the DOE to build an Indiana factory and expand its Longmont plant.
Follw the link to read more. For me I've seen enought BullShit to last a life time!
Bankruptcy of Colorado's Abound Solar could cost taxpayers $60 million
If you want a detailed article read this one. Details the Denver liberal didn't tell you about.
At the center is wealthy Colorado philanthropist Pat Stryker, whose Bohemian Companies had significant investment in Abound. News Web site The Complete Colorado revealed “fingerprints” of a “pay-to-play agenda” when Abound received its conditional approval in September 2010. Stryker had donated $475,599 to federal Democrat candidates and causes over the 2008 to 2012 election cycles, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Included in that amount was $11,900 in maximum contributions to President Obama’s two campaigns for the White House, and Stryker also was an $87,500 bundler for the president’s Inaugural Committee, the People’s Press Collective discovered, and she donated $50,000 herself. The Sunlight Foundation also reported that she gave $35,800 to the 2012 Obama Victory Fund, and in October 2009 Stryker also visited the White House.
###
Yes we can! Strip you of every dime!
Reguards
BPB
45acp Hi Point Carbine comes with 3 magazines 9 round each $350.00
Out of state shipped to your FFL. NY this is the total price for local sales, shipping extra.
Comes with 3 magazines & a clip to attach 2 magazines to the stock!
Contact BlackPowderBill
FFL dealer in longarms and reloading supplies.
Visit me on GunBroker.com under BPBRS
Comes with 3 magazines & a clip to attach 2 magazines to the stock!
FFL dealer in longarms and reloading supplies.
Visit me on GunBroker.com under BPBRS
Thursday, June 28, 2012
The not so Transparent Center for Biological Diversity, let it burn.
According to this article, here the CBD leaves a few facts out. Which backs my general argument up that I'm having on the WildEarth Guardians over here at KUNM. My argument is, enviros are not working to provide a better land for all. They are working to win at all cost to close down land public and private using old laws and twisting the intent of the laws.
See my earlier thread on trapping in New Mexico~here
Here is another article backing me up on my claim that the land needs to be managed.
project-could-have-lessened-fire-damage
One of the enviros argument was to protect the water shed. Locals are preparing for to be flooded out since the wilfires have scorched the earth. Read the flood article here.
Project could have lessened fire damageErik LeDuc ebearer@ruidosonews.comPosted: 06/26/2012 08:14:39 PM MDT
Forest Service official: Environmental groups delayed thinning
Damage from the Little Bear Fire could have been reduced if a proposed Forest Service thinning project had not been delayed by an appeal from two environmental groups, a Forest Service official said Tuesday.
"Any type of treatment we could have done would have reduced the severity of the fire," said Chad Stewart, fire and timber officer for the Lincoln National Forest. While the fire as a whole could not have been stopped by thinning efforts, especially in the face of 40 mph wind gusts, damage to the Bonito watershed likely would have been greatly reduced, he said.
The thinning project, aimed at 11,600 acres surrounding Bonito Lake was delayed by an appeal from the two environmental groups in late 2011.
Regards ,BPB
DOJ Documents Confirm Center for Biological Diversity Received Millions in Taxpayer Funds from ESA-Related Lawsuits
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Center for Biological Diversity today sent a letter to House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings claiming their organization had only received $553,000 in taxpayer funds resulting from Endangered Species Act (ESA) related attorney fees and court cases. This claim conflicts with data obtained from the Department of Justice (DOJ), which shows over $2 million in taxpayer dollars have been paid out to the Center for Biological Diversity and their attorneys for cases open between 2009-2012.
The Center for Biological Diversity appears to have derived their erroneous number by including only checks made out directly to the Center for Biological Diversity over a select period of years. Attorney fees are typically paid out to the attorney of record. The Center for Biological Diversity is conveniently failing to include the majority of funds that were paid directly to their hired lawyers. Nine of the lawyers who have received payouts are currently employed by the Center for Biological Diversity.
“American taxpayers have a right to know how much of their money is going to pay attorneys and settlement costs for lawsuit-happy organizations that make a living off of suing the federal government. The numbers from the Justice Department speak for themselves,” said Chairman Hastings. “One frequent collector of taxpayer dollars spent a week inventing a way to misconstrue and hide data to make it appear as though they haven’t received millions in taxpayer dollars. The most direct way to have openness and transparency on exactly what funds a group has taken from taxpayers in ESA-related settlement and attorney fees is for them to publicly reveal all of their data for the past two decades.”
On March 19, 2012, Chairman Hastings sent a letter to the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice asking for detailed information on how much taxpayer money is being spent on ESA-related litigation and settlements. In response to this request, DOJ ran a search through their Case Management System (“CMS”) and provided the Committee information based on all cases where the ESA was one of the statutes at issue in the litigation.
According to this document from the DOJ containing 276 pages of case information, the Center for Biological Diversity was involved in over 50 individual cases, open between 2009 and 2012, where they were the lead plaintiff. The amount of attorney fees and court costs associated with these cases is $2,286,686.91. Of this amount, $138,114.45 was in court costs and $2,148,572.46 was in attorney fees.
These five examples alone of court cases filed by the Center for Biological Diversity where CBD received attorney fee payments between 2009-2012 far exceeds the $553,00 that the Center for Biological Diversity claims to have received:
· Center for Biological Diversity v. Environmental Protection Agency, et. al. in California; paid $172,000 on November 22, 2010 to attorney for CBD Justin Augustine.
· Center for Biological Diversity et. al., v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Montana; paid $165,000 on March 23, 2009 to attorney for CBD Geoff Hickox.
· Center for Biological Diversity et. al., v. Kempthorne in Arizona; paid $159,044 on February 9, 2012 to attorney for CBD Melanie Kay.
· Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Arizona; paid $95,000 on April 23, 2010 to attorney for CBD Geoff Hickox.
· Center for Biological Diversity et. al., v. Kempthorne in Arizona; paid $51,866 on August 13, 2009 to attorney for CBD John T. Buse.
###
See my earlier thread on trapping in New Mexico~here
Here is another article backing me up on my claim that the land needs to be managed.
project-could-have-lessened-fire-damage
One of the enviros argument was to protect the water shed. Locals are preparing for to be flooded out since the wilfires have scorched the earth. Read the flood article here.
Project could have lessened fire damageErik LeDuc ebearer@ruidosonews.comPosted: 06/26/2012 08:14:39 PM MDT
Forest Service official: Environmental groups delayed thinning
Damage from the Little Bear Fire could have been reduced if a proposed Forest Service thinning project had not been delayed by an appeal from two environmental groups, a Forest Service official said Tuesday.
"Any type of treatment we could have done would have reduced the severity of the fire," said Chad Stewart, fire and timber officer for the Lincoln National Forest. While the fire as a whole could not have been stopped by thinning efforts, especially in the face of 40 mph wind gusts, damage to the Bonito watershed likely would have been greatly reduced, he said.
The thinning project, aimed at 11,600 acres surrounding Bonito Lake was delayed by an appeal from the two environmental groups in late 2011.
Regards ,BPB
DOJ Documents Confirm Center for Biological Diversity Received Millions in Taxpayer Funds from ESA-Related Lawsuits
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Center for Biological Diversity today sent a letter to House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings claiming their organization had only received $553,000 in taxpayer funds resulting from Endangered Species Act (ESA) related attorney fees and court cases. This claim conflicts with data obtained from the Department of Justice (DOJ), which shows over $2 million in taxpayer dollars have been paid out to the Center for Biological Diversity and their attorneys for cases open between 2009-2012.
The Center for Biological Diversity appears to have derived their erroneous number by including only checks made out directly to the Center for Biological Diversity over a select period of years. Attorney fees are typically paid out to the attorney of record. The Center for Biological Diversity is conveniently failing to include the majority of funds that were paid directly to their hired lawyers. Nine of the lawyers who have received payouts are currently employed by the Center for Biological Diversity.
“American taxpayers have a right to know how much of their money is going to pay attorneys and settlement costs for lawsuit-happy organizations that make a living off of suing the federal government. The numbers from the Justice Department speak for themselves,” said Chairman Hastings. “One frequent collector of taxpayer dollars spent a week inventing a way to misconstrue and hide data to make it appear as though they haven’t received millions in taxpayer dollars. The most direct way to have openness and transparency on exactly what funds a group has taken from taxpayers in ESA-related settlement and attorney fees is for them to publicly reveal all of their data for the past two decades.”
On March 19, 2012, Chairman Hastings sent a letter to the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice asking for detailed information on how much taxpayer money is being spent on ESA-related litigation and settlements. In response to this request, DOJ ran a search through their Case Management System (“CMS”) and provided the Committee information based on all cases where the ESA was one of the statutes at issue in the litigation.
According to this document from the DOJ containing 276 pages of case information, the Center for Biological Diversity was involved in over 50 individual cases, open between 2009 and 2012, where they were the lead plaintiff. The amount of attorney fees and court costs associated with these cases is $2,286,686.91. Of this amount, $138,114.45 was in court costs and $2,148,572.46 was in attorney fees.
These five examples alone of court cases filed by the Center for Biological Diversity where CBD received attorney fee payments between 2009-2012 far exceeds the $553,00 that the Center for Biological Diversity claims to have received:
· Center for Biological Diversity v. Environmental Protection Agency, et. al. in California; paid $172,000 on November 22, 2010 to attorney for CBD Justin Augustine.
· Center for Biological Diversity et. al., v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Montana; paid $165,000 on March 23, 2009 to attorney for CBD Geoff Hickox.
· Center for Biological Diversity et. al., v. Kempthorne in Arizona; paid $159,044 on February 9, 2012 to attorney for CBD Melanie Kay.
· Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Arizona; paid $95,000 on April 23, 2010 to attorney for CBD Geoff Hickox.
· Center for Biological Diversity et. al., v. Kempthorne in Arizona; paid $51,866 on August 13, 2009 to attorney for CBD John T. Buse.
###
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