Environmental groups bury feds with Endangered Species petitions
by Hugh Holub, Tucson Citizen, Apr. 22, 2011 [here]
The litigious environmental groups are using the New York Times to try and justify what they are doing and get more money for the feds to list more endangered species.
But there is another side to this story that needs exposing.
Under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), one can get attorney fees from the government if you successfully sue them to do what they are supposed to be doing.
Under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) the feds have a short period of time to respond to a petition to list a plant or animal as endangered. If the feds don’t act within that time frame, the petitioner can sue the feds and basically there is no defense to the suit. The feds have to roll over and pay attorney fees to the group that filed the listing petition.
Thus, if a federal agency such as the US Fish and Wildlife Service has a limited budget to begin with, and an environmental group such as the Center for Biological Diversity or Earth Guardians petitions to have hundreds of plants and animals listed as being endangered, US Fish and Wildlife will default because they can’t process all the petitions within the deadline.
Then the group such as Center for Biological Diversity sues US Fish and Wildlife to force them to list the petitioned species, and seeks attorney fees. More often than not US Fish and Wildife gives the petitioner its attorney fees.
What we don’t know for sure…because the media has failed to investigate what is called “EAJA Abuse”… is how much money is Center for Biological Diversity and Earth Guardians are getting from US taxpayers in legal fees from filing these hundreds of petitions to list all these critters and plants.
There are reports that EAJA payments to groups like Center for Biological Diversity and Earth Guardians run into millions of dollars.
You will probably never see the Arizona Daily Star chase this story.
But the story must be followed and the truth be outed. … [more]