From BRC today....



BRC Urges Congress to Stop the Taxpayer Funded Abuse of the Legal System
Congress to investigate, "Taxpayer-Funded Litigation" Hearing tomorrow.

Dear BRC Action Alert Subscriber,

The House Committee on Natural Resources is holding a Full Committee Oversight Hearing on "Taxpayer-Funded Litigation: Benefitting Lawyers and Harming Species, Jobs and Schools."
See announcement below.

The Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) has been abused by environmental groups for many years. BRC is strongly urging Congress to stop the taxpayer-funded abuse of the legal system. The EAJA is being used by anti-access groups as a way to expand their closure agenda, and the agencies can't even tell us how much money has been paid out via EAJA claims.

BRC applauds Chairman Hastings for pursuing this issue.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please contact us.

Brian Hawthorne Ric Foster
Public Lands Policy Director Public Lands Department Manager
BlueRibbon Coalition BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 102 208-237-1008 ext 107




COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES

Full Committee Oversight Hearing on "Taxpayer-Funded Litigation: Benefitting Lawyers and Harming Species, Jobs and Schools"

OVERSIGHT HEARING ON:
• "Taxpayer-Funded Litigation: Benefitting Lawyers and Harming Species, Jobs and Schools"

WITNESSES AND TESTIMONY:

Panel I

The Honorable Jeff Sessions
United States Senator
Alabama

The Honorable Cynthia Lummis
Member, House of Representatives
Wyoming (At - Large)

Panel II

The Honorable Jerry Patterson
Commissioner
Texas General Land Office
Austin, Texas

John Stokes
Facilities Development Project Coordinator
San Diego Unified School District
San Diego, California

Daniel Rohlf
Professor
Lewis and Clark Law School
Portland, Oregon

Kent Holsinger
Attorney
Holsinger Law
Denver, Colorado

BACKGROUND:

This hearing follows a number of transparency request letters (3/19/12) and (5/31/12) sent by Chairman Hastings to help determine the cost and impact of taxpayer-funded attorneys fees and time spent on Endangered Species Act (ESA) litigation. The goal of the ESA is to conserve key domestic species, yet it's increasingly being used by special interest groups to file lawsuits - or file petitions threatening lawsuits - to drive federal agencies to make agenda-driven decisions not based on verifiable data or sound science or priority, but to block economic and job-creating activities. With a one percent recovery rate, and hundreds of more species being forced onto the ESA list, federal taxpayers and existing endangered species deserve better. Transparency and accountability are helping shed light on how ESA is being abused by litigation and the facts distorted by advocacy groups.

WHEN:
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 at 10:00 a.m.

WHERE:
Committee on Natural Resources
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Washington DC

 

Great post!!! Here we have taxpayer funded lawyers working against what the majority of taxpayers want. Suits have included, but aren't limited to, cutting the water supply to Central California's farming regions to 10% because of an "endangered" minnow (this resulted in California farmers needing food assistance and almost non-existent crops, ruining there business), etc. The Endangered Species Act is one of the examples of this kind of lawsuit. Like the spotted owl used as an excuse to shut down logging operations in parts of the West. It was later found out that the spotted owl was not endangered and thrived throughout the West well beyond the area they closed to logging. It's shutting down commerce at the tip of the government gun. Interior Secretary of the Obama administration's first priority was to close down oil exploration on the eastern side of the Rockies where it's believed oil sands like the sands in Canada are located. It's time We the People take back our country. Just my .02 worth.