Republicans fear onslaught of green group lawsuits

Republican lawmakers on Wednesday held a hearing to address what they fear is “excessive litigation” against the Interior Department from green groups and other liberal activists.

“In reality, a legal subindustry has thrived from endless environmental litigation while burdening the livelihood of countless citizens,” said Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) at a hearing of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight.

“Excessive litigation against the department drains our taxpayers’ dollars away from good stewardship of our natural resources,” he added.

{mosads}Lawmakers heard from experts who said that green groups are abusing the courts to challenge the agency’s policies.

Mark Barron, an energy and natural resources attorney, said the current system incentivizes lawsuits with the promise of big attorney’s fees.

“The department is already burdened by a lack of resources,” Baron said. “Then this constant litigation exacerbates that existing problem.”

Activist groups have vowed to challenge the Trump administration in court as officials begin to roll back a slew of Obama-era regulations. The groups insist they have no other recourse to halt policies they say weaken health and environmental protections.

“It has been prevalent in the media that they intend to challenge every approval, every permit process, and every implementation of environmental policy under the new administration,” Barron said.

“If you look at the publicly available websites for most of the major environmental groups, they issue a press release and a fundraising request every time that there is a lawsuit filed,” he also alleged.

Barron said projects on federal lands were most prone to legal challenges and delays. 

“In our view, people operating on public lands should expect litigation,” he said. “It is part of operating in that sphere.”

Democratic lawmakers dismissed those worries, saying the lawsuits are important to holding the agencies accountable. And they rejected claims the suits were financially motivated.

“[The Equal Access to Justice Act] was enacted to give citizens the ability to challenge the government regardless of their socioeconomic status,” Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) said. “It also assures that our civil justice system does not exclude the most vulnerable among us.”

The act helps the winning side’s lawyers collect fees in cases against the government.

Lois Schiffer, the former general counsel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, defended the groups, saying they were not filing suits to rack up lawyer’s fees or to boost fundraising.

“If you look on the websites of some of these groups, they have pretty broad purposes and policies assuring statutes are implemented that do not relate to having funding,” Schiffer said.

“The laws that assure that everybody has a seat at the table means that we have a much better country and we make much better policy,” Schiffer added.