Mark Tapscott documents for Washington Examiner readers interesting developments in the relationship between the federal government and two environmental nonprofit groups.
Two environmental nonprofits are launching more Endangered Species Act lawsuits now than they did before signing a 2011 agreement with the federal government to file fewer such actions, according to a study made public Monday by an energy industry advocacy group.
Wild Earth Guardians and the Center for Biological Diversity entered into an agreement in 2011 with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to settle ESA litigation on 1,008 species the groups claimed were threatened with extinction. The agreement provided that the two groups would initiate fewer such actions.
But based on an analysis of legal databases and government data, the Western Energy Alliance said it found that “46 petitions have been filed with FWS requesting listing or up-listing from threatened to endangered on 122 species. WEG and CBD are responsible for 34 of the petitions, or 74%, covering 109 (89%) of the species.
“Between them, WEG and CBD have been plaintiffs on 14 different lawsuits challenging listing decisions on 35 different species, or nearly 40% of those filed since the settlement agreements. 19 of those species were subject to the settlement agreements.”
Such petitions seeking federal action under the ESA are prerequisites for groups like the WEG and CBD to file “sue and settle” litigation in which government officials often settle out of court and agree to reimburse most or all of the nonprofits’ legal costs, according to WEA.
A 2011 Government Accountability Office report said it was impossible to determine how much such litigation cost taxpayers each year because most federal agencies do not track the expense on their books.
