Posted on 05/27/2015 10:16:22 AM PDT by dennisw
“Sue and Settle “ practices, sometimes referred to as “friendly lawsuits”, are cozy deals through which far-left radical environmental groups file lawsuits against federal agencies wherein court-ordered “consent decrees” are issued based upon a prearranged settlement agreement they collaboratively craft together in advance behind closed doors. Then, rather than allowing the entire process to play out, the agency being sued settles the lawsuit by agreeing to move forward with the requested action they and the litigants both want.
In other words, the agency throws the case, somewhat like Bre’r Rabbit agreeing to be thrown into a favorite brier-patch. A big difference however, is that in this case, Farmer McGregor andMr. Rabbit were partners in the scam from the beginning. It’s the unwary American public that actually does get caught in the thorns.
While the environmental group is given a seat at the table, outsiders who are most impacted are excluded, with no opportunity to object to the settlements. Accordingly, both the litigants and the defendant agency, operating in coffee bars and friendly courtroom shadows, avoid the harsh outside glare of oversight. No public notice about the settlement is released until the agreement is filed in court…after the damage has been done.
On top of all that, we taxpayers, including those impacted regulatory victims, are put on the hook for legal fees of both colluding parties. According to a 2011 GAO report, this amounted to millions of dollars awarded to environmental organizations for EPA litigations between 1995 and 2010. Three “Big Green” groups received 41% of this payback: Earthjustice, $4,655,425 (30%); the Sierra Club, $966,687; and the Natural Resources Defense Council, $252,004. Most of this was paid to environmental attorneys in connection to lawsuits filed under the Clean Air Act, followed next by the Clean Water Act.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Kinda fall in line with the epa ecowacko collusion post I made. Yes?
Or, how do-gooders morph into do-badders. All it needs is enough misdirected money.
Thanks for posting. Tactics BUMP!
Do you have a link to that post?
Stuff like this is how the GOP has made gains even in traditionally Dem strongholds. Semi honest beats out and out crooked any time it gets a fair airing.
These “friendly” law suits involving EPA and environmental organizations have been going on for many years no matter which political party is in power.
The book “Environment, Inc.” laid this all out a decade ago.
There are big “Environmental” law firms that scour for things to sue the gov about, like the “Snail Darter”, and they pocket BIG FEES in coordination with EPA wonks, who later become “advisors” to these same firms.
http://www.amazon.com/Environment-Inc-Grassroots-Beltway-Government/dp/0700613684
I miss the rule of law!
We can put an end to this. Strip such agencies of the power to write regulations or enter into settlements that alter regulations, with all “regulations” themselves - the actual “regulations” required to come FROM Congress to the regulators, not from the regulators to be rubber stamped by Congress.
Those watermelons were never do-gooders, they just played the part long enough for the fools to open the cash drawer.
When you have no love for country or fellowman, the only place to turn is inward and to the money.
All the supporters of socialism assume because of their support, they will be among the socialist elite dining on the honey the ignorant worker bees produce.
Peabody energy sued the EPA over the East Anglia emails and the hockey stick theory and won both the original case and the appeal. The federal EPA was ordered by the court to show new, provable science regarding global warming and the role that coal plays in it.
Rather than comply with the court order, the EPA settle out of court, agreeing that the Obama administration would facilitate the production of sub-bituminous coal, mined mostly west of the Mississippi in the Powder River Basin, on federally leased land, while continuing the opposition to bituminous and anthracite coal east of the Mississippi. The condition was that the coal be shipped to Asia via Warren Buffets trains and new coal ports located in the Pacific Northwest and operated by the ILWU.
Patty Murray wrote the bill to fund the ports and slipped it into the transportation bill under Gateway infrastructure. Richard Trumka helped with the union support and lobbying. Still, the new terminals have not won over the local opposition, despite lots of support from Republicans, who think that they are opposing Obama’s war on coal. The terminal proponents are now hoping that the TPP trade deal will breathe new life into the project.
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