Posted on 03/13/2002 1:58:02 AM PST by snopercod
The tactics of a Sonoma County environmental watchdog group and its attorney are under fire from several North Coast cities and leading environmentalists, who charge the group is misusing environmental laws.
River Watch, created in 1996 by Santa Rosa attorney Jack Silver, uses provisions of the federal Clean Water Act to sue cities and others accused of environmental pollution. The law allows Silver and River Watch to collect attorney's and other fees if they prevail in court or persuade those being sued to reach out-of-court settlements.
Using the law, Silver has collected at least $310,000 in attorney's fees since 2000, often for environmental violations that were already in the process of being remedied.
Russian River activist Brenda Adelman, a River Watch board member since its inception, quit three weeks ago to protest Silver's recent litigation against Santa Rosa and a string of small towns from Willits to the Oregon border over alleged wastewater discharge violations.
"It just isn't right for someone to line their pockets this way," she said.
Silver defended his tactics on behalf of River Watch, arguing that state oversight of the redwood region's wastewater discharge problems are weak and that even small rural communities need to be prodded into moving more quickly to correct violations.
Silver acknowledged that in many cases the alleged violations are already known and documented by regulatory agencies. Nevertheless, he defended his use of the controversial citizens lawsuit provision of federal law to wrest financial concessions from public agencies.
"We're not in this for the money. Everything we do is on the public's behalf," he said.
Silver's use of the lawsuit provision to target local entities has provoked the California League of Cities to consider petitioning for changes in federal law so that attorneys cannot receive "large awards at the expense of environmental remediation or upgrades to wastewater treatment systems."
Willits City Attorney Ross Walker said Silver may be acting within the law, "but I think he's outside the bounds of ethics."
Adelman said she decided to publicly renounce the tactics of Silver and River Watch after his handling of the most recent lawsuit against Santa Rosa, and after learning from local environmental groups of the potentially costly effects on their own communities.
"I share in their concerns," she said.
She said demands for cash settlements and contributions to related environmental groups are counterproductive and divert taxpayer money away from wastewater treatment problems communities are trying to resolve.
Adelman said she's also sympathetic to cities' complaints that Silver's settlement demands are excessive.
A federal Justice Department review last October initially determined that the $100,000 in fees Silver is to collect as part of a settlement with the city of Fortuna was "not appropriate." But the agency dropped its objections in January at the request of city officials eager to settle the case.
Silver said the hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney fees, penalties and other costs that River Watch's legal actions generate are justified because "without some payment, there's no deterrent effect."
He declined to specify how much in attorney fees he has collected for working on River Watch cases over the years, nor the amounts of other fees and contributions he has secured on behalf of River Watch.
"All we do is retrieve our costs," he said.
Silver said the additional money that River Watch collects and designates for environmental remediation "always goes back into the communities in which they are generated."
Lynn Hamilton, River Watch's executive director, said her organization is being targeted by "right-wing, anti-environmental extremists who are working to undo the citizens lawsuit provision of the Clean Water Act, and drive a wedge between environmental groups in the process."
Hamilton described the mounting criticism of River Watch's tactics as "sour grapes."
She said she refuses to be distracted by the brouhaha and vowed that "River Watch will become the queen of all the environmental organizations when it comes to protecting our river and streams."
Silver set up River Watch as a nonprofit environmental watchdog group four years after he graduated from Empire Law School in 1992. A Marin County native, Silver grew up in Sonoma County. He is a 1977 graduate of UC Berkeley.
He is a partner with his brother, Paul, in the Santa Rosa law firm of Silver & Silver. Jack Silver focuses on environmental law cases, while Paul Silver specializes in personal injury cases and dental and medical malpractice lawsuits, according to an attorney profile on the Lawyers.com Web site.
Jack Silver modeled River Watch after San Francisco BayKeeper, a network of watchdog groups that monitor environmentally sensitive waterways. The group recently formed a chapter to monitor the Russian River.
Silver's critics, however, contend that tactics employed by River Watch differ significantly from BayKeeper, which often provides pictures, videos, and pollution samples to government agencies responsible for enforcement.
Fortuna City Manager Dale Nieman said River Watch's laundry list of Fortuna's alleged wastewater violations reflected minor problems related to discharges during heavy storm runoff and represented nothing not already known to city officials and water quality regulators.
"The bottom line is that River Watch went to the Regional Water Quality Control Board office, looked up our files, saw there were some technical violations, and then came threatening to sue," Nieman said.
"In the end, River Watch didn't make us do anything differently than we we already had planned to do," he said.
It isn't the first time Silver's tactics on behalf of River Watch have created controversy.
Within 10 months after the 48-year-old Silver and others set up the Occidental-based organization, River Watch faced accusations it was shaking down North Coast industries for cash settlements to avoid costly lawsuits.
The group sent lawsuit threats to auto dismantlers in Sonoma, Mendocino, Los Angeles and San Diego counties, following up with letters offering to meet privately and discuss settlements to stay out of court.
With its efforts now focused largely on municipalities, River Watch is weathering a backlash in public sentiment over its tactics.
In Willits, City Council members have refused to negotiate a settlement with Silver behind closed doors, and are challenging him to meet publicly to discuss River Watch's concerns.
Mayor Bruce Burton said Silver has demanded $40,000 in attorney fees, and $50,000 in environmental remediation funds. He called the demands "environmental extortion."
Willits City Manager Gordon Logan said alleged violations of wastewater discharge standards cited by Silver in his threat of litigation against Willits are almost all "technical in nature."
Besides, Logan said, "the fact is that before we'd ever heard of River Watch, we were already embarked on the study and design of a new system that will cost Willits up to $7 million."
Silver said he's refusing to meet publicly with Willits officials because they are trying to create a forum for industry and public agencies to renew past attacks on the Clean Water Act's citizen lawsuit provision.
"The situation is so inflamed that I don't see how any public discussion could be a fruitful endeavor," Silver said.
He blamed Logan for "poisoning the well" by his and Burton's public airing of River Watch's settlement demands.
But the Willits Environmental Center believes it is Silver who is potentially undermining the citizens lawsuit provision, and River Watch's own credibility.
In a bluntly worded Feb. 5 letter to Silver and Hamilton, center director David Drell warned that "the most dangerous result of your series of lawsuits, if not well targeted at bad actors, will be an attempt to limit or end the ability of citizens to intervene."
In the Willits case, Drell said Silver's settlement demands "are damaging our ability to work cooperatively with Willits on this and other issues and could result in damaging the reputation of responsible environmental advocacy in our region."
Nadananda, executive director of Humboldt County's Friends of the Eel River, said River Watch's threats of litigation and the resulting demands for cash settlements against Fortuna, Ferndale and Eureka are being viewed as part of a "racket."
"I believe the manner in which Mr. Silver operates borders on impropriety, and is not helpful to local environmental groups. In fact, it is really hurting us badly," said Nadananda, who goes by a single name.
Silver shrugs off the mounting criticism of his tactics within the larger North Coast environmental community, including Adelman's renouncement of her role with River Watch.
"I think Brenda Adelman's problems stem more from an internal dispute over how a suit was handled with Santa Rosa. I don't think it's anything more than that," he said.
Silver said River Watch's litigious history, modeled after other environmental advocacy groups, does serve a public purpose. It prods businesses and public entities "to more quickly comply with provisions of the Clean Water Act," he said.
"Every business or public agency always claims they're doing something about their violations, but in most cases, they'll drag it out as long as they can. And the regulatory agencies usually let them unless someone steps in," he said.
You can reach Staff Writer Mike Geniella at 462-6470 or mgeniella@pressdemocrat.com.
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