Free Republic

Lawyers, grazing permits, wildlife corridors and beasts on the ballot Attorney’s fees According to a recent memo from Principal Deputy Solicitor Daniel Jorjani the Interior Department will start publicly listing attorney’s fees paid out for legal settlements. The memo says this information will be available on a new page of Interior’s website. Environmental groups have been very successful in filing these so-called citizen suits under the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act. A 2016 investigation by the Daily Caller News Foundation found that during the Obama administration, “federal agencies paid out $49 million...

A candidate’s policy, Bernhardt at Interior and astrophysicists on your ranch Presidential candidate U.S. Senator and candidate for president Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), sometimes referred to as Pocahontas because of a false claim of Native American heritage, has released her proposed federal lands policy. This is interesting to observe as it gives us a peek at the wish list of progressives and their environmentalist kin. Warren tells us “it is wrong to prioritize corporate profits over the health and safety of our local communities.” Therefore, she says, “on my first day as president, I will sign an executive order that...

The Justice Department filed an appeal Wednesday of its devastating defeat against Cliven Bundy in the Nevada standoff, disputing the federal judge’s decision last year to throw out the case based on prosecutorial wrongdoing. The 88-page motion, filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, challenged Chief U.S. District Court Judge Gloria Navarro’s blistering finding of “flagrant” misconduct, which prompted her to declare a mistrial in December 2017 and dismiss the charges a month later. U.S. Attorney for Nevada Nicholas A. Trutanich, who took over last month, insisted that the government had “timely disclosed significant discovery,” refuting the judge’s...

More Senate skullduggery, Trump’s role in this, straight lines, and the Bundy case again Senate chicanery Last month I wrote of the skullduggery applied by both political parties in trying to pass a 680-page federal lands package in the waning moments of the last Congress. Up stepped our hero, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) who just wanted to add two words to the legislation. Alaska and Wyoming are by statute exempt from the Antiquities Act that has been so abused by recent Presidents. Senator Lee wanted to add “and Utah” to that statute. The leadership said no to his amendment,...