House committee endorses bill targeting environmental group lawsuits

A bill passed out of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee that Rep. Cynthia Lummis hopes will shed light on reimbursements of public funds environmental groups receive when they sue the federal government. Lummis, R-Wyo., sponsored H.R. 2919, the Open Book on Equal Access to Justice Act, with Reps. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn.; Joe Garcia, D-Fla., and Doug Collins, R-Ga. After Wednesday’s passage in committee, the bill heads to the House floor. The bill was introduced Aug. 1. The bill would require more transparency for those who use the Equal Access to Justice Act. EAJA was passed by Congress in 1980. Lummis said EAJA was created to reimburse legal fees of the “little guy,” such as a veteran, retiree, small business owner or nonprofit with legal bills when facing the giant federal government in court. “EAJA was later co-opted by large environmental groups so their litigation shops could get reimbursed for filing expansive litigation on environmental issues,” Lummis said in an interview with the Star-Tribune on Thursday, adding that many of the environmental groups have deep pockets. The bill would require the nonpartisan Administrative Conference of the United States to report to Congress each year how much has been paid from EAJA, by which federal agencies, and the recipients of those dollars. The Administrative Conference, an independent agency tasked with finding solutions to improve federal agencies’ administrative processes, would also create an online database with the information. Lummis previously identified Santa Fe, N.M.-based WildEarth Guardians as a group that abused EAJA. Jeremy Nichols , the organization’s climate and energy program director, said in an email transparency is a great idea. He doesn’t believe environmental groups are abusing the law. Environmentalists sue to make sure the nation’s laws are enforced, he said...more

You can read here about the event in NM I was involved in that led to the introduction of legislation that eventually became the EAJA.