Environmental groups pose billion-dollar challenge to ag

The 10 largest environmental organizations operating in the West collectively raise almost $1 billion each year to fund their activities, including filing lawsuits targeting farmers, ranchers, timber companies and the federal government. The lawsuits often attack farming and ranching activities, but most focus on how the government enforces the federal Endangered Species Act, a law Congress passed in 1973 to protect some plants and animals. They include salmon, sage grouse, wolves and hundreds of other species either listed or under consideration for protection. Litigation is big business for the environmental organizations, which often use the deadlines in the ESA as leverage to get their way with the government. Last year alone, they filed 526 environmental lawsuits in federal courts, according to a search of public records. The year before, the number was 1,421. One of the most litigious groups is Earthjustice, a nonprofit law firm formerly called the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund. The group promotes itself with the catchphrase, “We exist because the Earth needs a good lawyer.” San Francisco-based group, which boasts 94 lawyers in 10 regional and one international office, entered 2015 involved in 370 active court cases. Over the last two years, Earthjustice has collected $6.4 million in court-awarded attorney fees. Besides attorney fees awarded by courts, the nonprofit organizations also solicit donations from their supporters. Another group, the Center for Biological Diversity, has collected $2 million in attorney fees during the same time...more