Conservation group uses litigation to influence environmental enforcement

WildEarth Guardians, an environmental advocacy group known for aggressive litigation, is making waves in the sagebrush sea. Through a series of federal lawsuits, Guardians is reshaping the way the federal government enforces environmental laws. The most recent example is a claim brought against the Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining, Enforcement and Reclamation regarding the approval of plans to mine federal coal at two locations in Northwest Colorado. On May 8, a federal judge ruled against the Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, stating that the environmental analyses for operations at Colowyo and Trapper mines did not meet standards established in the National Environmental Policy Act. The ruling ordered the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement to complete a new analysis for Colowyo within 120 days and issue a recommendation to Jewell concerning continuation of mining. As a part of his opinion, federal Judge R. Brooke Jackson set precedent by stating that the effects of coal combustion must be considered in environmental analyses for proposed coal mining operations. Although NEPA states that direct and indirect impacts on the environment must be considered before development on federal land, coal combustion has historically been absent from the equation. WildEarth Guardians is also a main character in the story of the greater sage grouse. In 2011, Guardians filed a claim in federal court asking the court to order the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to make a decision on the status of 251 potentially endangered species, including the greater sage grouse. Guardians received a favorable settlement and Fish and Wildlife agreed to evaluate 200 out of the 251 species by Sept. 30 of this year. WildEarth Guardians’ persistent litigation has not gone without notice. Americans for Prosperity Foundation funded a study to analyze the impacts of Guardians’ litigation on local communities. It was released in March 2012. The study was designed and preformed by Ryan Yonk, Ph.D., Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice at Southern Utah University and Randy Simmons, Ph.D., Department of Economics and Finance at Utah State University. “What our study found was a negative impact on household income (in) places where WildEarth Guardians are active,” Yonk said. Yonk said household income is $2,500 less in areas where WildEarth Guardians conduct “litigation for the wild.” “This approach is successful in meeting their own goals, but it comes a cost to local communities,” he said...more

The 2012 study is here.