Environmental group accuses Rep. Rob Bishop, Natural Resources Committee of ‘politically motivated abuse of authority’

An environmental group has denounced a House oversight committee for suggesting the organization’s efforts to block construction of a U.S. military base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa may require it to register as foreign agent. In a bluntly worded letter delivered earlier this week, the Center for Biological Diversity accused the Republican chairman and another senior GOP member of the Natural Resources Committee of pursuing a "politically motivated abuse of authority" and for operating outside of their jurisdiction. The environmental group has been part of a long-running fight to protect an endangered marine mammal. The harsh response from the Center for Biological Diversity, headquartered in Arizona, is the group's latest salvo at the panel, which is investigating whether nonprofit groups are being manipulated by foreign governments or entities that want to undercut U.S. interests. At the center of the fight is the Foreign Agents Registration Act, an 80-year-old law that requires people to disclose when they lobby in the U.S. on behalf of foreign governments or political entities. For decades, the statute languished in obscurity and criminal prosecutions under the law were exceedingly rare... The focus on the foreign lobbying law also represents a new point of contention between the GOP and many environmentalists who are at odds over the Trump administration's push to undo Obama-era programs to fight climate change. Reps. Rob Bishop of Utah, the committee chairman, and Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, who heads the panel's oversight and investigations subcommittee, have written letters over the last few months to the Center for Biological Diversity and three other environmental groups — the Natural Resources Defense Council, the World Resources Institute, and Earthjustice — to inform them of the inquiry...MORE