Environmentalists & Government Collude in “Sue and Settle” Cases
There is a practice called "sue and settle" being used by our federal government--financed by us, by taxpayers--that will make your blood boil. It's not new. It's been going on for years and is now refined into an art form. MDN first heard about this practice at the Oil & Gas Awards in Oklahoma City last fall when Oklahoma's excellent Attorney General Scott Pruitt gave the assembled crowd a rundown of how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is attempting to screw the oil and gas industry by using this tactic. Here's how it works: a far-left radical environmental group like Earthjustice sues a government agency, like the EPA or USFWS to force the agency enact a new rule or regulation supposedly to comply with an existing law. The government agency actually WANTS the lawsuit (colluding with the extremist group to invite it), so they can get a court order "forcing" them to take a certain action. Earthjustice and the government agency, behind closed doors, work out what the action will be. At the conclusion of the lawsuit, the court awards the "winning" party compensation from the "losing" party to cover legal fees. Using that strategy, from 1995 to 2010, Earthjustice received $4,655,425 of taxpayer money. Question: Why hasn't Earthjustice been exposed as frauds and shut down?...
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