Today, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing examining how radical environmental groups have abused statutes intended to combat federal overreach to siphon taxpayer dollars into their coffers. Subcommittee Chairman Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) issued the following statement in response:

“Today’s hearing exposed how radical environmental activist organizations have turned taxpayer-funded litigation into a profitable business model. Laws originally intended to protect Americans from government overreach are now being exploited to bankroll endless lawsuits, inflated attorney fee awards and settlements that burden taxpayers while obstructing responsible land management and American energy production. The testimony presented before the Subcommittee made clear that stronger oversight and meaningful reforms are needed to restore transparency, accountability and integrity to the system.”

Background

Statutory fee-shifting provisions were originally intended to combat federal overreach and wrongdoing by shifting litigation costs away from plaintiffs facing the federal government. Such provisions are included in legislation such as the Endangered Species Act and are foundational to laws like the Equal Access to Justice Act.

However, radical environmental nonprofit organizations have exploited these provisions to fund endless lawfare campaigns with taxpayer dollars. By weaponizing fee-shifting provisions, settling frivolous lawsuits to include grant awards into their bank accounts and then fundraising from these efforts, these groups have built a business model on siphoning taxpayer dollars.

Courts often utilize the “lodestar method” when awarding fees and costs to litigating nonprofits. This enables nonprofit lawyers to set their own “reasonable” rates and multiply them by “reasonable” hours worked, leading to awards that far exceed the values assigned to attorneys on their own employers' cases, sometimes by more than 700 percent.

In addition to lacking oversight mechanisms governing litigation awards, the “lodestar method” encourages radical environmental groups to prioritize litigation over responsible conservation and stewardship. House Committee on Natural Resources Republicans are committed to investigating waste, fraud and abuse across the federal government.