PLC Priorities: Antiquities Act and Equal Access to Justice Act

PLC Priorities: Antiquities Act and Equal Access to Justice Act

Public Lands Council Executive Director Dustin Van Liew says in addition to the modernization of the Endangered Species Act there are several other PLC’s legislative priorities this year as well.
Van Liew: “The Antiquities Act which allows the President to defacto create monuments across the West. We are very concerned as this president moves into his last two years of his administrations that he will begin to utilize or abuse that Act to further lock up lands across the West — major tracts of land to the tune of 100,000s of acres where again by the stroke of a pen at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue they can limit or remove multiple use on large areas in the West. We want that Antiquities Act to be reformed so that the public and the states are brought into the process of deciding where monuments are designated and how they managed into the future.”
VanLiew continues with another PLC priority
Van Liew: “The Equal Access to Justice Act and Judgement Fund this is where attorneys’ fees are reimbursed to plaintiffs who file suit in federal courts against the government on decisions and recoup their attorneys’ fees at the cost of the tax payer. Now there hasn’t been tracking on this since the mid-90s so no one is really sure how many millions of dollars is being paid to special interest groups that file endless lawsuits through the ESA, through the Clean Water Act, through the Administrative Procedures Act on various grazing decisions. We want Congress to step in and require that reporting be made available to the public.”

 

Previous ReportColorado Cattlemen's Association Announce Outstanding Commercial Producer of the Year
Next ReportVoluntary Sage Grouse Initiative Making a Difference