See Pearce’s ‘Concern’ for What It Is

Run in Albuquerque Journal, Dec. 22, 2011

By Judy Calman / Staff Attorney, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance 

On first glance at Rep. Steve Pearce’s Dec. 19 op-ed, it might seem like he’s genuinely concerned about the environment, or even that he’s genuinely concerned about the economy. On closer inspection, though, it becomes obvious that Pearce’s main objectives are sound bites, rabble-rousing and endorsements from industry.

Pearce talks a lot about the waste of government money on environmental lawsuits, but he never really explains what he’s talking about, so I will. He’s talking about a law called the Equal Access to Justice Act, which reimburses nonprofits and public interest groups when they win a lawsuit against the federal government.

Oddly, Pearce also talks a lot about keeping the government accountable for its actions, which is exactly what the act is supposed to ensure. It allows people who couldn’t ordinarily afford a lawsuit to sue the government when it’s breaking the law. A group can get money only when it wins, just like any other lawsuit where the losing party pays attorney’s fees.

While Pearce implies environmental lawyers are somehow getting rich this way, the going rate for reimbursement is nowhere close to the outrageous number the congressman threw out; last I checked it was around $160 an hour, which is below the average private attorney rate (for the record, as the staff attorney of an environmental nonprofit who works on these issues, I make about $24 an hour, and have never been reimbursed by the government for anything.

Finally, if we really want to talk about “wasteful subsidies,” let’s sit down and have a real conversation about grazing leases on public lands, tax cuts for millionaires and subsidies for oil and gas companies, all paid for by my tax dollars, all of which account for billions more than is ever paid out through the Equal Access to Justice Act, and all supported by Pearce.

Pearce wants us to believe that the Endangered Species Act is part of a failed system, that local governments and private landowners have it all under control, and that imperiled species like the (dunes sagebrush) lizard don’t need protection. He wants us to believe that “task forces” understand land management better than the federal agencies responsible for it. He wants us to believe that environmentalists are the ones stealing those hard-earned taxpayer dollars that he claims he’s so concerned about.

All of those things are proven wrong when looking at the facts. Pearce is opposed to listing the lizard because the oil companies that fund him don’t want the small amount of added expense to survey for lizards before they put wells in. It has been shown repeatedly that listing the lizard will not have any measurable effect on jobs.

While Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances can be important steps, they are not usually enough to ensure permanent protection of the species. The agreements are part of the Fish and Wildlife Service’s strategy for conservation, and are somewhat removed from the decision process for listing. It is not the place of a single politician to be involved in agency decisions in this manner. Agencies are charged with making their decisions based on the best science available, and it is inappropriate for Pearce to try to influence agency rule-making through fear-mongering.

The Fish and Wildlife Service should be allowed to do its job, which involves a huge amount of input from the public and scientists.

Pearce is undoubtedly worried about a bottom line, but it’s not the country’s, or New Mexico’s, and it certainly isn’t the environment’s.