YellowSub1962
12-10-2001, 04:33 PM
Just FYI
From: Donald C. Amador, 112531,1311
TO: "Amador", INTERNET:brdon_a@sharetrails.org
DATE: 12/10/01 9:02 AM
RE: Copy of: Landmark Legal files suit over fed. tax dollars paid to
eco-groups.
Landmark Files Lawsuits Over Millions in Tax Dollars Paid to Environmental
Activists
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 5, 2001
CONTACT:Eric Christensen
703-689-2370
703-689-2373 (FAX)
info@landmarklegal.org
(HERNDON, VA)...Landmark Legal Foundation today filed three lawsuits
against government agencies to force them to release information about
hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds paid to the Nature
Conservancy, the Environmental Defense Fund, the World Wildlife Fund and
other activist environmental groups.
The lawsuits, which have been filed against the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), the Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
and the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service (USDA), were brought
because the agencies failed to respond to earlier Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA) requests by Landmark. The Foundation sought the information
after a Sacramento Bee article in October detailed how more than $400
million in federal grants and other payments since 1998 may have been
misused or used to advance the political agendas of environmental
activists.
"America's taxpayers have a right to know if their money is being used to
feather the political nests of radical environmental groups," commented
Landmark President Mark R. Levin. "And the agencies of our government have
a responsibility to ensure that the money it pays to private organizations
is used appropriately, and not to lobby lawmakers or spin public perception
to achieve the groups' political goals."
Landmark has an impressive record in FOIA litigation with the EPA. In a
pending lawsuit against the agency over last-minute regulations imposed in
the closing days of the previous administration, the Foundation found that
the EPA was destroying information that Federal District Judge Royce
Lamberth had ordered it to preserve. Judge Lamberth is currently
considering a motion filed by Landmark to hold the EPA, several former EPA
officials and the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Columbia in
contempt over the destruction of the information at the EPA.
In addition to the lawsuits filed today, Landmark anticipates suing the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a few weeks, after administrative avenues
in its FOIA request with that agency are exhausted.
Landmark Legal Foundation is a public interest law firm founded in 1976
with offices in Kansas City, Missouri and Herndon, Virginia. The complaints
Landmark filed today against the EPA, the BLM and the USDA are available on
Landmark's website at www.landmarklegal.org.
:usa:
From: Donald C. Amador, 112531,1311
TO: "Amador", INTERNET:brdon_a@sharetrails.org
DATE: 12/10/01 9:02 AM
RE: Copy of: Landmark Legal files suit over fed. tax dollars paid to
eco-groups.
Landmark Files Lawsuits Over Millions in Tax Dollars Paid to Environmental
Activists
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 5, 2001
CONTACT:Eric Christensen
703-689-2370
703-689-2373 (FAX)
info@landmarklegal.org
(HERNDON, VA)...Landmark Legal Foundation today filed three lawsuits
against government agencies to force them to release information about
hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds paid to the Nature
Conservancy, the Environmental Defense Fund, the World Wildlife Fund and
other activist environmental groups.
The lawsuits, which have been filed against the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), the Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
and the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service (USDA), were brought
because the agencies failed to respond to earlier Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA) requests by Landmark. The Foundation sought the information
after a Sacramento Bee article in October detailed how more than $400
million in federal grants and other payments since 1998 may have been
misused or used to advance the political agendas of environmental
activists.
"America's taxpayers have a right to know if their money is being used to
feather the political nests of radical environmental groups," commented
Landmark President Mark R. Levin. "And the agencies of our government have
a responsibility to ensure that the money it pays to private organizations
is used appropriately, and not to lobby lawmakers or spin public perception
to achieve the groups' political goals."
Landmark has an impressive record in FOIA litigation with the EPA. In a
pending lawsuit against the agency over last-minute regulations imposed in
the closing days of the previous administration, the Foundation found that
the EPA was destroying information that Federal District Judge Royce
Lamberth had ordered it to preserve. Judge Lamberth is currently
considering a motion filed by Landmark to hold the EPA, several former EPA
officials and the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Columbia in
contempt over the destruction of the information at the EPA.
In addition to the lawsuits filed today, Landmark anticipates suing the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a few weeks, after administrative avenues
in its FOIA request with that agency are exhausted.
Landmark Legal Foundation is a public interest law firm founded in 1976
with offices in Kansas City, Missouri and Herndon, Virginia. The complaints
Landmark filed today against the EPA, the BLM and the USDA are available on
Landmark's website at www.landmarklegal.org.
:usa: