Inside the Equal Access to Justice Act: Environmental Litigation and the Crippling Battle over America's Lands, Endangered Species, and Critical Habitats

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Next Generation INDIE Book Awards Grand Prize Winner, Best Non-Fiction Book in 2017; and Winner in the Science/Nature/Environment category Finalist for Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards in Ecology and Environment In this book, Lowell E. Baier, one of Americas preeminent experts on environmental litigation, chronicles the century-long story of Americas resources management, focusing on litigations, citizen suit provisions, and attorneys fees. He provides the first book-length comprehensive examination of the little-known Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) and its role in environmental litigation. Originally intended to support veterans, the disabled and small business, the EAJA, Baier argues, now paralyzes Americas public land management agencies. Baier introduces readers to the history of EAJA, examines the many beneficiaries of the law, describes in depth 20 of the most prominent litigious environmental groups in America, and recommends carefully tailored amendments to the EAJA to correct environmental abuses of the law while protecting legitimate interests. Inside the Equal Access to Justice Act will be a valuable resource for the environmental legal community, environmentalists, practitioners at all levels of government, and all readers interested in environmental policy and the rise of the administrative state.

Reviews

Historians and other scholars of US environmental politics will find a scrupulously narrated account of the political milieu from which this legislation emerged, along with its evolution over recent decades, in the books first four chapters. Assembled from an impressive array of interview notes and archival texts, these accessible chapters detail the original objectives for and later impacts of this important statute. Baiers detailed policy history of the EAJA should be of interest to scholarly and lay readers alike. * Environmental History *
We have here a book of truth and power. Lowell Baier in his thoughtful and powerful publication shows our historyfirst of abuse and more recently of our effort to protect this magnificent country and world. -- Representative John D. Dingell, (D) Michigan
This masterful work of scholarship flawlessly proves that todays new paradigm of cooperative conservation and federalism in endangered species conservation is a far more responsible endeavor with measurable results than can ever be achieved by combative saturation litigation and court intervention. -- Theodore Roosevelt, IV, Honorary Chair, League of Conservation Voters and Governing Council, The Wilderness Society
Lowell E. Baier's Inside the Equal Access to Justice Act is an important history of how American land conservation battles have played out in courts. All environmentalists should read this well written book. Highly recommended! -- Douglas Brinkley, Rice University, author of Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America and Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America
With more than 1,100 species currently under court-ordered consideration for listing under the Endangered Species Act, Lowell Baiers powerful research forces all conservationists to question the efficacy of the current system and whether a more scientific and collaborative approach would produce better results for wildlife in the 21st Century. -- Collin O'Marra, President and CEO, National Wildlife Federation
Minutely and extraordinarily researched, masterfully written in a voice that rings with authority from a tremendous depth of knowledge, it will transform your view of environmental litigation and its politics and players. -- Jack Ward Thomas, Chief Emeritus, U.S. Forest Service
This book is the story of how decades of aggressive environmental litigation have eroded the core missions, expertise and effectiveness of Americas land, wildlife and water management agencies. It poses the serious question of how the public land mass comprising one-third of the United States can be effectively managed in the 21st century, and the consequences the remaining two-thirds will suffer from unchecked litigation. -- Representative Cynthia M. Lummis, (R) Wyoming
Lowell Baier has been a lifelong champion for conservation, carrying on the legacy of President Theodore Roosevelt. This book on Americas lands litigation is a must read for all who care about the conservation of our wonderful national crown jewels. -- Kenneth L. Salazar, Former Secretary of the Interior and Senator (D) from Colorado
Baier has produced an intellectual tour de force with the publication of Inside the Equal Access to Justice Act. The focus of this book is the need to reform the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) because of unintended provisions that incentivize and reward environmental litigants for filing suit against federal regulatory and land management agencies, and consequentially hinder proactive cooperative efforts. . . . Baier, a seasoned lawyer, political scientist, historian, and one of Americas leading conservationists, peels back layers of proverbial onion to reconstruct a fascinating story about how this law came into existence and the twist of fate that led to a seemingly minor provision being inserted that eventually opened the floodgates of environmental litigation. -- John F. Organ, Chief, Cooperative Fish and Research Units, U.S. Geological Survey (appearing in Fair Chase Magazine)

Author Bio

Lowell E. Baier is an attorney and a legal and environmental historian and author. Baier holds a B.A. from Valparaiso University, a J.D. from Indiana University and has received two honorary doctorates. Hes worked in Washington, D.C. throughout his 50 year career as a tireless advocate for natural resources and wildlife conservation. Throughout his career, he has observed and documented wildlife and its habitats on extensive treks and expeditions in the mountains and wilderness regions across the North American Continent, the Pamirs and Caucasus of Russia, and Mongolias Gobi Desert and Altai Mountains, providing him with first hand observations of wildlife and mans interactions across the globe. He was recognized as the Conservationist of the Year by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in 2008, and again in 2010 and 2013 by two different national organizations.