Libby Chamber urges updating of federal act to address its abuse

The Libby Chamber of Commerce is urging Montana’s federal congressional leaders to push for updating the Equal Access To Justice Act, which many allege has evolved beyond its original intent to the point of being abused.

The Act was enacted in 1980 to reimburse legal costs for groups and individuals who successfully challenge federal projects in court.

In a resolution released Oct. 20, the Chamber states the Act’s intention was “to level the playing field when an individual citizen pursues, through federal courts, a question of harm caused by a Federal Government action.”

The resolution also states the Act “has been amended to allow non-government organizations to represent individuals in a claim of harm” and “to allow environmental attorneys an exemption to the attorney fee cap and the asset cap originally spelled out by statute.”

Further, the resolution states the Act “has been modified to the point where unintended consequences of the statue include incentivizing a litigious atmosphere under which the United States Forest Service must labor in order to manage our forests for their health and for the well-being of forest communities such as Libby.”

It’s the “litigious atmosphere” that many allege holds up economic development in communities such as Libby, when extractive industries such as timber or mining are seen as vital for jobs creation.

In its resolution, the Chamber “asks that our congressional delegation work to re-find the original intent of the statute and remove the perverse litigation incentives that disallow progressive forest management on our federal lands.”

The resolution follows on the heels of a letter the Chamber released in mid-September, asking for “support for the expeditious analysis of the issues surrounding final approval of the Montanore and Rock Creek mining proposals that are of critical importance to the economic future of northwest Montana,” a news release stated.

The letter was sent to everyone in Washington, D.C. that a local delegation met with in late July.

The delegation — comprised of consultant Bruce Vincent, Libby Public Schools Superintendent Craig Barringer, Lincoln County Commissioner Jerry Bennett, Sanders County Commissioner Carol Brooker, Kootenai River Development Council Executive Director Tina Oliphant, W. F. Morrison Elementary Principal Diane Rewerts and Sanders County Commissioner Carol Brooker — met with agency officials and congressional leaders to underscore the importance of these projects to the Libby area.

In an Oct. 22 email, Vincent, who also serves on the Chamber board, said these two missives don’t necessarily indicate the Chamber will regularly “be engaging in a great deal of politics” or policy.

“Issues like encouraging federal delegation support of getting resources to the local federal agencies so our area can to get to an answer on the mining projects that have been paralyzed in analysis for decades, and encouraging a hard look at the original intent of the law under which our partner agencies are laboring in federal courts as they try to manage federal lands, are two very unique and atypical situations,” he wrote. “I don’t think the Chamber has been engaged in a lot of political discussion in the past and I don’t see a lot of it in the future.”

One exception Vincent said he was aware of was 2004’s Healthy Forest Initiative, bi-partisan legislation that local, state and national Chambers of Commerce supported.

“Bipartisan issues where this might happen in the future are, in my estimation, rare,” he wrote.