Feb. 5, 2004

Contacts: Kristen Sykes, Friends of the Earth, 202-222-0730

Environmental Group Calls on Senate to Block Myers Nomination
Ethical Problems and Anti-Environmental Activism Make Him Unfit for Judgeship

Washington, DC - Today, the Senate will hold a confirmation hearing on William G. Myers for a lifetime appointment to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Based on his ethical conduct as solicitor at the Department of the Interior, and his anti-environmental activism in private practice, Friends of the Earth believes that Myers will be an activist judge bent on repealing fundamental environmental laws. The Senate should not confirm Myers to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

"Myers has made a career out of advocating for the coal, mining, oil and gas and grazing industries while at the Interior Department," said Kristen Sykes Interior Department watchdog for Friends of the Earth. "We question whether Myers can be an impartial judge or just an advocate for the exploitation of our public lands."

As solicitor of the Interior Department, from July 2001 to October 2003, Myers pursued an agenda to roll back or weaken environmental laws governing public land use. While solicitor, the Interior Department rolled back Clinton administration grazing regulations, which he previously challenged in 2000 for the grazing industry through a lawsuit that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Myers also reversed a Clinton administration opinion that had blocked a strip mine threatening Native American sacred lands in Southern California. Myers' tenure at the Interior Department was also plagued by questionable ethical decisions that eventually lead to an Interior Department inspector general report.

"Myers is the poster child for the revolving corporate door between Washington, DC and industry," continued Sykes. "He advocated for weakening environmental laws, while meeting with former clients and his former law firm."

Recently, the Interior Department's inspector general investigated Myers for violating his ethics agreement by continuing to meet with H&H partners and former clients. Before Myers could take his post at the Interior Department, he signed an agreement not to be involved with H&H or former clients. By looking at Myers' official calendars obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Friends of the Earth discovered Myers had at least 11 meetings with H&H partners.

As an H&H lawyer, Myers represented Peabody Coal and Kennecott Energy, clearing the way for them to tear up the land through coal and coal bed methane development in the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming. Furthermore, as executive director of the Public Lands Council, which represents ranchers who graze livestock on federal lands in the West, Myers advocated for the reversal of Interior Department grazing regulations; the de-listing of endangered species such as the desert tortoise, wolves and grizzly bear; the "un-designation" of wilderness areas; and the divestiture of federal lands.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is one of most important courts in the country for protecting public lands. It has jurisdiction over nine states, 485 million acres of public lands and the lives of more than 55 million Americans. The Ninth Circuit has recently ruled on such important cases as the protection of roadless areas in national forests and the implementation of California's tough new clean air protections.

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