INSIGHTS: Law Firm for the Environment

By Vawter "Buck" Parker

WASHINGTON, DC, November 12, 2004 (ENS) - The morning after the election, Earthjustice staff gathered to face the news that the most anti-environmental administration will be back for four more years. While obviously disappointed we are not discouraged. We're more determined than ever to carry on. As we have proved in the past, no matter how tough the challenge, Earthjustice's team of attorneys, policy analysts and media experts is up for the task.

Buck Park is executive director of Earthjustice (Photo courtesy Earthjustice)

No roads have been pushed into roadless areas in our national forests.

We have forced the Environmental Protection Agency to follow the Clean Air Act and tighten restrictions on a wide range of dangerous emissions.

Earthjustice secured protections for endangered species. And we exposed the administration's back room deals with industry and efforts to undermine science in favor of politics.

Earthjustice is proud of these victories, but we've recognized for some time that a second term would bring challenges on a different scale and that our own strategies would have to change too.

While we'll still be in courtrooms all over the country, enforcing good environmental laws against the administration and corporations, our priorities will be preventing the irretrievable losses - the losses that can't be fixed by a subsequent administration - and preserving the essential right of the public to hold their government accountable through the courts.

These principles will guide us even as industries try to grab as many public resources as they can and the administration tries to stack the courts with judges who won't stop them.

There is one upside from the recent election - it served to remind thousands of people that democracy requires citizens to be engaged in the political process.

All the energy that went into registering voters and urging them to get out to the polls will pay off in the long run. A public that is aware and willing to participate in the debate is good for the environment.

Earthjustice's role as the law firm for the environment is now truly essential. Our lives have not gotten any easier. But we still have the law and the will to enforce it and we are prepared to make the choices and investments that will produce the best results over the next four years. Thank you for standing with us.

As always, I encourage you to send me your comments and questions, which should be addressed to buckparker@earthjustice.org.

{Buck Parker is executive director for Earthjustice, the nonprofit law firm for the environment, representing — without charge — hundreds of public interest clients.}