Say No to William Myers

William Myers is one of the unqualified nominees that Senator Kennedy and the Demcorats oppose for the federal judiciary.

Major Points

  • Myers has consistently worked to protect private property rights at the expense of environmental concerns. For example, he has opposed federal authority to protect wetland areas under the Clean Water Act.

  • In the two years he served as Interior Department Solicitor, he issued only two opinions, both of which overturned regulations that protected environmental interests from private development.

  • His constant work on behalf of industry interests in his capacity as Solicitor at the Interior Department resulted in a number of disturbing conflicts, two of which resulted in ethics investigations; one of those investigations is still ongoing.


Key History

Opposing the Enviromentalists and Ranchers

As Solicitor, he wrote an opinion finding it illegal to permanently retire grazing permits. Overgrazing has been recognized as a threat to limited water resources, a promoter of disease organisms, a soil erosion threat, and damaging to food for wildlife and archaeological sites. A market system had been successfully used to buy ranchers out fo their permits — the land was preserved, and ranchers were paid enough to bring down their debts on their land. The market system was successful for both the environment and private land owners, yet Myers opposed it.


Robbins Grazing Settlement

In the most glaring example of Myers’ betrayal of environmentally sound policies, he was responsible the Robbins Grazing Settlement. Frank Robbins, a Wyoming rancher, had a long history of grazing violations, including trespassing, permit cancellations, unauthorized land use citations, and purposely ignoring emergency closures during droughts. He went to trial on charges that he assaulted workers from the Bureau of Land Management who were attempting to enforce the law. Myers’ response? He cut a deal with Robbins that cleared his record and provided him with new permits and exemptions to continue with his ranching with even greater latitude than before. Myers’ agreed to drop all complaints against Robbins, clearing his record, while allowing him to continue with a lawsuit against the U.S. Government in relation to his own inability to follow the law. Under Myers’ deal, Robbins was effectively shielded from enforcement of environmental regulations by anyone other than the Director of the Bureau of Land Management, stripping local officials of any authority to make Robbins follow the law.


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Hi,

I thought you might want to join me in support of Senator Ted Kennedy’s stand against William Myers and the Republican leaders who are trying to seize absolute power by changing the rules of the Senate in order to silence their opposition. Join me in opposing their bausive tactics:

http://www.tedkennedy.com/nomyers

President Bush has nominated Myers for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals -- the nation’s largest appellate court, and a potential stepping stone to the Supreme Court. It also has jurisdiction over vast expanses of public land and our magnificent natural resources.

Myers has spent his career trying to dismantle the protections our courts exist to preserve. He was a lobbyist for mining interests, and was later handpicked by President Bush to supposedly regulate the industry. His only experience has been manipulating laws and regulations for corporate gain, against the public interest.

Senator Kennedy and I believe that, on the merits, there is no justification whatsoever for William Myers to be confirmed. Don’t let our opposition be silenced:

http://www.tedkennedy.com/nomyers

Here are some major points about William Myers:

- Myers has never been a judge in any court, and does not have the experience to serve on the federal bench when combined with his known legal opinions.

- Myers has consistently worked to protect private property rights at the expense of environmental concerns. For example, he has opposed federal authority to protect wetland areas under the Clean Water Act.

-In the two years he served as Interior Department Solicitor, he issued only two opinions, both of which overturned regulations that protected environmental interests from private development.

- His constant work on behalf of industry interests in his capacity as Solicitor at the Interior Department resulted in a number of disturbing conflicts, two of which resulted in ethics investigations; one of those investigations is still ongoing.