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)
Over the past
four years, Earthjustice has achieved great success in blocking many
of the Bush administration's efforts to dismantle environmental
protections.
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.}
