Federal Judges on Board of Anti-Environmental Group
Speaking of questionable judicial behavior, three federal judges are serving as directors on the board of an industry-funded foundation that regularly opposes environmental regulations, even while hearing cases in which the foundation’s members have direct interests, charges a public-interest group in a report released yesterday. The Community Rights Counsel’s report details the activities of the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment, a Montana-based organization that receives money from Texaco, ExxonMobil, GE, and other big corporations and advocates for environmental policy based on cost-benefit analysis and property rights. Critics say FREE (get it?) opposes most environmental regulations and tries to buy access to judges with expense-paid junkets to Montana resorts. The Community Rights Counsel is filing ethics complaints against the judges serving on the FREE board.
