William G. Myers
Solicitor General, Department of the Interior

Then: Before joining the Bush administratio, Myers held a number of jobs representing companies that use the public lands overseen by the Department of the Interior. He headed the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and, as a lawyer and lobbyist for the firm Holland & Hart, represented companies including Kennecott Energy and Peabody Coal. During his nomination process, he continued to represent banks in a lawsuit against the US Forest Service concerning ranchers' use of public lands.

			· Related Places · Tongass National Forest · Related Policies · The Roadless Rule E-mail article Print article · E-mail the editor

Now: Along with Sansonetti, Myers has led the administration's established pattern of settling environtmental lawsuits filed by industry -- a pattern that is rapidly eroding the legal underpinnings of many environmental rules. Myers' opposition to regulation was well-known long before he took his post as Gale Norton's top lawyer. "The biggest disaster now facing ranchers is not nature," Myers said in a speech before the cattlemen's association, "but a flood of regulations designed to turn the West into little more than a theme park."

The inspector general of the DOI has launched an ethics inquiry of Myers, the third involving a top official at the department. The investigation commenced after Friends of the Earth and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility obtained Myers' office calendars, which showed him meeting with representatives of the cattle industry and members of his former law firm. In May, Bush nominated Myers to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th circuit.

© 2003 The Foundation for National Progress

Close Window