A major concern for many people who support the environment is the disparity in lobbying power between industry and environmental advocates. It's clear that the millions of dollars corporate interests contribute to Democrats and Republicans buy a lot of influence on Capitol Hill. (For the sordid details, check out Earthjustice's Paybacks report.)

Given that disparity, I'm often asked why Earthjustice doesn't team up with other environmental groups to maximize our lobbying clout. The short answer is simply that we do.

One example of this is our work to defend the Endangered Species Act and the integrity of the science on which decisions under the act are made. Another is the effort being made, with a high degree of success, to prevent the confirmation of anti-environmental ideologues to lifetime seats on the federal courts of appeal.

The Endangered Species Act has been at the heart of some of Earthjustice's best-known work to protect and restore public lands and healthy ecosystems. Unfortunately, its effectiveness has won it powerful enemies in the Bush administration and in Congress. The statute, along with the wildlife and habitat it protects, is under steady and intense assault.

Over the last year Susan Holmes (our Senior Legislative Representative), Marty Hayden (our Policy and Legislation Vice President) and I have worked with representatives of other organizations, including National Wildlife Federation, Defenders of Wildlife, the Endangered Species Coalition and the Sierra Club, to formulate and fund a stronger defense of the Endangered Species Act. The resulting Unified Endangered Species Act Campaign has as its goal the preservation and strengthening of the Endangered Species Act.

The campaign intends to increase grassroots advocacy capacity in 10 to 15 key states across the country and the quality, quantity, and speed of our overall communications efforts concerning the statute and its implementation. The members of the campaign have together hired a media coordinator to provide reliable data for the public, and Earthjutsice will soon hire a researcher to help uncover the truth behind many of the myths used against the act; we will share the benefits of that research with other environmental organizations, journalists, and our friends in Congress. The organizations participating in the campaign are working together to develop communications packages, workshops and a network so we can be more effective in responding to threats to the statute. We are not limiting ourselves to working with environmental advocacy organizations but are also reaching out to include religious and scientific organizations and individuals in the effort to protect our wildlife and the places necessary to their survival.

Another example of a team effort is our work to block attempts by the current administration to stack the U.S. courts of appeal with judges hostile to the right of citizens to take the government and corporations to court for violating environmental laws. Although this effort originated with Earthjustice, we knew from the outset that it would be extremely important to engage other environmental organizations in the task, as well as to work closely with other progressive advocacy groups where a nominee's record was also of concern to them. Consequently, we are working very closely with other environmental organizations, including Community Rights Counsel, the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Counsel and Defenders of Wildlife, as well as a network of state and regional conservation groups throughout the country, to try to ensure that the federal courts remain open to citizens and that the third branch of government, the judiciary, continues to fulfill its constitutional duties. Earthjustice will continue to lead this effort and is putting more research, staff time and other resources into it than any other group, but the work on judicial nominations is an excellent example of the high degree of coordination and cooperation that exists among environmental advocacy organizations.

In short, despite the number and variety of environmental organizations, we work together remarkably well. Because Earthjustice has always worked with other organizations as clients -- anywhere from 300 to 500 at any one time -- teamwork comes naturally to us. And there has never been a time when that spirit of cooperation around common goals has been more important.

Vawter "Buck" Parker, Executive Director
buckparker@earthjustice.org