{"id":107935,"date":"2015-12-02T20:42:22","date_gmt":"2015-12-03T03:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rogue-attorneys-general-defy-governors-sue-feds\/"},"modified":"2015-12-02T20:42:22","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T03:42:22","slug":"rogue-attorneys-general-defy-governors-sue-feds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rogue-attorneys-general-defy-governors-sue-feds\/","title":{"rendered":"Rogue attorneys general defy governors, sue feds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Colorado
Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman is suing the Environmental Protection Agency over the Clean Power Plan, despite Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper\u2019s opposing stance on the issue.<\/span>Associated Press<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

When Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced in September that the greater sage grouse would not be listed as endangered, Nevada\u2019s Brian Sandoval, a Republican, was one of four Western governors on the stage, applauding.<\/p>\n

States retained management of the bird in what Sandoval described as a \u201cbig win\u201d resulting from intense negotiations. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot easier to fight than it is to work together,\u201d he said. Just a month later, though, Nevada\u2019s attorney general, Republican Adam Laxalt, defied Sandoval, joining a lawsuit challenging federal plans to protect grouse habitat. A public row ensued, with the governor\u2019s office declaring that Laxalt was acting on his own behalf, not the state\u2019s. Laxalt fired back with a press release calling the governor \u201cwrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, two Western attorneys general are suing the federal government over high-profile environmental issues against their governors\u2019 wishes. Colorado\u2019s Republican attorney general, Cynthia Coffman, is suing to block President Barack Obama\u2019s signature climate change initiative, the Clean Power Plan, despite Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper\u2019s explicit objections.<\/p>\n

Both attorneys general were elected a year ago with the support of a lot of outside money, signaling big donors\u2019 appreciation for the importance of these offices, as states push back against the federal government. \u201cThere is a perception that the (Obama) administration is running roughshod over states\u2019 interests,\u201d says Idaho Attorney General Lawrence G. Wasden, especially in Western states, where large portions of the land and resources are owned and managed by the federal government.<\/p>\n

The Democrats view things differently: \u201cThere are several attorneys general who seem to see themselves as partisan warriors,\u201d says Matt Lee-Ashley, director of public lands at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. \u201cThey are so determined to boost their political profile and grab headlines that they\u2019re willing to undercut their own state\u2019s leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Nevada and Colorado, the governors are challenging the legitimacy of the lawsuits and the authority of their attorneys general, who act as chief lawyers for governors and state agencies as well as top law enforcement officials. While such public disputes are infrequent, they\u2019re not unheard of, because in most states, governors and attorneys general are elected separately. In purple states like Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada, it\u2019s not uncommon for the two to be from different parties.-<\/p>\n

Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper says Coffman is exceeding her authority. \u201cThe law makes it clear that except in limited circumstances \u2014 which don\u2019t exist here \u2014 the attorney general is not permitted to file such lawsuits unless directed to do so by the governor,\u201d Hickenlooper declared. He has said he will petition the state Supreme Court to weigh in. Former Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar, who served as Obama\u2019s first Interior secretary, says that Colorado law requires the attorney general to support the governor unless the governor\u2019s position is \u201cclearly unlawful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coffman, meanwhile, says she is doing her duty by joining 23 other states in suing the Environmental Protection Agency over the first-ever federal greenhouse gas rules for existing power plants. She claims that the rules will cost jobs and usurp state authority, and that she has the power to decide what is in her state\u2019s interest, regardless of the governor\u2019s stance. \u201cThe Colorado attorney general has independent authority to initiate a legal action on behalf of the state and its citizens,\u201d she declared.<\/p>\n

In Nevada, Laxalt says he is looking out for the state\u2019s legal interests by backing a suit filed by two counties over a federal plan to set aside habitat for sage grouse and also prohibit new hardrock mining across nearly 3 million acres.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my job as the elected attorney general to decide when it\u2019s right for the state to be in litigation,\u201d Laxalt told KNPR radio.<\/p>\n

Sandoval says that his fellow Republican\u2019s action does not represent Nevada, its governor, or state agencies. He also -argues that only by working with the federal government were Western states able to avoid Endangered Species Act listings of the greater and the bi-state sage grouse. He shares his attorney general\u2019s concern about development restrictions on BLM lands, but believes that collaboration, not litigation, is the best way to get more flexible terms for the bird\u2019s conservation.<\/p>\n

The back-and-forth between Laxalt and Sandoval has been especially sharp. Lawrence Wasden, Idaho\u2019s attorney general and chair of the Conference of Western Attorneys General, says disputes between attorneys general and governors are often most intense when the two belong to the same party. \u201cThere\u2019s an expectation that the attorneys general should get in line. When they don\u2019t do that, that becomes a bitter battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The current divisions in the Republican Party make such internecine battles increasingly likely. For instance, some Western Republicans want to file lawsuits claiming federal lands for their states, while others argue that the states agreed to the current arrangement when they joined the union. As the struggle over the vision for federal lands and the nation\u2019s energy future intensifies, more disputes are sure to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Attorneys general suing the federal government, despite governors\u2019 objections<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[21,108,457,13,670],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-107935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-cortez","tag-endangered-species","tag-federal-bureau-of-investigation","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-invasive-species"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107935"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=107935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}