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Debate begins on appointment Environmentalists, 

others weigh in on Boise lawyer 

Faith Bremner / Idaho Statesman 1apr01

[William Gerry Myers III bio below]

William Gerry Myers III

President Bush's choice for the Interior Department's top lawyer has drawn fire from a few environmentalists for his close ties to ranchers and a task force in Idaho that is advocating local control over 10.7 million acres of federal land.

Others defend Boisean William Gerry Myers III and the work of the task force.

Since 1997, Myers has been a lawyer with the Boise law firm of Holland and Hart, representing grazers, timber companies and others who make their living off public land. For four years before moving to Idaho, Myers was a lawyer and lobbyist for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and executive director of the Public Lands Council, a non-profit group that represents the NCBA as well as the American Sheep Industry Association, the American Farm Bureau Federation and the Association of National Grasslands.

During his tenure, these groups unsuccessfully sued to overturn grazing regulations adopted by the Clinton administration.

As solicitor of the Interior Department, Myers will be Interior Secretary Gale Norton's chief legal adviser on issues that involve public lands and his former clients. He will be responsible for 290 lawyers at Interior headquarters in Washington, D.C., and in regional and field offices throughout the United States.

"What we're seeing is President Bush's amazing display of consistency in hiring anti-environmentalists to watch over the environment, people like Gale Norton and (Energy Secretary) Spencer Abraham," said Mark Helm, spokesman for Friends of the Earth. "This means more property-rights people at Interior defending the interests of the far, far right."

Myers, 45, declined to discuss his personal views of the Clinton grazing regulations. Ranchers consider them a thinly veiled attempt to eventually shut down all public grazing land. Environmentalists say they set minimal environmental standards that grazers should meet.

"These are questions I'll have to wait and discuss with the Senate when they take up my confirmation," said Myers, who was named by Bush on Thursday and has yet to undergo a background check.

John Freemuth, a political science professor at Boise State University and a senior fellow at the Cecil Andrus Center for Public Policy, said Myers may be conservative and lean more toward the resource extraction industry, but is not a zealot.

"He has a sharp legal mind," Freemuth said. "Attorneys don't tend to be right-wing nuts; they tend to be strategic."

After moving to Boise, Myers was appointed chairman of the Federal Lands Task Force. In January, the task force produced a report that calls for experimenting with new ways to manage large chunks of mostly U.S. Forest Service land in Idaho. The federal government would still own the land, and the Forest Service would still be in charge of it. However, local groups would set policies and goals.

Environmentalists say the proposal, which would need congressional approval, calls for greatly increasing timber cutting in Idaho's forests and would ignore federal laws.

"It was a very shoddy piece of work," said John McCarthy, conservation director for the Idaho Conservation League. "It didn't provide any scientific background for their claims."

But Randal O'Toole, a free-market forest economist in Oregon, said the Idaho task force's recommendations are innovative and worth giving a try. They're similar to ones developed by other public land task forces working in the West, he said.

He said it's doubtful that logging and road building would increase under these alternative management proposals because, for the most part, these activities are big money losers. Under today's system, Congress rewards the Forest Service for losing money, he said.

"There are a lot of ideas out there and generally everybody agrees, including environmentalists and the timber industry, that the current forest structure doesn't work," O'Toole said. "There's a broad-based feeling there should be experiments."

William G. Myers III
Of Counsel - Boise Office
Holland & Hart LLP

Public Lands
Natural Resources
Environment
Private Property

(208) 342-5000
myers@hollandhart.com 

Expertise

Mr. Myers has extensive experience in natural resources and public land law with particular expertise in the areas of Bureau of Land Management authority, United States Forest Service authority and the use of federal lands by the livestock industry, the timber industry and other commodity groups.  Mr. Myers also has worked extensively on private property matters and the balancing of public and private interests in land management.  He is often called upon by industries and associations to write and speak about issues affecting public lands and natural resources.

Mr. Myers joined Holland & Hart’s Boise office in 1997 after serving as Executive Director of the Public Lands Council and Director, Federal Lands, for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.  In this dual capacity he advised livestock producers and related industries on utilization of some 270 million acres of federal lands.

Prior to his public lands offices, Mr. Myers served in the Bush Administration as Deputy General Counsel for Programs at the United States Department of Energy and as Assistant to the Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice.  Mr. Myers began his tenure in Washington, D.C. as legislative counsel to Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson, specializing in energy and natural resources issues.  Prior to that, he practiced law in Wyoming.

Mr. Myers is admitted to practice in Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and the District of Columbia as well as various federal courts including the United States Supreme Court.  He is listed in Who’s Who in America.

Professional Activities

Chairman, Federal Lands Task Force Working Group

Chairman, State Affairs & Natural Resources Committee, Boise Area Chamber of Commerce

Vice Chairman, ABA Committee on Public Lands and Land Use

Selected Publications

Western Ranchers Fed Up with Feds, Forum for Applied Res. & Pub. Pol., Winter ’96 at 22.
Environmental Command and Control:  The Snake in the Public Lands Grass, in Farmers, Ranchers and Environmental Law 191, (Roger Clegg ed., 1995)
Reforming the American Civil Justice System, 5 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 879 (1992)
The Role of Special Interest Groups in the Supreme Court Nomination of Robert Bork, 17 Hastings Const. L.Q. 399 (1990)
Advice and Consent on Trial:  The Case of Robert H. Bork, 66 Den. U.L. Rev. 1 (1989)
Andrus v. Shell Oil Co.:  The Marketability Standard and the Oil Shale Exception, 58 Den. L.J. 453 (1981)

 Education

University of Denver (J.D., 1981)
Member, Denver Law Journal and Denver Journal of International Law and Policy
College of William and Mary (A.B., 1977)

PUBLIC LANDS

The federal government owns about 30 percent of the nation’s total surface area, totaling some 650 million acres. Four major federal land management agencies – the United States Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service – are responsible for managing about 95 percent of these lands.

The great majority of this public land is located in the western states, particularly in the Rocky Mountain states where we have our offices. These lands are managed for multiple uses including livestock grazing, timbering, mineral production, oil and gas production, recreation, and wildlife habitat. Much of the business and leisure activity of the West is directly attributable to acreage owned and managed by the federal agencies.

With offices in six public land states, we have developed one of the nation’s premier public land practices. At the federal level, our practice takes us before all three branches of government and the principal public land management agencies. We also practice before the counterpart state land and resource management agencies. Our services include:

LEGISLATIVE

We are actively engaged in legislative advocacy. rulemaking developments and agency promulgation of rules and regulations on both the federal and state levels. Our work in this area is focused in Washington, D.C. and in the state capitals - Denver, Boise and Cheyenne - where we have offices. On your behalf, we can:

NATURAL RESOURCES

Since our early days, we have helped oil and gas and mining companies close deals, navigate their way through federal and state regulations, and resolve disputes. These fifty plus years of experience have given us an extensive knowledge of the transactions, regulatory compliance, legislation, litigation and other aspects related to natural resources and energy concerns.

We were one of the first firms to become involved with the legal aspects of environmental issues when we started our environmental law practice in the early 70s. We have also been integrally involved in the ski and recreation industries, real estate development and water issues in the resources rich Rocky Mountain West.

We share our many years of experience with our clients in our day-to-day dealings and through seminars, workshops and publications.

Our cohesive group of natural resources and environmental lawyers likes to work hard and play hard. At our annual retreats, we are reminded that playing together, besides being fun, reveals people's hidden strengths and talents and helps nurture the kind of long-term friendship and trust that carries over into the workplace and, ultimately, benefits our clients.

RELATED PRACTICE AREAS

ENDANGERED SPECIES

We represent clients in all aspects of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and related wildlife and vegetation protection laws, including the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, federal land management statutes, and state fish and game laws. Heading our ESA group is Michael Brennan, executive assistant to the director of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service during the George Bush administration.

Our endangered species experience includes:

OIL & GAS

For over 50 years, we have represented companies in the oil and gas industry, including major producers engaged in domestic and foreign acitivities, small independents, interstate pipeline companies, local distribution companies, marketers, refineries, investors and financial institutions. In connection with oil and gas exploration and production matters, we have represented and advised six of the seven largest international integrated petroleum companies as well as many large, mid-size and smaller independents.

Our oil and gas practice encompasses regulatory and general business advice, transactional work, administrative proceedings and litigation related to:

We have worked on numerous projects in the United States, particularly in the Rocky Mountain region, in Canada and in Latin America. These projects have involved:

mindfully.org note: The list of this firms effect on the environment is fairly obvious. It goes on .... and on... and on.

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