An under-reported outrage of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) going back to the 90s was its quiet policy of actually encouraging and assisting environmental lawsuits against the government. Known as “sue and settle,” cases, the EPA actually crafted regulations and policies behind closed doors with environmental groups, then “settled” with these same groups, outside of view of the public or the groups or businesses forced to bear the costs of these regulations.

Given the fact that there has long been a revolving door between EPA staff and environmental groups, these acts of collusion hardly comes as a surprise. It’s also no surprise that these sort of arrangements have inspired others, who are supposed to be working on behalf of the public they represent, to secretly tend to the bidding of environmental interests behind closed doors.

This month in Martin County Florida, a prominent Florida environmental activist was found liable for illegally interfering with a private party’s land use contract, using false allegations to convince three county commissioners to interfere with a project that was lawfully permitted by the state. The commissioners themselves have also been criminally charged with breaking public records laws.

It took six jurors only 90 minutes to find Martin County Board of Commissioner Martha  Hurchalla liable to the tune of $4.3 million for falsely claiming that Lake Point Restoration was destroying wetlands, a claim that was proven false in court. Through court proceedings it was found that Hurchalla communicated in secret with the commissioners, at one point telling them, “Don’t worry about the environment. Don’t worry about the money, just shut it down.”

The “it” in this instance was a rock mine and water preservation project, the pilot program for which had exceeded expectations, according to court testimony. Further, far from destroying wetlands, Lake Point Restoration had actually preserved and enhanced 10 separate wetlands areas.

Unfortunately, with the rabid “the ends justify the means” mentality of many environmentalists and their acolytes serving in public office, we will likely see more cases of abuse of the public trust on all levels of government. Right now Florida has a mess to clean up, and it isn’t a wetland.

**UPDATE** – Just this week, on February 28th, a Martin County, FL court ruled that Hurchalla’s attorneys filed a “frivolous” claim to delay a final judgment on the jury award of $4.3 million against her.