Thank you, U.S. 10th District Court of Appeals
As most will have noticed, on July 19th the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on the most recent legal attempt to block further development of the Refuge. A useful overview may be found in this news article. As noted there,
“It seems like you’re trying to relitigate something that happened 15 years ago,” Matheson [one of the judges] said.
This is the latest (and we may hope, the last) legal appeal to block completion of trails inside and linkages to the Rocky Mountain Greenway Trail, and the building of a ‘visitor center’ (officially now called a multipurpose facility). The appeal was made by the usual loose confederation, referred to as the ‘Center’ in court filings: LeRoy Moore’s Rocky Mountain Peace & Justice Center, Candelas Glows/Rocky Flats, Rocky Flats Right to Know, Rocky Flats Neighborhood Association, and the Environmental Network (EIN), Inc. The basis for the appeal was a grab-bag of procedural objections and declarations [written statements which the witness states to be true under penalty of perjury].
Ironically, Jon Lipsky (nominally affiliated with the P&J Center) appears to be the only appellant with actual standing–a redressable injury–since he “conduct[s] business in the immediate area of the [Refuge],” “visit[s] just outside the perimeter of the [Refuge] . . . about once per month,” and “plan[s] to continue this schedule in the future”, and is impacted by changes in the map. Who knew?
“For standing, the Center relies on Randal[l] Stafford’s interest in the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse… His interest is insufficient to confer standing.
… Mr. Stafford stated that he has “a personal interest in the protection and conservation of . . . the threatened Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse.” … “Although he said he would “find [it] interesting” to see the Preble’s mouse jump, he conceded he had never looked for, seen, or seriously studied the Preble’s mouse.. He also admitted he “probably would not visit [the Refuge] just to see the Preble’s . . . mouse.”
Dale Simpson’s Rocky Flats Neighborhood Association was incorporated as an LLC in 2017, with the trademark Rocky Flats Neighbors as of late September 2018, with a declared business of sale of clothing and accessories. How’s that going, Dale? His entity is known to the state of Colorado as RFNA, Delinquent October 1, 2020. Remarkably, Buzzfile.com shows its website as www.rockyflatsdownwinders.com, rather than Mr. Simpson’s own rockyflatsneighbors.com. Buzzfile remarks,”Rocky Flats Neighborhood Association is estimated to generate $93,184 in annual revenues, and employs approximately 5 people at this single location.” Who knew that, either?
Any upstanding citizen is thus now free to trademark the phrase “Rocky Flats Neighbors”. It would be wise for anti-Refuge suit filers to verify the legal status of their confederation members.
The Court went on to remark,
…”much of the testimony the Center solicited was speculative, and the district court was within its discretion to decline to consider it… The other testimony fares no better…. The Center contends the prairie dogs would disturb and expose contaminated Refuge soil. This memorandum is speculative and lacks any connection to the challenged agency action.”
In my opinion, the Court’s ruling amounts to a written spanking of the Peace and Justice Center. It’s too bad that recent legal opinions are restricted to case law, rather than scientific data or the testimony of competent experts. Had it been the latter, Peace and Justice would have been steadily paying punitive damages for frivolous lawsuits for the last 10 years.