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October 6, 2026 at 7:00 pm
OREGON – Rep. Cliff Bentz is one of 17 congressional Republicans launching an investigation into over a dozen environmental groups, including two Oregon non-profits.
In a September press release, the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources criticized Oregon Wild and Cascadia Wildlands, along with 17 other organizations, stating that the “radical” environmental groups use “unscrupulous tactics to profit from taxpayer dollars.” Letters sent to the two organizations criticize them for bringing lawsuits under statutes that allow them to recoup legal fees, such as the Endangered Species Act, the Equal Access to Justice Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.
“The whole idea underlying the Access to Justice Act was to help people without money be able to bring these kinds of lawsuits. What’s happened is the exemption, if you will, for non-profit organizations, from the test to see if they have money, is allowing extremely wealthy organizations… to have the taxpayer pay for their litigation. And I don’t think that was the original concept,” said Bentz.
“Part of this exercise is to determine if that part of the law needs to be revised or not.”
The letters allege that these fee provisions allow the organizations to function as law firms funded by taxpayer dollars, stating that they employ, “a simple but lucrative profit model: sue to block federal actions in
friendly courts, collect taxpayer-funded attorney’s fees and costs whenever prevailing or able to settle in court, and fundraise on the back of courtroom victories.”
The committee has asked for the organizations to provide documentation and send representatives to Washington to testify at an in-person, transcribed interview.
The Communications Director for Oregon Wild, Arran Robertson, told NBC5 in an email that the organization would not be participating in interviews on the letter at this time. However, he also offered a counterpoint to the committee’s claims.
“The subject of these inquiries has been over fee recovery when we succeed in challenging illegal actions by the government (like illegal old-growth logging),” he wrote. “Oregon Wild has been the recipient of fee recovery only once in over a decade (in 2025) and in the last ten years fee recovery represents less than .3% of our total revenue.”
Bentz says this investigation is an attempt to make sure the law is working the way it should.
“Having a lid of some sort on the amount of attorney fees, a ceiling, would probably be worth a conversation,” he said. “Talking about whether organizations that are worth millions should still have access to the taxpayer’s reimbursement, that’s worth talking about.”
Cascadia Wildlands declined a request for comment.
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