The watchdog group Functional Government Initiative (FGI) has filed a transparency lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to determine whether President Joe Biden's brother, Frank Biden, has used inappropriate political pressure to advance environmental interests, said FGI spokesman Peter McGinnis.
Through the lawsuit, FGI is seeking withheld documents related to communications between Frank Biden and his colleagues at Berman Law Group pertaining to sugar cane field burning, according to a news release from FGI. Berman Law Group, where Frank Biden is a non-attorney senior advisor, has spearheaded a class-action lawsuit against Florida sugar cane growers. The lawsuit alleges that the practice of controlled burning of sugar cane fields during harvest is harmful to the health of people who live nearby.
“The combination of Berman Law Group’s class-action lawsuit and the administration’s environmental justice initiatives raise potential ethical concerns," McGinnis said. "We already know that Frank Biden invoked his relationship with his brother in an ad for his employer. Did he, his colleagues and their special interest allies do the same with any communications with regulators whose actions could impact their case? Is the DOJ getting in on the act by preparing to file litigation against the same sugar industry players at the center of Frank Biden’s class action effort? The withheld records could likely assist the public in assessing whether these concerns are warranted.”
Environmental activists are using sugar-cane burning to demand that the EPA lower the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), according to FGI, which said the standards are "already controversial."
Frank Biden's employer ran a newspaper ad on the day of his brother's inauguration, promoting the class-action lawsuit. FGI is questioning whether Frank Biden's promotion of his law firm and invocation of his family name indicates that additional communications may have taken place with federal regulators in order to promote the lawsuit, according to the FGI news release. If those communications did take place, FGI suggests the possibility that they may have put inappropriate political pressure on officials.
Environmental groups, like the Sierra Club, have voiced their support for the president's brother's work. FGI said that the EPA considering lowering NAAQS, while the Department of Justice (DOJ) simultaneously increases its focus on litigation against private sector entities over environmental practices raises concerns about whether Frank Biden's personal financial interests are influencing government policy. FGI said litigation is its only option to move forward with investigating these potential ethics concerns because the government has been unresponsive so far, the news release said.
