In the Sierra Foothills in northeastern California lies the little town of Colfax, population 1,800, with a median household income of about $35,000. 

Over the past several years, this little town has been utterly plundered by regulatory and litigatory excesses that have pushed the town to the edge of bankruptcy and ravaged families already struggling to make ends meet.

Colfax operates a small wastewater treatment plant for its residents that discharges into the Smuthers Ravine.  Because it does so, it operates within the provisions of the Clean Water Act, a measure adopted in 1972 and rooted in legitimate concerns to protect our vital water resources. 

The problem is that predatory environmental law firms have discovered how to take unconscionable advantage of that law to reap windfall profits at the expense of working-class families like the townspeople of Colfax.

In the case of Colfax, an environmental law firm demanded every document pertaining to the water treatment plant from the date of its inception.  It then poured over those documents looking for any possible violation - including mere paperwork errors.  By law, those documents include self-monitoring reports by the water agency itself, and any violation, no matter how minor, establishes a cause of action for which the law provides for no affirmative defense - even if the violation is due to factors completely outside of the local community's control, including acts of God or acts by unrelated and uncontrollable third parties. 

Prove one such violation - and remember, the law allows for no affirmative defense - and you have just guaranteed the attorneys all of their fees, which in this case were billed at $550 per hour.

As a result of this predatory activity, the town of Colfax is facing legal fees alone that exceed the town's entire annual budget.  Families that are struggling just to keep afloat are fleeced by attorneys charging $550 per hour. 

But that's just part of the problem. 

Read Tom's full floor speech here.