By GREG WALCHER
House Republicans were so upset that they held two committee hearings during 2023, and in November the Committee on Oversight and Accountability announced that it will investigate EPA’s “use of secretive ‘sue-and-settle’ practices.” The Chairman says EPA uses the tactic “to avoid congressional oversight” and implement policies that special interests want.
Letting outside groups sue the government to compel enforcement actions dates from the Nixon years, and during the Reagan era became a favorite tactic of the environmental industry.
During the Clinton Administration several agencies discovered they could make secret back-room deals, using outside groups to file “friendly lawsuits” demanding they do what they wanted to do anyway, thereby short-circuiting all sorts of administrative hurdles. Convincing friendly groups to litigate was easy – the government would agree to pay their legal fees as part of the settlement. The result would be a court “consent decree,” its details and costs often sealed from prying eyes.