Sue, Settle, and Shut Out the States: Destroying the Environmental Benefits of Cooperative Federalism
51 Pages Posted: 22 Oct 2013 Last revised: 15 Jun 2014
Date Written: October 21, 2013
Abstract
Federal environmental policy has long relied on the states to assist in the development and implementation of environmental regulations. Under this “cooperative federalism,” states not only administer federal rules but also receive flexibility in setting standards and enforcement priorities. In recent years, environmental advocacy groups have increasingly succeeded in using a faux litigation strategy to effectively trample the statutory regulatory framework and to shut out the states from important policy decisions. As explained below, this policy-making process - called “sue-and-settle” or “suit-and-settlement” - not only violates the statutory framework, but also leads to haphazard policy making that should violate the standards of any serious policy analyst.
Keywords: administrative law, consent decrees, collusion, decentralization, Defenders of Wildlife v. Perciasepe, EME Homer City Generation, environment, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, federal implementation plan, FRCP Rule 24, non-adversarial, reform, regulatory process, rulemaking, state intervention
JEL Classification: H11, H77, K23, K32, K41, L51, Q28
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation