The Availability of State Environmental Citizen Suits

May, James R. “The Availability of State Environmental Citizen Suits.” Natural Resources & Environment, vol. 18, no. 4, 2004, pp. 53–56. (forthcoming)

5 Pages Posted: 19 Dec 2024 Last revised: 3 Jan 2025

See all articles by James R. May

James R. May

Washburn University - Washburn University School of Law; Widener University Delaware Law School; Haub School of Law at Pace University

Date Written: November 10, 2004

Abstract

Citizen suits are not an exclusively federal phenomenon. Every state in the Union has enacted environmental laws. As a 1997 survey found, twenty-six states allow citizens to enforce state environmental laws ("state environmental citizen suits") in one way or another. See George, Snape, and Rodriguez, The Public in Action: Using State Citizen Suit Statutes to Protect Biodiversity,6 U. BALT. J. ENVTL. L. 1 (1997). Some of these statutes allow citizens generally to sue to enforce state environmental laws. Others allow citizens to enforce specific attributes of environmental media-specific statutes. This article examines the prevalence and limitations of state environmental citizen enforcement provisions in the context of compliance with environmental requirements. It observes that of the four legs of environmental enforcement-federal, state, federal citizen suits, and state citizen suits-the latter are the most underutilized. Nonetheless, owing to declines in federal and state governmental enforcement efforts, coupled with increasing statutory, constitutional, and practical challenges facing federal citizen suit litigation, the time may be ripe for the ascendancy of state environmental citizen suits.

Suggested Citation

May, James, The Availability of State Environmental Citizen Suits
(November 10, 2004). May, James R. “The Availability of State Environmental Citizen Suits.” Natural Resources & Environment, vol. 18, no. 4, 2004, pp. 53–56. (forthcoming), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5031954

James May (Contact Author)

Washburn University - Washburn University School of Law ( email )

1700 SW College Ave.
Topeka, KS 66621
United States

Widener University Delaware Law School ( email )

4601 Concord Pike
Wilmington, DE 19803-0406
United States

Haub School of Law at Pace University ( email )

78 N. Broadway
White Plains, NY 10603
United States

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