EPA to Curb Sue-and-Settle; Lawmakers Want Briefing on New Policy

For many years, environmental and other interest groups have filed lawsuits to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to conduct rulemakings on a variety of issues. During President Barack Obama's administration, his EPA faced sharp criticism for a seeming willingness to readily settle with those groups on such lawsuits, resulting in new rules being drafted. Now, the EPA reportedly is moving in a different direction. The chairmen of five different Congressional committees that conduct oversight of EPA last week asked new EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to schedule a briefing with the committees on the agency's new policy. According to the letter, Pruitt "sent out a directive across the agency" to "curtail the sue-and-settle policy." Farmers and agriculture interest groups across the country have raised concerns about a seemingly growing number of lawsuits filed by environmental groups aimed at agriculture and other industries during the Obama administration beginning in 2008. Environmentalists and others who have sued EPA do so based on the agency missing important deadlines -- primarily in the Clean Air Act.