Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt issued a directive today to limit the extent to which EPA can reach legal agreements with groups suing to force it to take regulatory action, The Washington Post reports.
Ending the practice known as “sue and settle” has long been a top priority for conservatives and business groups. In recent years, especially under the Obama administration, the EPA and other agencies resolved litigation over delays in issuing rules by agreeing to specific timelines to act and reimbursing plaintiffs’ attorney fees.
In a news briefing, Pruitt says he is taking action to ensure that consent decrees “are not used in an abusive fashion to subvert due process” and to exclude the public from weighing in.
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