Sue and Settle Updated: Damage Done 2013-2016 updates the Chamber’s 2013 report, Sue and Settle: Regulating Behind Closed Doors. The study found that EPA increased its use of sue and settle agreements under the Clean Air Act since the last report.
The EPA entered into 77 Clean Air Act consent decrees between 2013-2016 compared to 60 between 2009-2012. The sue and settle tactic allowed activist groups without meaningful public participation to reprioritize agency agendas and resources which in turn led to rules costing the economy billions of dollars annually.
Additionally, sue and settle agreements have increasingly been the root of federal rules that encroach on state and local level environmental decision making.
