Trump wants the power to stop the public from suing polluters
Summary
The U.S. government has allowed citizens to sue polluters when the government doesn’t act, through “citizen suit provisions” in environmental laws like the Clean Water Act. Now, the Trump administration wants to stop people from suing polluters and says only the government should enforce these laws.Key Facts
- Environmental laws since the 1970s include “citizen suit provisions” that let regular people sue companies or agencies violating pollution rules.
- These citizen suits have triggered over 2,000 lawsuits and are important for stopping pollution and protecting wildlife.
- Citizens must notify the polluter and the EPA before suing and can only sue if the government hasn’t already taken enforcement action.
- Citizen suits can stop harmful activities, recover cleanup costs, and fine polluters.
- The Clean Water Act is the most common law used for citizen suits because just dumping pollution without a permit is against the law.
- Examples include a 2017 case where a Texas shrimper sued a plastics company, which settled for $50 million to clean pollution.
- In 2023, environmental groups sued a packaging company over plastic pellet pollution; the company settled for $2.5 million and agreed to install filters.
- The Trump administration’s recent legal position challenges the ability of citizens to sue and wants enforcement to be done only by the government.
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