As the article says, nothing new. In fact, if the Sierra Club files a suit and loses, the government STILL has to pay the legal fees of the Sierra Club.
The Dems were VERY SMART when they wrote their environmental laws, and then got it signed in by two IDIOT presidents (Nixon and Bush-41). They knew that future administrations would realize just how destructive the laws were and that future administrations (both Democrat and Republican) would try to work around it. So they enabled suing, made it easy, and thus we wound up with JUDGES running environmental policy (i.e., Spotted Oil, Delta Smelt, Snail Darter, not to mention anti-pollution stuff).
In fact, Bush-41 added to the landmark 1970 laws that Nixon
signed in, with even worse laws. They were so bad that Quayle had to spend the last 18 months of his term as Vice President trying to figure out how to work around those same laws...as the had frozen (along with Bush’s re-election hopes).
One of the worst laws is the Endangered Species Act. It actually invites people to sue the government. Many groups have abused this law at a cost of many billions of dollars. It was passed in 1973.