So how do you stop it? These groups will continue to sue and activist judges will continue to rule in their favor. Is the EPA going to ignore court orders?
Sadly, I think we are too far down the road and this will have no effect.
Appeal, or go back to Congress and get a law written. Don't just roll over and wet yourself with fear every time you are sued. The EPA has government lawyers - use them.
The difference is that under Obama, the EPA wanted activist judges to require them to do things.
“These groups will continue to sue and activist judges will continue to rule in their favor. Is the EPA going to ignore court orders?”
The EPA would settle before a judge ruled.
I don’t think we should have ended it. We should have applied the same approach but with conservative groups. The coal industry sues to allow the use of coal, before it is ruled on, the EPA settles allowing the use of coal countrywide and they will donate $25M to the NRA.
There were no judicial rulings, other than rubber stamping the already agreed upon "settlement" between the activist groups and their friends the activist EPA.
Well, I think this is a good step, making sure everyone knows that they are going to end the practice. Then they need to have some real oversight and make sure that the hardcore lefties and the corrupticrats don’t continue to do it behind your back. Ultimately, it comes down to who holds the purse-strings and who writes the checks. You have to turn off the cash flow as much as possible.
No, what was happening in the past was the EPA would adopt rules/regulations that made the enrviro wackos happy by virtue of a court agreement- in violation of the APA( admin procedures act) which requires proposed regs/rules to be made public and a 90 or 120 day commentary/argument period after which the agency ( EPA in this case) would either adopt the rule or modify it etc.
Now, EPA will simply have to agree if they want, get the ruling done with, then follow the APA for adoption of rules as it always should have been. Agreeing with one party to an issue -(even if the agency settles and says uncle) does not make an agency act- at least not lawfully.
I doubt any judge would dictate what reg/rule must be created, only that the EPA must address an issue-due process is due process.
I think this is part of the reason that the entire agency should be shut down. They have used the agency as a leftist funding source. Put them all out of work.
Sadly, I think we are too far down the road and this will have no effect.
A great deal of the abuse involved a group filing a suit and then the EPA settled out of court and the judge issued an order based on that settlement. No review for compliance with law. Another part of the scam involved the group shopping for a sympathetic judge, obtaining a favorable ruling and the EPA declining to appeal to a higher court. In both cases, collusion between the EPA and environmental groups was required. That should be stopped by this action.
So how do you stop it? These groups will continue to sue and activist judges will continue to rule in their favor. Is the EPA going to ignore court orders?
They will at least to some extent have to apply the law. In the past the EPA would collude with the environmentalists to draw up an agreement which was inevitably favorable to the environmentalists paying them extravagant settlements and attorney fees. The judge would then just sign off on the agreement.