Sue And Settle Another Way For Greens To Halt Progress

[Geee]

Investors Business Daily:

If you've never heard of the litigation technique "sue and settle," it's the hottest new strategy for extreme environmentalists to make millions of acres of prime land for ranching, farming, oil and gas drilling, and mining of natural resources off limits for development.

 

Sue and settle involves a stealth partnership between anti-development Obama administration regulators at the Environmental Protection Agency or the Interior Department and litigious green groups — including Greenpeace, Defenders of Wildlife, WildEarth Guardians and the Sierra Club — who want to halt fossil fuel development and other projects on federal and even private lands.

 

The racket is working all too well. Green groups sue the administration to act — to add a species to the endangered list, for example. The Obama administration bypasses normal science reviews and open hearings and caves in to the demands of the green agitators.

 

There have been some 40 sue and settle cases in the last two years. In many, the regulators invite lawsuits so they have an excuse to act. To add insult to injury, these suits are often initiated by one-time regulators who've crossed through the regulatory revolving door to work for the environmental groups who bring the complaints against their former employers.

 

Dozens of obscure species have made the endangered list — meaning their habitat is protected from development — with potentially more than 200 others to be listed within months.

[Cyber_Liberty]

So, the greenies sue Obama, and his EPA settles by crushing businesses. Oklahoma and others have a suit that says this:

 

The lawsuit claims that the binding consent decrees between green groups and federal regulators are illegal because they don't let states or businesses defend themselves in an open hearing process.

It's pretty easy to see how a Clinton or Obama Judge will handle this: "No Standing." The suits are between the greenies and the Executive branch, so tough noogies, states.