Federally required self-monitoring reports became the linchpin of citizen-suit enforcement

Evidence

The information disclosure model was further replicated in another important way throughout the various federal environmental pollution control laws Congress enacted during the 1970s. Virtually all of those laws depend for their enforcement on self-reporting by those subject to federal and state pollution control permits. By federal statute, one of the conditions in a permit issued by the EPA or by a state agency pursuant to a federally approved state program is that the permitee file publicly available self-monitoring reports on regulated emissions. These reports provide those seeking to ensure the permitee’s compliance with applicable requirements with an effective means of oversight and, if necessary, an evidentiary basis to bring an enforcement action. Indeed, the self-monitoring reports proved to be the linchpin of citizen suit enforcement under the federal environmental laws during the 1970s. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 399

Categorization

• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: The 1990 Clean Air Act amendments copied the Clean Water Act’s permit regime. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 768; SEC environmental-risk disclosure requirements remain largely unenforced and underutilized — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 822