EPA Rule Deadline Tracking System May Help Avoid 'Sue-And-Settle' Rules

摘要

EPA is creating a system to track all its statutory rulemaking deadlines to support its goal of meeting every binding deadline by 2022, a goal that could help the agency avoid "sue and settle" agreements imposing new deadlines for agency action but one that EPA's Chief of Operations Henry Darwin acknowledges is a "heavy lift."In recent remarks to state regulator and industry conferences, Darwin has touted EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's focus on bolstering use of Lean management systems to speed agency processes and decisionmaking.And last week, Darwin told the Croplife America & Rise Regulatory Conference in Arlington. VA, that EPA is failing to keep up with the pace of private sector innovation, and that the agency's pesticide registration process should not significantly delay getting newer, often safer and more effective products to market."We take months, years, and sometimes even decades to evaluate the safety of new chemicals or a new technology and that simply isn't going to cut it," he told the pesticide producers conference. "The federal government cannot be a drag on the fine work you're doing."