Citizen lawsuits are usually filed under the Clean Air Act because the Environmental Protection Agency has missed a deadline under the statute and the vast majority of the cases are properly pleaded, a senior Justice Department official told an air conference. Eric Hostetler, a DOJ trial attorney who has defended several high-profile EPA regulations in court, said April 12 that "99 percent" of citizen suits received by Justice Department involve EPA missing a nondiscretionary deadline or unreasonably delaying an action under the Clean Air Act and said more than 80 percent of them are properly pleaded.
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