DOJ Narrows Use Of SEPs In Municipal Settlements, Eyes Further Limits

摘要

The Justice Department (DOJ) is further scaling back use of supplemental environmental projects (SEPs) in settlements with local government agencies, and signaling possible additional limits in the future, measures that are likely to draw opposition from municipal groups, who favor SEPs in consent decrees to mitigate penalties. In an Aug. 21 memo, Assistant Attorney General for Environment and Natural Resources Jeffrey Bossert Clark rejected claims that a 2018 water infrastructure law allows the use of SEPs and renewed prior requirements that settlements that include SEPs must win top-level approval.