A lot of times, the EPA did not have any legal ground for pushing their policies but they had a lot of lawyers at their beck and call so they engaged in a practice known as Sue and Settle. They would overwhelm some poor farmer or land developer with a huge lawsuit and then proceed to settle out of court for a smaller sum of money - still huge but a lot smaller than their original lawsuit. The settlement was enough to cripple any development plans. Again, the EPA had no legal backing to dictate the terms of the development so they utalized this back-door to do it. This practice is evil and it has been stopped. From The Washington Times:
EPA to end Obama-era ‘sue and settle’ practice
The Trump administration on Monday took steps to end the highly controversial “sue and settle” practice that led directly to a host of environmental regulations throughout former President Obama’s tenure.
In an agency-wide directive, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said the process has “harmed the American public” and kept citizens in the dark about exactly how rules and regulations are made.
“The days of regulation through litigation are over,” Mr. Pruitt said in a statement. “We will no longer go behind closed doors and use consent decrees and settlement agreements to resolve lawsuits filed against the agency by special interest groups where doing so would circumvent the regulatory process set forth by Congress. Additionally, gone are the days of routinely paying tens of thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees to these groups with which we swiftly settle.”
Sue and settle, which became commonplace during Mr. Obama’s tenure as his EPA developed tight-knit relationships with top environmental groups, essentially is a way to circumvent the formal rulemaking procedures. Under the practice, sometimes called “friendly lawsuits,” an outside group would sue a department or agency — in this case, the EPA — and ask that certain regulatory steps be taken, or that entirely new regulations be put in place.
Emphases mine. Step by step, President Trump is undoing President Obama's "legacy"
Good - the sooner those harms are removed from our nation the better.
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