The Trump administration’s latest attack on environmental regulations, despite its shaky legal basis, should not be taken lightly (“Musk and Trump target citizen suits amid pending cases,” Page A4, Aug. 9). Striking down the “citizen suit” provisions in the Clean Water Act would be another major setback for fighting pollution and another significant win for corporations, such as Elon Musk’s xAI, that are recklessly building data centers around the country.
In the United States it isn’t enough that an ecosystem has obviously been damaged to sue the responsible parties. Ecosystems have no standing. The government may choose not to intervene if it is politically sympathetic to the polluter. The citizen-suit mechanisms provided for in the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act have been the backstop that enables enforcement when the government has failed to act. A citizen suit, in which a plaintiff can demonstrate harm, is key to overcoming nature’s lack of legal standing.
In comparison with the other innumerable assaults on the climate and environment that this administration has made, the current threat to citizen suits may seem small. It’s not. Any policy that limits citizens’ ability to hold polluters and government agencies accountable in court is an attack on a fundamental check on government power and must be resisted.
Frederick Hewett
Cambridge