Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin is ending infamous “sue-and-settle” tactics where leftist nonprofits haul the agency before friendly federal judges who then force controversial policy decisions and award huge attorneys’ fees to the groups.

“Outside activist groups should not dictate EPA’s agenda or federal environmental policy. The Trump Administration is keenly aware of concerns with sue-and-settle practices and commits to not engage in them. The Trump EPA will respect the rule of law and the will of the American people in setting policy based on its statutory mandates and Gold Standard Science, not based on side deals with outside activist groups dead-set on driving up costs to Americans or advancing the interests of our foreign adversaries,” an EPA spokesman told Open the Books (OTB) last year.

Now, the Illinois-based nonprofit government spending transparency watchdog reveals in a new report that what the unnamed EPA spokesman said would happen has, in fact, taken place.

“New data indicates Zeldin has kept his word, as attorney fee payouts in 2025 for litigation under the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and Endangered Species Act (three of the most important laws under which most environmental litigation is filed) have been at their lowest level since 2013, when our records begin, at a little more than $510,000,” the OTB report said.

“The next lowest payout year for attorney fees was the first year of first Trump administration, in 2017 [with a $530,000 total]. While payments crept closer to $1 million in the next three years of the first Trump administration, Biden administration payouts were between $1.7 and $3.3 million,” the OTB report continued.

In fact, the 2025 figure represents the lowest annual total in sue-and-settlement spending by EPA since 2009, the first year of President Barack Obama’s White House tenure. The tactic was actively encouraged by Obama and his appointees to use consent decrees issued by the federal judiciary to force implementation of environmental policies that likely could not survive congressional consideration or the normal executive branch regulatory development and public comment processes.

The approach also provided elected officials to avoid accountability because the consent decrees came from judges instead of them, and, while the total amounts paid for attorneys’ fees is accessible to the public via federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, the line-item details of the fees are not, which means there is no way for taxpayers to determine if the fees charged were reasonable.

“Environmental groups brought at least 71 sue-and-settle lawsuits between 2009 and 2012. Thirty-four of those lawsuits were brought by the Sierra Club alone. They have resulted in over 100 new regulations from the EPA,” according to a 2013 Heritage Foundation compilation. An OTB study counted 78 during Obama’s second term for an eight-year total of 149.

“This system works nicely for government and special interests: Federal agencies appear forced into action by judicial fiat, but in fact the court’s order is more of a blessing to do what the special interests wanted to do in the first place but lacked the political means to do it,” the Heritage report continued. “But by not having the benefit of meaningful public scrutiny or stakeholder input, agencies develop new regulations that are poorly considered and lead to unnecessary costs imposed on the public and regulated communities.”

Prior to the 149 such actions during Obama’s presidency, there were only eight during President George W. Bush’s administration, seven during his father’s single term in the White House, and 15 during President Bill Clinton’s second term, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

Sue-and-settle payments skyrocketed during President Joe Biden’s tenure, thanks to rescission soon after he was sworn into office through a 2017 order by then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt that sharply reduced the opportunities for sue-and-settle litigation. Total attorney fees payouts during President Donald Trump’s first term came to $3.6 million. By only the second Biden year, payouts more than doubled to nearly $7 million and exceeded $11 million through the end of 2024.

The biggest winners during the Biden years were the Northwest Environmental Advocates, which got nearly $1.3 million, followed by the Sierra Club with more than $1.2 million, the Center for Biological Diversity with more than $1 million, and the Environmental Law and Policy Center with nearly $900,000.

"Under Administrator Zeldin, the EPA is making consistent moves to chip away at a costly regulatory regime that makes energy structurally unaffordable. Just like the carbon endangerment finding provided a rationale for exhaustive regulation, ‘sue and settle’ has been an open door for ideological groups to stifle innovation without waiting for Congress. Amid an affordability crisis and volatile energy markets, these are improvement that can benefit American households for decades to come,” OTB President John Hart told The Washington Stand.