{"id":1996743,"date":"2023-08-10T14:44:04","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T18:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-epa-taxpayer-settlement-payouts-quietly-soar-to-left-wing-climate-activists\/"},"modified":"2023-08-10T14:46:58","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T18:46:58","slug":"biden-epa-taxpayer-settlement-payouts-quietly-soar-to-left-wing-climate-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-epa-taxpayer-settlement-payouts-quietly-soar-to-left-wing-climate-activists\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden&#8217;s EPA quietly increases taxpayer settlement payouts to left-wing climate activists."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-epa-taxpayer-settlement-payouts-quietly-soar-to-left-wing-climate-activists%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1996743&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>EXCLUSIVE: Biden&#8217;s EPA\u2063 Pays Double \u200bthe Amount to \u200cLiberal Climate Activists Compared to Trump<\/h2>\n<p>The Environmental Protection Agency\u2062 (EPA) under President Joe\u2063 Biden has \u2064quietly \u2064funneled over double\u2062 the amount of taxpayer-backed payouts to liberal climate activists and other groups compared to President Donald Trump&#8217;s four-year term. This \u2062revelation, uncovered through the Freedom of Information Act by federal spending watchdog \u2064Open the Books, highlights the growing \u2062influence of liberal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/two-more-states-follow-californias-ban-on-new-gas-cars\/\" title=\"Two More States Follow California\u2019s Ban On New Gas Cars\">climate advocacy groups<\/a> and their close ties to the\u2064 government \u200dunder the Biden administration.<\/p>\n<p>During Trump&#8217;s presidency, then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt issued a memo vowing\u200c to end the controversial practice of\u200d &#8220;sue and settle,&#8221; which allowed groups to \u2063challenge the government on aligned issues, leading to agencies approving rules without congressional approval. However, the Biden EPA, which revoked the memo, has spent a staggering $6.9 \u2062million\u2063 in\u200b 2021 and 2022 on attorneys fees for settlements with environmental groups under the\u200b Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. In comparison, the payouts were\u2064 $3.6\u200c million for Trump and $5.7 million for Barack\u2062 Obama&#8217;s second term.<\/p>\n<h3>Concerns Over Lack of Transparency<\/h3>\n<p>Congressional Republicans, including members of the House Oversight \u200dCommittee, have raised concerns about the\u200d EPA and Interior Department&#8217;s practice of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-epa-taxpayer-settlement-payouts-quietly-soar-to-left-wing-climate-activists\/\" title=\"Biden's EPA quietly increases taxpayer settlement payouts to left-wing climate activists.\">allowing special interest groups<\/a> to &#8220;sue \u200band settle&#8221; without public input. They have requested extensive documents \u2062on litigation. The \u2062EPA maintains a database on its website\u2064 that lists settlements, \u2063including \u200dconsent decrees, with various outside organizations.<\/p>\n<p>According to the data shared with the Washington Examiner, the EPA paid over $3.6 \u200cmillion in attorneys fees in \u200d2022 and $3.2 million in 2021 \u200bfor lawsuits related\u2062 to the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. These acts grant the EPA the power to regulate \u200cpollutants\u2064 and protect endangered\u2064 species. Notably, the EPA reached the same number of settlements\u2063 related\u200c to \u200cthese acts in just two years under Biden as Trump did in four years.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sue-and-settle \u200btactics are back under President Biden,&#8221; said Adam Andrzejewski, CEO of Open the Books. &#8220;Congress should\u200d require radical transparency on these cases to\u200c ensure taxpayers are not being ripped off.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Influence of Climate Advocacy Groups<\/h3>\n<p>The data also reveals the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-student-loan-repayment-plan-will-cost-nearly-500-billion-report\/\" title=\"Report: Biden's student loan repayment plan to cost around 0B.\">significant financial\u200d impact<\/a> of climate \u2064advocacy groups\u2062 like the Sierra Club and Northwest Environmental Advocates. Between 2013 and 2022, the \u200cEPA spent $2.9 million on fees for 47 cases related to the Sierra\u2063 Club. \u200dThe Sierra Club,\u2062 which endorsed Biden for president, has\u200d also contributed over $250,000 to Democratic candidates in 2022 and \u200c$389,000 in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, cases brought by Northwest Environmental Advocates cost taxpayers $1.3 million in attorneys fees\u2064 between 2013 and 2021. The group received\u2063 over \u200d$1.2 \u2064million in 2021 alone for two different cases.<\/p>\n<h3>Criticism and Calls for Transparency<\/h3>\n<p>The EPA&#8217;s practice of &#8220;sue and settle&#8221;\u200d has drawn criticism from conservatives who argue that it hinders economic activity and benefits special interest groups. Kathleen Sgamma, president of Western Energy Alliance, described it as a &#8220;racket.&#8221; Republicans in the Senate and\u200c House have \u200dintroduced legislation to increase transparency for consent decrees and settlement cases, requiring agencies to\u2064 submit annual reports to Congress detailing the funds spent on these cases.<\/p>\n<p>As \u2062the debate over the EPA&#8217;s\u2064 relationship with climate advocacy groups continues, it remains crucial to ensure transparency and\u200d accountability in\u200b taxpayer-funded settlements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Joe Biden&#8217;s initial two years as president, the Environmental Protection Agency has discreetly directed more than twice the taxpayer-funded payments to liberal climate activists and other organizations compared to Donald Trump&#8217;s entire four-year term. Scott Pruitt, the former EPA Administrator under Trump, aimed to halt the practice of &#8220;sue and settle&#8221; through a 2017 memo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1996744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1996743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1996743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1996744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1996743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1996743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1996743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}