The recent wave of citizen suits has prompted criticisms that many of the suits are unfounded, will not improve environmental compliance, and may improperly invade the prosecutorial power of the government. There are sound reasons why enforcement often is not pursued or is handled informally by the government; these factors frequently are not considered by citizen groups. The following are some observations from a defense perspective.

Several environmental statutes authorize citizens to file suits seeking compliance against companies allegedly in violation of a federal statute, regulation, or permit. The Clean Water Act¹ also allows citizens to seek the imposition of penalties and to recover attorneys fees.² Since the Clean Water Act requires permittees to monitor their effluents and report the results, the Act provides an ideal opportunity for citizen suit litigation. Since 1982, hundreds of citizen suits have been filed, and these suits may be changing the face of environmental enforcement. A number of the cases raise substantial issues.