"The incoming Biden administration could not only resurrect a recently nixed environmental enforcement tool—but also wield it to fight climate change, former government officials say.

A memo from the Climate 21 Project—a initiative from more than 150 former officials identifying levers for climate action across the U.S. government—recommends the Justice Department reinstate supplemental environmental projects, or SEPs, a popular settlement option the Trump administration nixed in March.

The department could then “amplify the administration’s climate agenda by prioritizing cases with a climate nexus and negotiating supplemental climate projects in settlements,” the report says. Some outside lawyers have endorsed the recommendation."

Ellen M. Gilmer reports for Bloomberg Environment November 16, 2020. [2]