Box 2

Four Main Ways of Private Enforcement

Under the typical regimen, private groups can use private enforcement actions to pursue better environmental quality in four main ways:

By using polluters to recover monetary damages inflicted on them by the pollution (for the purpose of this paper called “civil liability actions”);

By the enforcer’s lodging a complaint with a designated public authority (called “complaint actions”);

By bringing a legal action against a public authority entrusted with responsibility for implementing the laws to force compliance with legislative or constitutional requirements (called “oversight actions”);

By bringing actions against polluters for the purpose of bringing them into compliance with the law (called “direct citizen suits”).

These last two categories of enforcement action may include seeking an injunction, i.e., requiring a party to refrain from doing or continuing to do a particular act or activity. Injunctive remedies are preventive measures that guard against future injuries rather than afford a remedy for past injuries.