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Abstract
December 12, 2017 The Department of Justice (DOJ) is asking a federal court to enter a revised Clean Air Act consent decree with Harley Davidson that drops a requirement that the company finance a mitigation project to replace old wood stoves in New England, following through on a policy by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to block such third-party payments. DOJ filed a Dec. 11 motion asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to enter the revised consent decree in the case United States v. Harley Davidson, et al, marking what is likely one of the first efforts by the administration to implement the policy. Sessions' June memo barred monetary payments to third parties as part of civil settlements, raising concerns that could "cripple" the use of popular SEPs that have been part of such deals for 40 years and provide additional benefits beyond directly cleaning up pollution at issue in enforcement actions, environmentalists and industry attorneys say.