"The Justice Department’s environment division is poised to ramp up pollution policing and sideline Trump-era policies when President-elect Joe Biden takes office in January—joining agencies across the executive branch in making a sharp turn to the left.

New political leaders in the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) will move swiftly to set more robust enforcement priorities and nix recent directives that constrain settlements, environmental lawyers told Bloomberg Law. Early plans from the Biden campaign also hint at an ambitious buildout of environmental and climate justice work.

“I’m cautiously optimistic we’ll see a real change at DOJ,” said University of Arizona law professor Justin Pidot, a former Justice Department attorney who also worked at the Interior Department during the Obama administration."

Ellen M. Gilmer reports for Bloomberg Environment November 9, 2020. [2]