ABSTRACT
Actions to enjoin environmental harm and enforce civil penalties, and sometimes to recover remedial costs, commonly called "citizen suits", may be permitted under certain federal or state statutes. The citizen suit complainant must demonstrate "standing" to bring the action. Standing in citizen suits has been liberally construed due to the general terms employed by the statutes. Citizen suit provisions provided for by federal statute confer federal question jurisdiction on actions where citizens allege violations of the statute. As traditional barriers to jurisdiction, such as amount in controversy and citizenship, are not included in citizen-suit provisions, defendants in a citizen suit claim will often vigorously attack the petitioner's satisfaction of procedural requirements. An additional prerequisite to private prosecution of a statutory claim under a citizen suit provision is that at the time of filing the complaint there is no government authority "diligently prosecuting" the alleged violation in a court of the US
