While the US EPA and similar agencies in other countries have overall responsibility for environmental quality, is the solution to their inefficiency (or varying degrees of staff incompetence) to sue the agency?
No such agency exists or operates in isolation; there are always other factors in cases like these, such as improper political influences in relation to decision-making (
http://www.sustainabilityforum.com/f...erference.html)
Overall, a better approach may be to tackle the problem at its source, rather than increase pressure (and therefore bureaucratic obstacles) of the agency. But then again, there would be no "cash incentive awarded by the courts" to motivate any environmental group to try a more meaningful approach.
The institutional efficiency, effectiveness or decision-making integrity of the US EPA is not an issue that affects me personally, but on the other hand, much of their data publications and factsheets are very useful and convenient sources of information that can be used anywhere in the world (with due consideration to relevance, utility, etc). So it would be unfair to suggest that the US EPA does nothing of value...