Cite as: 523 U. S. 83 (1998)
Stevens, J., concurring in judgment
Congress gave enforcement power to state and local governments. 42 U. S. C. § 11046(a)(2). Under the Court's reasoning, however, state and local governments would not have standing to sue for past violations, as a payment to the Treasury would no more "redress" the injury of these governments than it would redress respondent's injury. This would be true even if Congress explicitly granted state and local governments this power. Such a conclusion is unprecedented.
It could be argued that the Court's decision is rooted in another separation-of-powers concern: that this citizen suit somehow interferes with the Executive's power to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed," Art. II, § 3. It is hard to see, however, how EPCRA's citizen-suit provision impinges on the power of the Executive. As an initial matter, this is not a case in which respondent merely possesses the " 'undifferentiated public interest' " in seeing EPCRA enforced. Ante, at 106; see also Lujan v. Defenders of Wild-life, 504 U. S., at 577. Here, respondent—whose members live near Steel Company—has alleged a sufficiently particularized injury under our precedents. App. 5 (complaint alleges that respondent's members "reside, own property, engage in recreational activities, breathe the air, and/or use areas near [Steel Company's] facility").
Moreover, under the Court's own reasoning, respondent would have had standing if Congress had authorized some payment to respondent. Ante, at 106 ("[T]he civil penalties authorized by the statute . . . might be viewed as a sort of compensation or redress to respondent if they were payable to respondent"). This conclusion is unexceptional given that respondent has a more particularized interest than a plaintiff in a qui tam suit, an action that is deeply rooted in our history. United States ex rel. Marcus v. Hess, 317 U. S. 537, 541, n. 4 (1943) (" 'Statutes providing for actions by a common informer, who himself has no interest whatever in the controversy other than that given by statute, have been in
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