lax

Among the largest beneficiaries of the state’s lax permitting system was an oil company called Endeavor Energy Resources.

In many of those cases, there was at least a provision of the federal Clean Air Act allowing suits against the EPA administrator for lax policing, Nolette said.

The move comes after an inquest into four deaths caused by drivers with failing eyesight saw a coroner call the UK's licensing system the "laxest in Europe".

More than two decades ago the country experienced what author Helen Gordon described as a "Saharan gold rush", fuelled in part by laxer regulations and a more stable political environment than some of its neighbours.

Among the international community, there are fears that lax oversight may help criminals get through their borders.