| Abstract: | This article examines several recent trends in environmentalpolicy that may have important effects over the next decadeon federal-state relations and on the nation's environmentalquality. It focuses on the Environmental Protection Agency'sefforts to "reinvent" environmental regulation and to encouragecommunity-based environmental protection as a more effectiveand acceptable approach to environmental policy. We considerthe extent to which these new directions are likely to improverelations between the federal government and states, localities,and the private sector, and to achieve desired levels of environmentalprotection in the United States. The new approaches are highlypromising; yet they also face significant barriers to implementation.Congressional reform of the key statutes could lend much-neededsupport to such efforts. |
