Acknowledgments
List of acronyms
1 How U.S. environmental law is really made
1.1 Most environmental law is made through agency rulemaking and guidance
1.2 Environmental federalism
1.3 Structures from administrative law
1.4 Cooperative federalism
1.5 Guidance
1.6 Regulatory swings
1.7 Agency deference
1.8 Regulatory power sharing
1.9 Additional resources
2 Recurrent themes in U.S. environmental law
2.1 The role of science/risk assessment
A. Risk assessment
B. Scientific measurement, modeling, and scale issues
C. Economics and benefit-cost analysis
2.2 Enforcement
2.3 Regulatory approaches: command-and-control vs. market mechanisms
2.4 Taking private property for public use without just compensation
2.5 Environmental justice
2.6 Competitiveness concerns
2.7 Additional resources
3 The Clean Air Act: successful but slow
3.1 Overview of lawmaking under the Clean Air Act
3.2 Cooperative federalism: NAAQS and SIPs
3.3 Fixing unintended consequences Part I: PSD
3.4 Fixing unintended consequences Part II: non-attainment
3.5 Direct federal regulation: NSPS and NESHAPs
3.6 Mobile sources and technology forcing
3.7 1990 CAA Amendments: regional approaches and technology-based regulation
3.8 Additional resources
4 Climate change: an “existential threat” not yet addressed
4.1 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Climate Change Science
4.2 Climate Change Law and Policy
4.3 Global policy framework
4.4 U.S. Climate Change Law and Policy
A. Obama Administration Domestic Climate Change Strategy
B. First Trump Administration Climate Change Legal Framework
C. Biden Climate Change Strategy
D. Climate Change Under the Second Trump Administration
4.5 Climate change Leadership at the State, Local, and Corporate Levels
4.6 Climate Change Litigation Against Private Parties
4.7 Additional resources
5 Clean Water Act: major progress but persistent challenges
5.1 The Clean Water Act of 1972
5.2 Scope of national government Clean Water Act authority
5.3 Wetlands protection
5.4 Effluent limitations
5.5 Pretreatment
5.6 NPDES permits
5.7 General permits
5.8 Regulation of non-point sources
5.9 Oil Pollution
5.10 Coastal Zone Management Act
5.11 State land use controls
5.12 Additional resources
6 Safe Drinking Water Act: once seen as a problem solved, but now new worries
6.1 SDWA basic requirements
6.2 Regulation of underground injection wells
6.3 Does fracking contaminate drinking water?
6.4 Results and continuing challenges
6.5 Flint water crisis
6.6 PFAS: an emerging issue
6.7 Bottled water issues
6.8 Drinking water safety in perspective
6.9 Additional resources
7 Hazardous waste: cradle-to-grave regulation; solid waste, not so much
7.1 Preventing future Superfund sites
7.2 Hazardous and solid waste definitions
7.3 Regulated Entities
7.4 The cradle-to-grave manifest system
7.5 Land disposal restrictions (LDR) program
7.6 RCRA corrective action
7.7 Imminent hazards and knowing endangerment
7.8 RCRA Subtitle C Cooperative Federalism
7.9 RCRA Subtitle D—Solid Waste
7.10 International hazardous waste regulation: Basel Convention and OECD
7.11 Additional resources
8 Hazardous substance cleanup under CERCLA: extreme measures in the wake of a crisis
8.1 Cleaning up historic hazardous waste sites
8.2 CERCLA’s goals
8.3 CERCLA’s liability structure
8.4 Superfund clean-ups
8.5 Liability refinement and reforms
8.6 Natural Resource Damages
8.7 Additional resources
9 Regulation of chemicals: from toxic substance control to chemical safety
9.1 New chemical regulation under TSCA
9.2 Existing chemical regulation under Original TSCA
9.3 The 2016 Lautenberg Reforms
9.4 Status of Review of Existing Chemicals
9.5 Risk Evaluation Process
9.6 Preemption of State Regulation
9.7 The road not taken: REACH and harmonization
9.8 Additional resources
10 FIFRA: from misbranding to reasonable certainty of no harm
10.1 Pesticidal claims trigger FIFRA regulation
10.2 How EPA regulates pesticides
10.3 Evaluating FIFRA
10.4 Additional resources
11 Occupational Safety and Health Act: making environments safe on the job
11.1 Additional resources
12 OPA90: why economic incentives only work sometimes
12.1 Preventing oil spills
12.2 A true success story
12.3 Incentives to compensate victims
12.4 Why economic incentives don’t always work
12.5 Additional resources
13 From protecting endangered species to promoting biodiversity and healthy ecosystems
13.1 How the ESA protects species
13.2 Enforcement mechanisms
13.3 Section 7 consultations
13.4 Section 9 take prohibition
13.5 ESA controversies
13.6 Evaluating the ESA
13.7 Biodiversity as a critical policy focus
13.8 Private initiatives to preserve species
13.9 Recent ESA policy changes
13.10 International efforts to protect species and promote biodiversity
A. CITES Convention
B. Convention on Biological Diversity
13.11 Additional resources
14 National parks and wilderness preservation: “America’s best idea”
14.1 Preserving wilderness
14.2 The Roadless Rule
14.3 Private preservation
14.4 Wild and scenic rivers
14.5 Additional resources
15 NEPA and information disclosure: techniques copied around the world
15.1 NEPA: National Policy and Environmental Impact Assessment
15.2 Toxic Release Inventory
15.3 California’s Proposition 65
15.4 Disclosure strategies for the information age
15.5 Additional resources
16 Beyond traditional environmental governance: corporate sustainability, performance benchmarking, private standard setting, and public–private partnerships
16.1 Drivers of private environmental initiatives
16.2 Incentives created by government
16.3 Business strategy logic for corporate sustainability
A. Risk reduction and cost savings
B. Stakeholder engagement
C. Green consumers
D. Employee recruitment and retention
E. Communities
F. Sustainability-minded investors
16.4 Non-governmental organizations
16.5 Beyond hard law and regulation
16.6 Additional resources
17 Conclusion: the best and the worst
17.1 Additional resources
Appendix: key Supreme Court environmental cases
Index