THE POLITICS OF FEDERAL-STATE RELATIONS - THE CASE OF SURFACE MINING REGULATIONS

The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) of 1977(1) created a framework for a national regulatory program to prevent significant environmental damage from surface coal mining. The significant regional variations in the impacts of surface mining made federal-state partnership necessary. The major political issue throughout these years has been the appropriate role of the federal and state governments in regulating surface coal mining. The conflicting interests and intense battles of the coal industry, states, environmentalists, and federal officials are discussed and presented. The paper argues that fundamental conflicts of interest, such as, in this case, the substantial adverse economic impact of the Act on the coal industry vs. the deeply held environmental ethics of environmentalists vs. the states' interest in autonomy, are not likely to be settled by a policy enactment. Conflicts in federal-state relations arise as the battle over more fundamental economic and ideological conflicts among surface mining interests is fought.