Intergovernmental relations and federalism in environmental management and policy: The role of the courts

Recently, the executive and legislative branches of the federal government have been engaged in a great debate about the appropriate additional degrees of responsibility to accord state and local government in the area of environmental regulation. Less attention has been focused on the impact of the federal courts on federalism and environmental policy. In assessing key cases in several areas of environmental policy Wise and O'Leary find that the courts have bean pointing in many directions at once and are sending few clear signals concerning who is to take responsibility for environmental management. In analyzing the circumstances that do matter to the courts, they find that the signals the federal courts are sending do not support a national policy emphasizing state empowerment in environmental policy.