Introduction: Environmental Regulation and the Constitution

• Author: Robin Kundis Craig
• Pages: 1-6

int rod uct ion

Environmental Regulation and the Constitution

This book is entitled the Clean Water Act and the Constitution, but, as its subtitle

indicates, it is also concerned with a more general inquiry into the place of envi-

ronmental “rights” in the U.S. constitutional system. The United States protects

its environment through a fairly comprehensive array of federal legislation—the

National Environmental Policy A ct (NEPA),1 the Clea n Air Act (CAA),2 the

Clean Water Act (CWA or the Act),3 the Resource Conservation and Recovery

Act (RCRA), which amended the Solid Waste Disposal Act,4 the Comprehensive

Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA),5 and many

others—and through the state laws that implement, extend, and supplement those

federal statutes. Congress enacted most of these statutes between the late 1960s

through the mid-1970s in a f‌lurry of enthusiasm to protect and improve the nation’s

environmental quality.

As a result of these statutory programs and their state counterparts, the United

States, for all of its remaining problems, enjoys some of the best environmental

quality of the industrialized nations. One need only attempt to breathe in Mexico

City or Beijing, or contemplate the near death of the Black Sea in Europe, to

appreciate environmental regulation in the United States. Decent environmental

quality produces numerous health benef‌its for the nation, including reductions in

asthma attacks, waterborne disease, and slow and acute poisonings and incidences

of cancer from chemical contamination of the water, air, and soil.

In addition, environmental regulation provides signif‌icant economic benef‌its to

the nation. The CAA, for example, is widely acknowledged to have produced health

benef‌its far exceeding the costs associated with air quality regulation.6 In addition,

the federal Off‌ice of Management and Budget (OMB) concluded in 2003 that

environmental regulation, regardless of medium, produces net economic benef‌its

1

1. 42 U.S.C. §§4321-4370d, ELR Stat. NEPA §§2-209.

2. Id. §§7401-7671q, ELR Stat. CAA §§101-618.

3. 33 U.S.C. §§1251-1387, ELR Stat. FWPCA §§101-607.

4. 42 U.S.C. §§6901-6992k, ELR Stat. RCRA §§1001-11011.

5. Id. §§9601-9675, ELR Stat. CERCLA §§101-405.

6. U.S. EPA, Executive Summary, Final Report to Congress on Benefits and Costs of the

Clean Air Act (1997) (EPA 410-R-97-002), available at http://www.epa.gov/oar/sect812/812exec2.

pdf.

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