Judging the Imponderables of Environmental Policy
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Description
This essay will examine court decisions reviewing the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s implementation of the clean Air Act as an occasion for exploring some more general issues of environmental policy and the role of the courts in their resolution. The first section of this essay reviews the relevant objectives of environmental policy. Next, Congress’ disposition of these objectives in the Clean Air Act is examined, with particular emphasis on its efforts narrowly to constrain administrative discretion in implementing environmental policy. The third section of the essay traces the course of judicial review under the Clean Air Act. The allocation of responsibility among Congress, court, and agency and the courts’ “quasi-constitutional” role in environmental policy are discussed. The concluding section evaluates, in the context of environmental policy, the role of reviewing courts in a mixed economy in which administrative agencies play a major role.
Source Publication
Approaches to Controlling Air Pollution
Source Editors/Authors
Ann Fetter Friedlaender
Publication Date
1978
Recommended Citation
Stewart, Richard B., "Judging the Imponderables of Environmental Policy" (1978). Faculty Chapters. 1713.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/1713
