The political debate over environmental policy has never been as
contentious or rancorous as it is today. In Washington the new Congress is
moving swiftly to roll back twenty-five years of environmental legislation and
regulation. Less noticed by the national media, but perhaps of even greater
significance, are moves toward environmental deregulation underway in statehouses
across the country.
Driving these efforts is the widely held belief that three decades of
creeping environmental controls has strangled the economy and undermined
economic competitiveness. Still reeling from the recession of the early 1990s
many state governments hope that untying the environmental regulatory knot will
unleash a new burst of economic growth.