Understanding Environmental Administration and Law

Book excerpt: More than any other field of public administration, environmental administration is defined by its legal content. Federal legislation has a direct and immediate impact on state and federal bureaucrats, and citizen groups must constantly adjust to changing standards for environmental protection and regulation. In Understanding Environmental Administration and Law, Susan J. Buck examines the use of environmental law by exploring the policy process through which such law is made, the political environment in which it is applied, and the statutory and case laws that are critical to working within the regulatory system. The book provides an analytic framework for the legal context of environmental administration and familiarizes readers with the development and implementation of the federal regulatory structure. First published in 1991, this revised and expanded edition includes new material on: the continuing evolution of environmentalism in the United States federalism and bureaucratic decision making within the context of the American legal system citizen suits, counter suits, and the increasingly restrictive perspective of the federal judiciary toward standing the property rights movement the impact of political changes on policy development Unlike most books that deal with environmental law, the focus of this volume is on understanding the law as a managerial tool and fitting it into the overall policy context. Anyone involved with the environment, from students to citizen activists to mid-level managers at the federal, state, and local level, will find it enormously valuable.