ABSTRACT
Environmental professionals generally agree that a national system of environmental standards exists in the United States, particularly in contrast to the situation as it existed in the early 1970s. Strong concerns exist about the large number of environmental regulations, their labyrinthine structure and organization, and their numerous instances of overlapping authority and contradictory demands. Confusing and inconsistent application of law and regulations is exacerbated by agencies that treat governmental guidelines and guidance documents as if they were law. Challenges to the quality of the science, and skepticism regarding the extent of its use in environmental regulatory decision-making, threaten the likelihood of increased partnership between industry and government. Command-and-control, enforcement-based, environmental regulatory strategy, employed to the extent that it is in the US, is an obstacle to getting US organizations to pay more attention to the development of voluntary international environmental management standards as well as forces inefficiencies into the production system.
