ABSTRACT

Identifying the legal requirements that apply to particular operations is critical if organizations are to sustain compliance. In an ideal world, environmental laws would be clear and easily applied to all the activities they are intended to regulate. In reality, environmental laws are frequently ambiguous, complex, and poorly organized, which can make ascertaining their meaning a daunting task. For example, federal and state governments frequently regulate the same conduct and draft requirements that often overlap and are sometimes inconsistent. Even ostensibly clear environmental re­ quirements can defy ready interpretation when applied to individual situations. Moreover, government agencies are sometimes deliberately ambiguous when inter­ preting their regulations for fear of curtailing their flexibility.12 Although all this uncertainty makes achieving total environmental compliance difficult, environmen­ tal professionals can overcome this problem by understanding the purpose behind environmental laws, how they arc viewed by agencies and court.-*, and how to deal with uncertainty when applying laws to regulated activities.