A United States Perspective on the Dutch Government's Approach to Seeking Greater Cohesion in Environmental and Spatial Policy

The general approach and direction of the Dutch government (Chapter 3; Miller and de Roo, 1997; VROM, 1997) in seeking broader integration of environmental policy and spatial planning is commendable. The United States is far from such an approach. The only attempts to develop a national policy to deal with both spatial planning and environmental protection date to the late 1960s and they were defeated by the mid 1970s (Mandelker, 1976). However, the National Environmental Protection Act, which became effective in 1970, created the federal Environmental Protection Agency.