ABSTRACT
Enforcement of environmental regulations by the federal government has been handicapped, half-hearted, and even occasionally perverse in its environmental consequences. An environmentalist lawsuit has been filed to challenge the Secretary’s omission of a deadline from a regulation he issued in September to implement the so-called grandfather clause of the Surface Mining Act which established exemptions for mines operating at the time the law was passed. The adverse social and environmental effects of uncontrolled strip mining have been widely discussed over many years. Environmental regulations geared principally to accommodate the short-term cash-flow or balance sheet problems of polluting industries are out of balance with the Nation’s long-term need to protect its life-support system. Energy resource development often creates environmental problems. A combination of energy conservation and solar power would cost far less in dollars, do more to strengthen national security, and do much less damage to the environment, than an all-out effort to produce more oil, nuclear power, and synthetic fuels.
