ABSTRACT
The fall of 1977 saw the finishing touches put to Current Issues in U.S. Environmental Policy, the predecessor to this book. The introduction to that volume identified several factors that favored a thorough review of domestic environmental policy. These factors included the slow pace of environmental improvements following the legislation of the early 1970s, the high cost of complying with those laws, the arrival of a new president (Jimmy Carter) with the promise of a new approach to environmental regulation, the changing nature of environmental problems, and the then-current energy "crisis."
