ABSTRACT
For several reasons, 1981 promised to be the year in which significant changes would be made in the Clean Air Act, arguably the most important of all federal regulatory statutes. First, the act was due to be reauthorized that year. In past years reauthorization had proven to be a convenient opportunity to reconsider and amend that and other environmental laws. Second, President Reagan took office in January 1981 following a campaign in which he identified regulatory reform as one of the cornerstones of his economic recovery program. 1 When he quickly proposed sweeping tax and expenditure reductions to fulfill promises about the budgetary foundations of that program, it appeared as if the Clean Air Act might become a guinea pig that would demonstrate the kinds of changes his administration intended to make in federal regulations. And third, while there was little consensus about direction, there was an unusual amount of agitation for some sort of change in the Clean Air Act. Environmentalists, the business community, state and local officials, and other groups all had proposed modifications ready and waiting for the new administration and Congress.
