ABSTRACT
The Department of Energy has many functions that directly affect the environment. It is responsible for research on alternate energy technologies, some of which, if they were to prove out, might prove environmentally less damaging than technologies. It is clear that, since the mid-1970s, the focus of what is called environmental law has changed considerably. One of the problems in dealing with environmental law is attempting to define exactly what is meant by the term. The Department of Defense, of course, is a very major land owning unit of the federal government; all forts, bases and military reservations fall under the management of one of the divisions of the Department of Defense. The National Institutes of Health clearly play major roles in evaluating issues of causation of various illnesses from environmental exposures. The Department of Labor gets involved in environmental issues through its management of the Migrant Farm Labor Act.
