Professor Richard J. Lazarus - Georgetown University Law Center

The Making of Environmental Law

The unprecedented expansion in environmental regulation over the past thirty years--at all levels of government--signifies a transformation of our nation's laws that is both palpable and encouraging. Environmental laws now affect almost everything we do, from the cars we drive and the places we live to the air we breathe and the water we drink. But while enormous strides have been made since the 1970s, gaps in the coverage, implementation, and enforcement of the existing laws still leave much work to be done.

In The Making of Environmental Law, Richard J. Lazarus offers a new interpretation of the past three decades of this area of the law, examining the legal, political, cultural, and scientific factors that have shaped--and sometimes hindered--the creation of pollution controls and natural resource management laws. He argues that in the future, environmental law must forge a more nuanced understanding of the uncertainties and trade-offs, as well as the better-organized political opposition that currently dominates the federal government. Lazarus is especially well equipped to tell this story, given his active involvement in many of the most significant moments in the history of environmental law as a litigator for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, an assistant to the Solicitor General, and a member of advisory boards of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Environmental Defense Fund.

Ranging widely in his analysis, Lazarus not only explains why modern environmental law emerged when it did and how it has evolved, but also points to the ambiguities in our current situation. As the field of environmental law "grays" with middle age, Lazarus's discussions of its history, the lessons learned from past legal reforms, and the challenges facing future lawmakers are both timely and invigorating.

Reviews
Review by William McKibben, Middlebury College Review by Michael B. Gerrard, Chair, ABA Section of Environment, Energy and Resources Review by Craig W. Thomas, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Review by Mark Van Putten, Bioscience, Vol 55, No. 9, Sept. 2005 Review by Jonathan Cannon, Prof and Dir. of the Environmental Law Programs at University of Virginia Law School

Environmental Law Stories

Environmental Law Stories tells the story of modern environmental law by focusing on ten of its most famous cases. Each chapter, written by a leading environmental law scholar, places the case in its broader historical context while simultaneously revealing fascinating facts concerning the people and events that prompted the litigation in the first instance, argued and decided the case in the courts, and influenced the ultimate outcome long after the judicial opinion was issued. The stories feature characters as diverse as community activists, small farmers, big businesses, dedicated scientists, skilled lawyers, strong-willed judges, and Presidents of the United States. Written for lawyers, law students, public policy professionals and laymen, each is a piece of a frame of law that is increasingly complex, and still in evolution.

Books

Reviews