Environmental Federalism

Environmental federalism refers more broadly to the impact of shared authority between two or more levels of governments—national, states, and/or local governments—on environmental management, which includes the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. In other words, it refers to environmental management within a federal [Page 492]context characterized by constitutional division of political authority between levels of governments. The need to focus attention on the consequences of federalism on environmental management is informed by the fact that the constitutional division of power that federalism represents has implications not just for the efficiency of environmental decisions and their enforcements, but also for the impact of these decisions and their enforcements on justice and equity concerns of people, especially the poor and vulnerable members ...