Twenty Years of Environmental Law: Role Reversals Between Congress and the Executive, Judicial Activism Undermining the Environment, and the Proliferation of Environmental (and Anti-Environmental) Groups
By Michael C. Blumm
INTRODUCTION
In 1980, when this journal published its first issue, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, prompting the United States to boycott the summer Olympic Games; the United States' mission to rescue hostages in Iran failed, helping to elect Ronald Reagan over Jimmy Carter; John Lennon was murdered; Mount St. Helens exploded, killing fifteen people; and George Brett hit .390, leading the Kansas City Royals to their first World Series, where they lost to Steve Carlton and the Philadelphia Phillies, the Phillies' first and only Series win. Hit movies in 1980 included Coal Miner's Daughter, with Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones; Ordinary People, directed by Robert Redford, with Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore; Raging Bull, with Robert DeNiro; and The Empire Strikes Back, with Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher. Hit songs included Don't Stand So Close To Me by The Police, and Another One Bites the Dust by Queen.
Twenty years ago, modern environmental law had just completed its first decade, a dizzying period of significant environmental legislative enactments. In addition, the environment was a major issue in the 1972 presidential election, and the courts--especially lower federal courts--were hospitable fora to air environmental grievances. Yet the election of President Reagan and a Republican Senate in 1980 signaled change, and within a few months James Watt and Ann Gorsuch Burford became the heads of the Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency, respectively. Thus, the two decades from 1980 to 2000 began with the environment under siege from government agencies charged with protecting it.
This twenty-year period has been filled with surprises. While I do not intend to conduct a comprehensive review of all the highlights of the last two decades, I would like to give an impressionistic view of the changes that have struck me as significant over the last twenty years. Moreover, we may be about to relive this experience, as the second Bush Administration prepares to govern.
In 1980, when this journal published its first issue, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, prompting the United States to boycott the summer Olympic Games; the United States' mission to rescue hostages in Iran failed, helping to elect Ronald Reagan over Jimmy Carter; John Lennon was murdered; Mount St. Helens exploded, killing fifteen people; and George Brett hit .390, leading the Kansas City Royals to their first World Series, where they lost to Steve Carlton and the Philadelphia Phillies, the Phillies' first and only Series win. Hit movies in 1980 included Coal Miner's Daughter, with Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones; Ordinary People, directed by Robert Redford, with Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore; Raging Bull, with Robert DeNiro; and The Empire Strikes Back, with Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher. Hit songs included Don't Stand So Close To Me by The Police, and Another One Bites the Dust by Queen.
Twenty years ago, modern environmental law had just completed its first decade, a dizzying period of significant environmental legislative enactments. In addition, the environment was a major issue in the 1972 presidential election, and the courts--especially lower federal courts--were hospitable fora to air environmental grievances. Yet the election of President Reagan and a Republican Senate in 1980 signaled change, and within a few months James Watt and Ann Gorsuch Burford became the heads of the Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency, respectively. Thus, the two decades from 1980 to 2000 began with the environment under siege from government agencies charged with protecting it.
This twenty-year period has been filled with surprises. While I do not intend to conduct a comprehensive review of all the highlights of the last two decades, I would like to give an impressionistic view of the changes that have struck me as significant over the last twenty years. Moreover, we may be about to relive this experience, as the second Bush Administration prepares to govern.
