The Eclipse of Health Departments and Local Governments in American Environmental Regulation

Abstract

Less than a quarter-century ago, state and local health departments and local governments were dominant governmental forces in American environmental policy. But that influence has steadily eroded, as national and state legislatures and comprehensive environmental agencies have assumed ever-increasing importance politically, institutionally, and fiscally. As a result, health departments and local governments have suffered from an increasingly cloudy mission in environmental policy despite their continuing involvement in many areas of environmental management. Given the increasingly apparent shortcomings of American environmental policy—including single-medium fragmentation, an emphasis on waste management rather than waste reduction, and rampant political adversarialism—it may be possible and desirable for health departments and local governments to assume specific new responsibilities in moving the nation toward a more mature and effective approach to environmental management.