Author David Schoenbrod, a long-time environmental activist and academic, recently released Saving Our Government from Washington: How Congress Grabs Power, Shirks Responsibility, and Shortchanges the People. He argues that the modern balance of power between the federal and state governments over environmental issues results in an unresponsive bureaucracy, inflexible federal solutions, and ineffective environmental protection. Schoenbrod’s solution is to increase the decision-making role of Congress in setting pollution control standards and to “restore” much of EPA’s environmental authority to the states.
On April, 21, 2005, ELI hosted a lively debate about the shape of American environmental governance. Mr. Schoenbrod (Professor, New York Law School; and Adjunct Scholar, Cato Institute) was joined by Fred Anderson (Partner, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, and former President, ELI) and Leslie Carothers (President, ELI and former U.S. EPA executive and Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection). The Yale University Press published the book.