This casebook emphasizes both the basic building blocks of environmental policy and the structure and details of the federal environmental statutes. It focuses the attention of students on how the tradeoffs between environmental goals and other social goals are resolved in the different and difficult contexts. The book pays especially close attention to the political context in which regulation takes place, looking at the impact of our federal system of government, the role of administrative agencies in the regulatory process, and the impact of interest groups. The book makes a concerted effort to introduce comparative perspectives, looking, where appropriate, at state programs, and comparable regulatory regimes in the European Union and the international community. It also focuses on the current efforts to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

The casebook has substantial introductions and extensive notes and questions designed to guide the classroom discussion. In the chapters focusing on environmental policy, it also includes some substantial excerpts from academic articles. In the other chapters, the principal academic perspectives are introduced in the notes and questions.