Almost every federal environmental regulatory program structures by statute a federal/state relationship for implementing the program. These relationships were established over a 10-year period, under both Republican and Democratic Administrations, and by a variety of Senate and House committees. As will be seen, the relationships range from exclusively federal control to essentially a joint venture relationship. The current Administration believes in general that the federal government has too much power and that this power should be diminished. This philosophy has been branded "The New Federalism." A fundamental tenet of this philosophy is that the free market governs best. A corollary is that states should play a relatively greater role in governing the citizenry—to the extent governing is necessary at all.

It is timely, therefore, to examine federal/state relationships in the environmental area in order to understand how these relationships came about and how the "New Federalism" will affect them. This examination requires an analysis of the basic interests which were in issue and competing for recognition in the development of federal/state relationships when the environmental regulatory statutes were enacted. Put another way, we need to understand why Congress wanted to establish a program that involved shared authority. Next, it is important to recognize who were the basic proponents and opponents of environmental regulatory legislation and where state interests fit into this picture. Finally, we must survey the environmental regulatory programs to see what federal/state relationships were actually established.