With the 100th Congress taking its place in Washington, now may be an appropriate time for the environmental community, broadly defined, to consider the increasingly contentious relationship which has evolved between the Congress and the executive branch on environmental matters. Indeed, the "relationship" has become more akin to a series of confrontations in which the greatest uncertainty is whether any specific incident might lead the Congress to precipitate legislative action. In many instances, the "creative tension" necessary for effective separation of powers has become dysfunctional, leading to mistrust among branches of government and thwarting much needed environmental reforms.

Both the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986¹ and the vetoed Clean Water Act Amendments² reflect the continuing tendency of the Congress to limit executive discretion in environmental law by means of detailed statutory provisions more like agency regulations than traditional statutes.³ As in the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984,⁴ Congress simultaneously moved with great specificity on particulars while leaving general ambiguity in its wake as to the manner in which many provisions are expected to work in practice, The new Superfund includes not only mandatory schedules for the achievement of cleanup activities,⁵ but also detailed procedures for decisionmaking as to cleanup standards at individual sites,⁶ and even specific numerical requirements of the number of employees to be assigned certain health assessment-related duties.⁷ Concerned but casual spectators at open meetings of the tortuous Superfund conference were often bewildered by the arcana discussed by members of Congress concerned with issues such as "Settlement Policy" and "Community-Right-To-Know."