Editors' Summary: Most environmental statutes reflect a decision by Congress to split implementation responsibility between state and federal governments. The author asks whether this is wise. Focussing on the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) and its implementation, he compares experiences under the Act with direct federal regulations and state—federal "cooperation." The author argues that criticisms of direct federal regulation, while valid in some situations, do not carry sufficient force to justify abandonment of that model. He concludes that cooperative federalism under SMCRA not only fails to meet statutory goals of environmental protection, but is difficult to carry off and wastes state and federal resources through pointless duplication and vexing oversight activity.