The Articles & Notes section of this issue of ELR is devoted to publication of the papers and proceedings of the May 1982 Airlie House Conference, "The New Federalism in Environmental Law: Taking Stock," sponsored by the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Environmental Law. In pursuit of the Reagan Administration's goals to reduce federal spending and to shift regulatory responsibilities to the states, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is redefining its relationship with state agencies in the implementation of national pollution control laws. By speeding the pace of delegation of air and water pollution, hazardous waste, and surface mining regulatory programs to the states, reducing the need for federal approval before states can act under these delegated programs, and transferring more environmental quality decisions to them, EPA has already shifted considerable responsibility for carrying out federal pollution control laws to the states.

The proponents of this New Federalism argue that the time is right to streamline what has become a wasteful and oppressive system of domination of states participating in federal programs. Transforming EPA from a meddling watchdog to an efficient manager will save time and money and will not weaken the programs. Because the basic federal regulatory framework is in place, most state agencies have established over the last 10 years the sophisticated regulatory capabilities needed to implement those regulations, and a combination of EPA spot-checking and public vigilance will forestall any breakdown in state implementation.