I. Introduction

The fundamental questions in environmental law and policy are: what role should the government play in environmental control; what is the target level of environmental quality and how is it determined; and, if the government is to act as regulator, what policy instrument should be used. Answers to these questions are extremely varied.

At one end of the ideological spectrum, many free-market environmentalists would restrict government involvement to, at most, that of property rights protector within a framework of property rules and liability laws. Activists and scholars at the other end of the spectrum advocate full government control in which policymakers and regulators would explicitly determine environmental targets and production decisions (such as technology and output) through command-and-control tools.