Given this history, state and local governments should go back to Congress and try again to curtail the federal government's environmental over-reaching. First, Congress should encourage economic growth, because affluence increases the willingness and ability of the nation to pay for more environmental protection. Second, Congress should return more regulatory authority to the states and local governments. Of course, local control of environmental issues would not be a panacea. In Michigan, for example, a tough law patterned after the federal Superfund law made commercial development in cities such as Detroit extremely costly, because it transferred liability for cleanup of hazardous waste contamination to purchasers of property.
Local regulation offers greater opportunity for correcting mistakes.
Where environmental decisions can't be turned over to states and local governments, Congress should move along the path it set for itself in January. It should require regulators to do more careful risk assessment and, where regulation is warranted, weigh the costs of tighter regulation against its benefits.