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The Making of Environmental Law
An updated and passionate second edition of a foundational book.
How did environmental law first emerge in the United States? Why has it evolved in the ways that it has? And what are the unique challenges inherent to environmental lawmaking in general and in the United States in particular?
Since its first edition, The Making of Environmental Law has been foundational to our understanding of these questions. For the second edition, Richard J. Lazarus returns to his landmark book and takes stock of developments over the last two decades. Drawing on many years of experience on the frontlines of legal and policy battles, Lazarus provides a theoretical overview of the challenges that environmental protection poses for lawmaking, related to both the distinctive features of US lawmaking institutions and the spatial and temporal dimensions of ecological change. The book explains why environmental law emerged in the manner and form that it did in the 1970s and traces how it developed over sequent decades through key laws and controversies. New chapters, composing more than half of the second edition, examine a host of recent developments. These include how Congress dropped out of environmental lawmaking in the early twenty-first century; the shifting role of the judiciary; long-overdue efforts to provide environmental justice to disadvantaged communities; and the destabilization of environmental law that has resulted from the election of Presidents with dramatically clashing environmental policies.
As the nation’s partisan divide has grown deeper and the challenge of climate change has dramatically raised the perceived stakes for opposing interests, environmental law is facing its greatest challenges yet. This book is essential reading for understanding where we have been and what challenges and opportunities lie ahead.
How did environmental law first emerge in the United States? Why has it evolved in the ways that it has? And what are the unique challenges inherent to environmental lawmaking in general and in the United States in particular?
Since its first edition, The Making of Environmental Law has been foundational to our understanding of these questions. For the second edition, Richard J. Lazarus returns to his landmark book and takes stock of developments over the last two decades. Drawing on many years of experience on the frontlines of legal and policy battles, Lazarus provides a theoretical overview of the challenges that environmental protection poses for lawmaking, related to both the distinctive features of US lawmaking institutions and the spatial and temporal dimensions of ecological change. The book explains why environmental law emerged in the manner and form that it did in the 1970s and traces how it developed over sequent decades through key laws and controversies. New chapters, composing more than half of the second edition, examine a host of recent developments. These include how Congress dropped out of environmental lawmaking in the early twenty-first century; the shifting role of the judiciary; long-overdue efforts to provide environmental justice to disadvantaged communities; and the destabilization of environmental law that has resulted from the election of Presidents with dramatically clashing environmental policies.
As the nation’s partisan divide has grown deeper and the challenge of climate change has dramatically raised the perceived stakes for opposing interests, environmental law is facing its greatest challenges yet. This book is essential reading for understanding where we have been and what challenges and opportunities lie ahead.
- GenresEnvironmentLawNonfiction
461 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
12 people are currently reading
190 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 1, 2025
this was exactly what I hoped it would be, a well tied together overview of the foundation of environmental law and its evolution including the legal, political, and ecological perspectives in a way that’s easy to follow. the material was dense at times, but that felt necessary given the complexity of the subject. would love to read the second edition at some point in the future to bring in the context of modern law and current events.
My annotations for the first 75% of the book were corrupted and lost, so the quotes I saved will be few:
“Environmental law must necessarily be responsive to the types of problems it seeks to address, including the physical causes and effects”
“The transboundary and temporal nature of ecological problems demands a national perspective and expertise, but the simultaneously local character of many of the causes and effects means that the federal government cannot and should not have exclusive authority especially with regard to implementation details”
“Learned largely by the environmental law experience, this central insight regarding the advantages and necessity of public participation in administrative lawmaking triggered a broad reformation of U.S. administrative law”
My annotations for the first 75% of the book were corrupted and lost, so the quotes I saved will be few:
“Environmental law must necessarily be responsive to the types of problems it seeks to address, including the physical causes and effects”
“The transboundary and temporal nature of ecological problems demands a national perspective and expertise, but the simultaneously local character of many of the causes and effects means that the federal government cannot and should not have exclusive authority especially with regard to implementation details”
“Learned largely by the environmental law experience, this central insight regarding the advantages and necessity of public participation in administrative lawmaking triggered a broad reformation of U.S. administrative law”
September 17, 2023
I was lucky enough to take two environmental law courses with Professor Lazarus several years ago, and soon after leaving law school behind, I picked up the second edition of The Making of Environmental Law. This book is a must-read for all those interested in environmental law and policy — not just lawyers, but also those looking to craft responses to the climate crisis from within federal, state, and foreign governments; nonprofit organizations; and corporations.
The Making of Environmental Law succinctly tells the story of our nation's federal environmental law and policy, taking readers through approximately half a century of presidential administrations and highlighting some of the recurrent themes pervading environmental lawmaking. This is not a book about doctrine or state/local law. Professor Lazarus does reference seminal court cases, specific statutory provisions, and state/local developments, but he generally only does so to color the broader picture. Instead, this book focuses on broad federal trends and challenges, some predictable (e.g., the current Democrat/Republican divide on the environment) and some surprising (e.g., the critical role that some Republican Presidents, including Richard Nixon, played in promoting the environment). Thus, The Making of Environmental Law cannot replace a black letter environmental law course, but it should serve as a useful supplement to such a course, explaining how politicians created that black letter law.
In this second edition, Professor Lazarus expands the first edition's story to cover the past twenty years. Thus, this edition contains ample material on climate change and in fact orients much of its discussion around how previous environmental policymaking and challenges intersect with the novel climate change crisis.
Despite its dense subject matter, The Making of Environmental Law is eminently readable. Even readers with no background in the environment or the legal system will find this book easy to understand. If you pick up this book, I recommend a chapter-a-day approach. Each chapter tells a relatively self-contained story, and by limiting yourself to one chapter per day, you will find it easier to keep those stories distinct in your mind. As I embark on a career in environmental law, this is a book I plan to keep close at hand.
The Making of Environmental Law succinctly tells the story of our nation's federal environmental law and policy, taking readers through approximately half a century of presidential administrations and highlighting some of the recurrent themes pervading environmental lawmaking. This is not a book about doctrine or state/local law. Professor Lazarus does reference seminal court cases, specific statutory provisions, and state/local developments, but he generally only does so to color the broader picture. Instead, this book focuses on broad federal trends and challenges, some predictable (e.g., the current Democrat/Republican divide on the environment) and some surprising (e.g., the critical role that some Republican Presidents, including Richard Nixon, played in promoting the environment). Thus, The Making of Environmental Law cannot replace a black letter environmental law course, but it should serve as a useful supplement to such a course, explaining how politicians created that black letter law.
In this second edition, Professor Lazarus expands the first edition's story to cover the past twenty years. Thus, this edition contains ample material on climate change and in fact orients much of its discussion around how previous environmental policymaking and challenges intersect with the novel climate change crisis.
Despite its dense subject matter, The Making of Environmental Law is eminently readable. Even readers with no background in the environment or the legal system will find this book easy to understand. If you pick up this book, I recommend a chapter-a-day approach. Each chapter tells a relatively self-contained story, and by limiting yourself to one chapter per day, you will find it easier to keep those stories distinct in your mind. As I embark on a career in environmental law, this is a book I plan to keep close at hand.
July 13, 2022
This book provides a good overview of how environmental law came to be and then it's journey from the 1960s to the beginning of the 2000s. But that's where it stops. It almost entirely leaves out discussions on climate change. So as long as you're looking for the early evolution of environmental law and not expecting it to extend to climate change, this is a pretty good primer.
I will say this is written like an academic book, so don't expect to be sitting on the edge of your seat.
I will say this is written like an academic book, so don't expect to be sitting on the edge of your seat.
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May 5, 2020Didn't quite finish it
October 11, 2025
Good background for a basic understanding of the history of environmental law and politics but would have liked more discussion of how environmental groups have specifically used it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews