Saving the Lost Sheep: Bringing Environmental Values Back into the Fold with a New EPA Decisionmaking Paradigm

Authors

Victor B. Flatt

Abstract

Currently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses benefit-cost analysis in making many of its regulatory and enforcement decisions. This Article argues that, although required in some instances, the EPA's benefit-cost analysis procedure is incomplete, deeply flawed, and may even violate statutes in some respects. Much of the controversy surrounding environmental regulation can be attributed to this flawed benefit-cost analysis. This Article proposes a new paradigm for EPA regulatory decisionmaking. The proposed paradigm is a four-step decisionmaking process that enhances the outcome of the EPA's decisions by highlighting values that are often ignored or outside the traditional benefit-cost analysis but are necessary to comply with many of our environmental laws and for effective environmental regulation.

First Page

1

Recommended Citation

Victor B. Flatt, Saving the Lost Sheep: Bringing Environmental Values Back into the Fold with a New EPA Decisionmaking Paradigm, 74 Wash. L. Rev. 1 (1999).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr/vol74/iss1/3