Lessons from federal pesticide regulation on the paradigms and politics of environmental law reform

Abstract

Although reform of federal pesticide regulation is often described as a simple choice between “scientific risk assessments” and “mere politics,” such reductionism assumes away perhaps the fundamental challenge facing progressive reformers: how to improve political and market institutions that minimize trade-offs among deeply held public values. Professor Hornstein argues that an improved framework for environmental law reform, a “cause- oriented approach,” vastly improves the prospects for developing workable incentive structures that can promote a more sustainable agriulture. More broadly, Professor Hornstein develops a positive political theory of pesticide regulation capitalizing on both public choice and public purpose explanations -of collective political behavior, to argue that effective regulatory design must openly acknowledge the full complexities of both the “politics” and “science” of environmental protection. Introduction