Toward a New Generation of Environmental Technology: The Need For Legislative Reform

Given near unanimity in the environmental and industrial communities about the need for a new generation of environmental technology, the policy process unfortunately lags behind in moving toward this objective. This article examines causes and remedies for this gap in the context of American environmental policy. U.S. environmental laws continue to be pervaded by structural biases against new technology, and the complexity of their administration exacerbates the problem. Within the last few years, several important reform initiatives have arisen from inside the regulatory community; however, these can only go so far, given the current statutory framework Congress, too long quiescent, needs to become involved. A legislative reform package is proposed consisting of four main elements: a legislative mandate that makes promotion of technological innovation an explicit environmental objective; elimination of structural features in current law that impede innovation; creation of a new framework for standard‐setting and enforcement that puts every firm on a trajectory toward environmental and technological improvement; and enlisting regulation as a “demand‐pull” for environmentally superior technology.