Uncooperative federalism kills pollution regulations and effective policymaking.

During the Great Society of the 1960s and thereafter, conservatives won limits on federal power. In a string of important legislative debates – over policies on housing, health, job training, and new environmental and consumer regulations – interest groups like the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers pushed for what they called “state flexibility” provisions. Such rules did not shrink government; rather, they placed constraints on what federal agencies could do without the approval of state governors and legislators, making each step in government action more complex. At the urging of industry groups, early water-pollution rules were written to give governors the right to challenge federal regulatory standards. This led to delays making final regulatory decisions virtually impossible to achieve. Even when tougher water-pollution measures were passed in the 1970s, states still got to take part in standard-setting and program implementation. A decidedly uncooperative variant of federalism resulted, stalling new water-pollution controls at first and, when controls were finally put in place, giving industry interests leverage to re-fight policy battles at the state level.