Abstract

Cleveland was the site of one of the seminal events in environmental history. On the morning of June 22, 1969, a stray spark ignited oil and debris on the surface of the Cuyahoga River. The resulting fire attracted relatively little local attention in Cleveland, but became a national event. Subsequently, Time, National Geographic, and The New York Times all wrote about the fire. It even inspired a song by Randy Newman. By many accounts, it lit the spark that led to the passage of the Federal Clean Water Act.

There are some problems with the traditional story of the Cuyahoga River fire, though. It is a powerful fable of federal environmental history, but a fable nonetheless. The fire was neither a sign of continuing environmental decline, nor clear evidence of the need for federal regulation. By revisiting the fable of the Cuyahoga, this essay aims to reconsider the origins of federal environmental regulation, and question the presumption that many environmental problems are best addressed through federal legislation. This essay posits that many federal environmental laws were adopted for the wrong reasons. Further, it suggests that environmental protections could be improved if more policy decisions were left in the hands of state and local governments.

This abstract has been taken from the author's introduction.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Fall 2004

Publication Information

55 Case Western Reserve Law Review 93-113 (2004)

Comments

Written for the symposium The Roles of Markets and Governments (2003/2004) at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

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