William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review
Abstract
A range of public intellectuals and academics have argued that America is increasingly unable to advance major projects, such as housing, renewable energy, and innovation, because of legal obstacles such as judicial review and regulatory requirements. In response, the abundance movement has called for legal reforms to speed up project development. The abundance movement has identified real problems that require solutions. Unfortunately, the movement also faces political and legal challenges as well. Reform will require difficult tradeoffs, which will be politically difficult. Abundance reforms will likely not be politically popular, and will be particularly hard to implement in a polarized political environment, and in the wake of Supreme Court changes to fundamental administrative law protections for bureaucratic independence. Abundance advocates are best served by a low salience approach primarily focused at the local and state level, which also happens to be where the most important reforms can be made.