Tales from a Troubled Marriage: Science and Law in Environmental Policy

Early environmental policy depended on science, with mixed results. Newer approaches continue to rely on science to identify problems and solve them, but use other mechanisms to set standards and legal obligations. Given the important role that science continues to play, however, several cautionary tales are in order concerning "scientific management," "good science," the lure of money, and the tension between objectivity and involvement in important issues of our time.