Although considerable progress has been made in improving environmental quality in parts of the United States, many localities have yet to meet federal air and water quality standards and many hazardous-waste sites remain to be cleaned up. At the international level, the U.S. and other countries continue to face critical environmental problems. As a contribution to the literature on public policy and to help educate students about natural resource issues, this book identifies the likely "hot spots" of environmental policy and presents alternative and often opposing points of view on the major controversies that are likely to be with us well into the next century. Among the topics covered are comparative risk assessment; market incentives in environmental regulation; environmental justice; public versus private management of public lands; international trade and sustainable development; and the relationship between national security and environmental protection.

"The 'controversies format' makes for interesting reading and a good teaching tool. Sustainability is the current catch word among natural resource managers and environmentalists, yet the meaning of the term is unclear. This book goes a long way toward explaining the debates surrounding sustainability. It is a useful text for upper division environmental policy courses and graduate seminars". -- Helen Ingram, Director, The Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, University of Arizona