There is enormous potential for state and local environmental law and scores of examples of regional governments taking action to protect natural resources in accordance with local values. State and local legislation and experimentation are especially apt in environmental law. By its very nature, federal law cannot precisely protect all of the microclimates, watersheds, and airsheds in this vast nation. Environmental protection may at one point have been a kind of regulatory monoculture, with the federal government stepping in because state and local governments would not or could not act. It has now become more like a complete ecosystem, in that it requires a proper balance of elements — local, state, and federal responsibility-to flourish.

The organizations listed below are among those supporting state and local environmental law initiatives.

• The Biodiversity Partnership
• Center for Policy Alternatives
• The Conservation Law Foundation
• The Environmental Law Institute
• The International Municipal Lawyers Association
• The Land Use Law Center at Pace University
• National Caucus of Environmental Legislators
• National Conference of State Legislatures
• State Environmental Resource Center
• State Environmental Leadership Program
• US Public Interest Research Group

To read about how federalism concerns are playing out in the debate about policy responses to global warming, please visit our blog, www.warminglaw.com

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