1970s Congress wrote ever-tighter statutory deadlines to curb presidential and EPA discretion.

Evidence

The environmental laws that Congress passed during the 1970s changed tenor as the decade progressed to reflect increasing skepticism and distrust of the executive branch. The statutes imposed hundreds of stringent deadlines on executive branch agencies, primarily the EPA, and increasingly reduced that agency’s substantive discretion in meeting those deadlines. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 373

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Career-staff leaks and judicial review check political appointees who ignore disclosed impacts — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 396; Default standards flipped industry incentives to favor prompt EPA rulemaking — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 849; Up to a hundred congressional subcommittees shared jurisdiction over the EPA in the 1970s. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 376

Broader Connections

• Up to a hundred congressional subcommittees shared jurisdiction over the EPA in the 1970s. #expands (0.82) — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 376