By 2000 the two parties held opposite substantive visions of environmental law

Evidence

A starkly partisan divide now exists in environmental law and is reflected in the workings not just of Congress, but in all three branches of the federal government. Notwithstanding the persistence of remarkably similar rhetoric by candidates for elected office from the two major political parties, the two dominant policy positions of the parties have so evolved as to represent very different views on the efficacy of existing environmental protection law and the need for its reformation. These differences are not matters of incidental emphasis or tone; they express starkly contrasting visions of both the substantive ends as well as the means of environmental law. The Republican Party generally favors less stringent environmental controls and increased resource exploitation, while the Democratic Party generally favors stronger environmental protection standards and resource conservation and preservation laws. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 1049

Categorization

• XREF: Pays off ch22-ch23’s account of 1990s party-line polarization of environmental lawmaking. — connects to: Both sides treat environmental regulation as an absolute-rights matter, precluding economic compromise — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 150