Three institutional changes caused the 1990s environmental-lawmaking collapse.

Evidence

There are several reasons why Congress during the 1990s proved unable to enact new authorizing legislation in response to any of these competing constituencies. One reason is that the institutional equilibrium within the federal government that had sustained prior lawmaking efforts finally collapsed. A second reason is that the executive branch tried to step in to fill the void, which both diminished the need for legislative action and further polarized relations among all three branches of government. A final reason is that those seeking reform failed to account for changing attitudes within industry regarding the efficacy of environmental protection requirements. Each of these reasons is discussed more fully below. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 667

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Fragmented U.S. lawmaking institutions structurally favor slow incremental change over sweeping reform — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 170; Environmental lawmaking conflict is a necessary feature, not a failing. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 418; By the mid-1990s consensus environmental legislation had become politically impossible. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 677 (+2 more)