Steve Cohen, “Rebuilding America’s Environmental Agencies and Environmental Consensus”

Cohen begins the article by reviewing that environmental policy emerged in the 1970s, around when the United States began to shift to a service economy. Although contemporary Americans are open to arguments that green policies kill jobs, most still desire healthy and safe communities. To restore the EPA after it was dismantled in the Trump era, President Biden must 1) restore competent nonpartisan management of the EPA, NOAA, and Department of the Interior; 2) draw mission-driven professionals to federal service; 3) replace weakened environmental regulations with more effective and tougher policies than those lost in the Trump era; 4) decarbonize the American energy system through an infrastructure program that offers tax incentives to industries; 5) re-start American leadership in climate diplomacy; 6) accommodate businesses who are making efforts in good faith to comply with environmental policy; 7) develop a hardline position against environmental poisons. Creativity is key in environmental policy, undertaken by both the government and corporations working in concert.