We were honored to welcome Janet McCabe, the former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Deputy Administrator, as our next guest speaker in the series. Janet presented “Connections and Consequences: Federal Environmental Policy and State-Level Impacts.”
Janet explored the concept of cooperative federalism and how, in her view, it has evolved into what she describes as “cooperative favoritism” or even “non-cooperative federalism.”
Drawing on the history of federal and state air quality regulation, her talk examined how environmental policymaking has shifted over time. She discussed how changing interpretations of cooperative federalism continue to shape administrative actions, enforcement priorities, and state-federal relationships surrounding air quality programs today. She asks us to keep this change in mind to understand federal administrative actions and how cooperative federalism is being defined.
For those who could not attend the event or want to revisit the conversation, a recording of the lecture and highlights from the evening in are available below:
The Talking Conservation series continues this October with guest speaker Paul Labovitz, former Superintendent of Indiana Dunes National Park. Details and registration links are at www.talkingconservation.org.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for this lecture. We look forward to continuing the conversation later this year.
