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24 Fordham Envtl. L. Rev. 205 (2012-2013)
EPA at Helm's Deep: Surviving the Fourth Attack on Environmental Law

handle is hein.journals/frdmev24 and id is 217 raw text is: EPA AT HELM'S DEEP: SURVIVING THE FOURTH ATTACK ON ENVIRONMENTAL LAW Thomas 0. McGaritv* INTRODUCTION In the second volume of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Theoden, King of Rohan, learns that the armies of Saruman, the evil wizard, are advancing upon the defenseless city. He therefore orders the citizens to relocate to Helm's Deep, a massive fortress carved into the side of a mountain that has heretofore remained impenetrable. With the help of some elven allies who arrive in the nick of time from Rivendell, the Rohan soldiers repel wave after wave of attacks by the vicious Uruk-hai. As one wall is breached, the soldiers fall back behind an interior wall until at last there is nowhere to retreat. At that point, the king seizes the offensive, orders his soldiers to mount their steeds and take the battle to the enemy. Fortunately, at that moment Gandalf, a good wizard, returns to Helms Deep with a band of Rohan mounted soldiers, and the two armies put the enemy to rout. For much of the past 30 years, the Environnental Protection Agency (EPA) and the laws that it administers have been under siege, much like the people of Rohan, from powerful economic, ideological and political actors who believe that the companies subject to EPA's regulatory authority should have greater freedom to go about their business unimpeded by senseless and burdensome regulations. The assaults came in three waves that peaked during the first years of the Reagan Administration, the first year of the 104th Congress, and the first six years of the George W. Bush Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Chair in Administrative Law, University of Texas School of Law. The themes highlighted in this article are explored in greater detail in many additional regulatory contexts in THOMAS 0. McGARITY, FREEDOM TO HARM (Yale University Press, forthcoming 2013). 1. J.R.R. TOLKIEN, THE Two TOWERS, ch. 7 (2d ed. 1985) (1965). 205

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