A Understanding of American Federalism Through Environmental Case Law It is often said that there are 51 countries in the United States for the American federalism does take an extreme form, even among all federal systems of the world, where its components, states, are conceptually on an equal footing with the federal system. In a sense, it is the states from which the federal is granted its “enumerated powers” and “limited jurisdiction.” This leads to a conclusion that any U.S. citizen or resident is a subject of two sovereigns simultaneously, and then to a question of how two equal sovereigns together rule upon the same people. There is a division of power that exists also in all other federal systems. However, such division will not work when defining of the areas of regulation for each sovereign becomes inevitably and increasingly difficult and both sovereigns want to regulate in the same area. Environmental law is one such area where, because of its strong regional specificity, state governments have strong interests and where, because of its strong potential for nation‐wide costs and benefits, the federal government has strong interest in regulation. The solutions to the problem of co‐governance arose out of a series of environmental constitutional cases in the form of well‐defined rules: Supremacy clause, preemption, and Interstate commerce clause. These rules in turn are operating to tighten the federal system operating in the environmental areas.

A Understanding of American Federalism Through Environmental Case Law It is often said that there are 51 countries in the United States for the American federalism does take an extreme form, even among all federal systems of the world, where its components, states, are conceptually on an equal footing with the federal system. In a sense, it is the states from which the federal is granted its “enumerated powers” and “limited jurisdiction.” This leads to a conclusion that any U.S. citizen or resident is a subject of two sovereigns simultaneously, and then to a question of how two equal sovereigns together rule upon the same people. There is a division of power that exists also in all other federal systems. However, such division will not work when defining of the areas of regulation for each sovereign becomes inevitably and increasingly difficult and both sovereigns want to regulate in the same area. Environmental law is one such area where, because of its strong regional specificity, state governments have strong interests and where, because of its strong potential for nation‐wide costs and benefits, the federal government has strong interest in regulation. The solutions to the problem of co‐governance arose out of a series of environmental constitutional cases in the form of well‐defined rules: Supremacy clause, preemption, and Interstate commerce clause. These rules in turn are operating to tighten the federal system operating in the environmental areas.

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preemption, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, RCRA, civil law, common law, Clean Water Act, Supremacy Clause, Full Faith and Credit clause, removal