The Dynamics of an Interagency Approach to Environmental Health Policy

A recent effort a by a congressional subcommittee to form an interagency advisory council illustrates the elaborate dynamics behind the establishment of federal environmental health policy. The creation of the interagency advisory council, which would combine representatives from four federal departments and agencies - Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH), was inhibited by a constellation of political and bureaucratic factors. This case provides a framework for developing a paradigm of environmental policy-making, by identifying the role of various stakeholders and the strategies they employed in pursuit of their policy objectives. This paradigm can be used for theory building which incorporates the significance of both congressional and executive branch support in the formation a comprehensive policy