Given its wide impact on community well-being and the economy, it should be no surprise that U.S. environmental policy engenders controversy. This is particularly apparent since the 2016 elections. Many questions arise. Have environmental laws worked effectively to improve the quality of the environment? How can society best establish environmental policies and management systems when faced with scientific uncertainties and significant economic costs? What is the role and effectiveness of command-and-control regulation? What benefits can be accrued through alternative approaches to managing the environment, particularly market incentives and market-based rights, procedural and managerial tools, institutional formation, and capacity-building in the management of environmental quality? Policy Tools for Environmental Management  constructs a general framework for analyzing environmental issues, and develops concepts and techniques for managing environmental systems, within the context of environmental planning and policy within sustainable communities.