It is just as important to adopt the wisest possible regulations when government intervention is necessary as to reduce the level of government involvement. The focus of government intervention should be on balancing public and private interests. Current administrative processes are time consuming and expensive, often leading to extended court battles because of their adversarial nature. The adversarial process encourages the parties to discredit each other's scientific or technical evidence, which can lead to politically expedient but technically or economically unsound decisions. The author cites three demonstrations which will illustrate the merits of the negotiated approach to resolving those regulatory conflicts which deal with the distribution of gains and losses.
