Information gaps are a pervasive reality in many areas of regulation, especially environmental regulation.  Among the regulatory strategies viewed as most prone to implementation failures due to such information gaps are ambient environment strategies that start with assessment of ambient conditions and tailor regulatory obligations to the state of the environment; such schemes demand information and tailored regulatory responses that are often beyond the capacity of science or regulatory resources. Others, however, criticize regulatory strategies for being context blind.  Both criticisms have undoubted merit, yet many regulatory schemes actually involve a hybrid strategy that utilizes what this paper will call Aadjudicatory triggers@ in conjunction with ambient environment strategies.  Such adjudicatory trigger strategies require new gathering and analysis of information about environmental conditions and implemented realities before permits or other approvals can be obtained.  Permits or approvals either will be adjusted in light of ambient conditions or in some instances will be denied as the result of such analyses.
    This paper will provide examples of adjudicatory triggers primarily through brief explication of a case study of the 1970s and 1980s Westway litigation. It then provides brief exegesis of several representative regulatory examples.  As revealed by the Westway story and these regulatory examples, these adjudicatory triggers often serve as a useful mechanism to overcome incentives of governments and private actors to ignore or undersupply environmental information.  The applicant=s interest in a permit grant or other individualized regulatory approval necessitates gathering of new information that often did not exist before.  Proponents and opponents of the regulatory approval, as well as regulators fearful of being sued for an allegedly unjustified decision, all will share interest in gathering information supporting their views or decision.  These diverse stakeholders will seldom share goals, but in the adjudicatory trigger setting, all will have incentives to gather relevant information.