Environmental Politics: Public Costs, Private Rewards, Michael S. Greve & Fred L. Smith, Jr. (eds). (New York: Praeger, 1992), 201pp.
Litigation; politics; of general applicability to environmental problems; written for the first party participant.
Environmental Politics: Public Costs, Private Rewards is an examination of the "... use and abuse of environmental regulation for political and economic objectives that have little or nothing to do with the environment". It is a collection of the works of multiple authors.
Environmental Politics: Public Costs, Private Rewards is required reading for ARSC 5010/7010 as taught by Dr. Guy Burgess and Professor Charles Lester. This work will be of interest to those who seek to broaden their understanding of the political nature of environmental problems. Michael S. Greve begins the work with an introduction in which he presents a view of environmental politics with an emphasis on the political aspect, thus de-romanticizing the topic. In chapter two Jonathan H. Adler addresses the continuing problem of polluted air and the possibility of, and attempts at, creating clean fuels.
The third chapter asserts that the bovine somatotropin controversy is an example of governmental regulation being used, not to promote public interest but, "... to protect a small group of inefficient farmers from the market forces of competition". The author asserts that the public interest would have been best served if the use of bovine somatotropin were not regulated. The co-authors of chapter four assert that rather than the reclamation of contaminated sites that it was purportedly created to facilitate, Superfund (CERCLA) has actually resulted in more contaminated sites and "... an enormous legal morass that constitutes a substantial drain on public and private resources...".
The author of chapter five asserts that the issuing of deadlines for the reduction of pollution to specific levels may be doomed to failure. He asserts that the sort of regulation which must be put in place to monitor the levels actually result in delays which could be avoided by the lack of regulation. The author does not propose how this would be accomplished. Greve is the author of chapter six and asserts that the private enforcement which the so-called ?citizen suit' provision which most environmental statutes contain has resulted in a private entitlement program. Greve categorically states that private citizens or groups who pursue legal remedies against pollution producing corporations are "... driven by a desire to collect whatever rewards are offered, irrespective of the social consequences of their actions".
The seventh chapter addresses the controversy over the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). The author examines the reasons for CFCs being praised as a welcome alternative to previous chemicals used for refrigeration and the ultimate disillusionment with CFCs which resulted in reductions in their use being agreeed upon by the participants of the Montreal Protocol. David Vogel, the author of the next chapter, addresses the change in the agenda of the environmental and consumer organisations since the 1960s. He chronicles the organisations' shift of concern from domestic issues concerning human health and safety and environmental protection to concern over these issues at an international scale. This shift has resulted in these groups having significant and substantive effects upon US trade policy. The final chapter offers a conclusion by Fred L. Smith, Jr. which asserts that environmental policy is at a crossroads. The author asserts that better management must be developed for the vast amount of resources which are devoted to environmental protection. Smith offers examples from the previous chapters of the ways in which management of resources devoted to environmental protection has proved sorely lacking.
Environmental Politics: Public Costs, Private Rewards is a critical examination of attempts by government to regulate and enforce protection of the environment. One of the editors and three of the other contributors are associated with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative interest group based in Washington DC. The perspective of the essays offered in the book are not surprisingly, also conservative.
T. A. O'Lonergan
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