An Airing of the Clean Air Act

Abstract

In recent years criticism of excessive and inefficient regulation has frequently been voiced. Environmental regulations in particular have been a target. Some critics charge that environmental benefits have been pursued too aggressively without sufficient regard to the cost of controls. Others, without attacking the desirability of the benefits, argue that pollution reduction has been unnecessarily costly. Yet there are also those who claim that antipollution legislation has not been implemented sufficiently and effectively and that progress toward air and water quality goals has been disappointingly slow. Causes of these problems, depending on the source of the criticism, include failure to incorporate economic rationality and economic incentives into regulations, overzealous regulators, weak enforcement efforts, and insufficient funding to support timely and effective implementation of complex statutes. These conflicting viewpoints are part of the debate currently surrounding the Clean Air Act whose reauthorization by Congress is considerably behind schedule. Reauthorization of the act has been held up by conflict over proposals to add acid rain control measures and proposals to change existing provisions. Each of the books under review offers a timely opportunity for an increased understanding of the crucial issues in the debate over the Clean Air Act. Each provides insight on important components of the act and its implementation. Among the subjects addressed by the authors are the administrative burden created by the numerous and complex requirements of the Clean Air Act, the impact of judicial review and public input on administrative decision making and air quality policy, and the application of principles of economic efficiency to air quality policy. The conclusions reached by the authors are sobering, provocative, and instructive.