Economics and the Environment, 10th Edition

12The Political Economy of Environmental Regulation

12.1 Introduction

In 1970, the U.S. Congress passed the Clean Air Act, declaring it the law of the land that the air breathed by Americans should provide “an adequate margin of safety … requisite to protect the public health.” Yet, now in the 21st century, some tens of millions of people in the United States are still exposed on occasion to ground‐level ozone (smog) concentrations considered dangerous; air toxic emissions at some industrial facilities still remained high enough to impose cancer risks greater than 1 in 1,000 to surrounding residents.

Is this evidence of government failure? Some would turn these figures around, saying instead, “look how far we have come.” Most U.S. cities have much cleaner air then they did in the 1970s, and many cities now meet the ozone standard. More significantly, consider how many would be failing today if we had not taken the measures we have. In the next few chapters, we will look in more detail at the overall impact of regulation, which can be viewed as a glass half‐empty or half‐full. However, many would still argue that 50 plus years is a long time to wait for a law to be enforced.

What lies behind this slow progress? Scientific uncertainty as to an “adequate margin of safety?” High compliance costs? Other priority areas for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)? Insufficient funds allocated to the EPA by Congress? Industry influence over legislators and regulators? Or more fundamentally, ...