Book Review:
Richard S. Booth, The Influence of Politics and Bureaucracy on the Development of Environmental Law (reviewing Bruce A. Ackerman & William T. Hassler’s Clean Coal/ Dirty Air or How the Clean Air Act Became a Multibillion-Dollar Bail-Out for High-Sulfur Coal Producers and What Should be Done About it), 60 Texas L. Rev. 355 (1982).
 

Abstract:
Professor Booth notes that Ackerman and Hassler’s work documents an important controversy in great detail, namely the controversy surrounding the development of new source performance standards for coal-burning power plants under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act. Ackerman and Hassler argue that the EPA’s efforts to reduce sulfur emissions from new coal-fired power plants were flawed. The story goes beyond congressional and administrative agency blunders. However, Professor Booth states that the work has several limitations. For example, much of the book uses narrow, complicated language and reasoning. Moreover, he says that the book is so engrossed in the story it is telling that it fails to relate the story to broader environmental concerns. Also, Professor Booth criticizes the work’s views of the EPA by calling them “too one-sided to be convincing.” However, overall the work presents a useful history and fascinating story of contemporary politics. Professor Booth notes that it is “well worth reading.”