Reforming air pollution regulation : the toil and trouble of EPA's bubble /

The Environmental Protection Agency is having a difficult time getting our air cleaned up. One method that has shown promise is the bubble concept, which combines regulation and industry innovation. A fixed source is allowed a maximum level of pollutant discharge and may increase pollutant at one discharge point while reducing the same pollutant discharge at another point if the total pollutant discharge does not exceed the allowable limit. Thus industry is freer to choose methods of pollution control and supposedly encouraged to stimulate technological developments so as to reduce the cost of compliance with clean air standards. Liroff traces the development and problems of implementing the bubble concept and is optimistic about its usefulness. His conclusion is poignant: ``Unfortunately, the Reagan administration's frontal assault on environmental institutions has given a very bad name to regulatory reform, because its efforts appear to be as much an assault on the goals of environmental protection as on the techniques of regulation'' (p. 145). The book will be useful in libraries of schools with strong programs in public policy or public administration.-H.E. Albert, Clemson University