Publisher's Synopsis
This study provides an analysis of how efforts to control pollution are succeeding in the USA, and where they are failing. The text presents a detailed description of the pollution control regulatory system, and examines the character and function of the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The authors pinpoint the system's goals, and consider which of its priorities are appropriate. While acknowledging the successes of American pollution control in recent decades, the report finds the current system to be seriously flawed and misguided in many ways. It traces many of the problems to the structure of the system, and calls for a more integrated approach.;The authors assess the pollution control system's efficiency in many dimensions, examining such topics as cost-effectiveness, the effects on international competitiveness, and societal concerns such as equity and intrusiveness.