The messy politics of cleaning up
By Jonathan Adler
Copyright 1999 Washington Times
January 10, 1999
It is an article of faith among many environmental activists
that modern
industry has unleashed a
cancer epidemic on the American people. Yet many scientists remain
unconvinced, if
not actively dismissive, of such fears. This gulf between activist
ideology
and scientific belief is one of the important issues
tackled by S. Robert Lichter and Stanley Rothman in their
important new book,
Environmental
Cancer: A Political Disease? (Yale University Press, $30, 223
pages). This book presents a substantial challenge to anti-chemical
activism and the largely sympathetic coverage it receives
in the media.
Mr. Lichter and Mr. Rothman begin with an overview of the
modern
environmental movement, its history and ideological orientations.
They
properly note that the movement has many strains and is anything
but
monolithic. They also provide a handy overview of
cancer, its development and
causes. Environmental
cancer, they note, is all
cancer
caused by environmental factors, including personal behavior (diet,
smoking),
natural exposure to carcinogens (e.g., sunlight) and exposure to
man-made
chemicals.
Most scientists, according to the authors, attribute only
a tiny fraction of
such
cancers to manmade chemicals, and most of these cases are due to
occupational
exposures, as opposed to food additives, pesticides or pollution.
Yet neither
the priorities of environmental activist organizations or media
coverage
reflect this fact.
Mr. Lichter's and Mr.
Rothman's findings surely will be controversial, but they are well
documented.
They polled
cancer researchers to contrast the scientific consensus with the
media coverage. They
also used polling to identify the differences in opinion between
environmental
activists and
cancer researchers, as well as the public at large. One
interesting finding in the
book is that the typical environmental activist is more supportive
of federal
government programs across the board than the average American
citizen. It is
no wonder that most environmentalists call for more federal
intervention to
address environmental concerns.
Environmental groups have given
cancer prevention efforts a misguided
focus. This book should help put public health efforts back on
track.
* * *
The fear of chemical pollutants has been injected into the
debate over racial
injustice. The resulting brew threatens to transform environmental
policy.
The environmental justice movement contends that environmental
contamination is
disproportionately imposed on poor and minority
communities. This claim has attracted substantial attention and is
now
incorporated into official EPA policy. While several books have
addressed
environmental justice concerns, The Promise and Peril of
Environmental Justice
(Brookings Institution Press, $22.95, 191 pages) by Christopher H.
Foreman, Jr. is the first to do so with a
critical eye. As a result, it is the best book to date on the
subject.
Mr. Foreman, an analyst at the Brookings Institution, is
clearly sympathetic
to the movement's goals. Yet he fears that it may
cause more harm than good. The focus on environmental justice,
while
understandable, is
somewhat misplaced, Mr. Foreman suggests. Concerns about
community
empowerment and social justice are legitimate and substantial. The
author
argues, however, that the movement directs community attention away
from those
problems posing the greatest
risks and therefore may actually undermine public health
improvements.
Moreover, insofar as the problems environmental justice
activists seek to address are social or economic in nature, federal
environmental law is ill-equipped to provide a solution. If
minority groups
live disproportionately near environmental hazards, socio-economic
factors are
more to blame than racism. Thus, measures to restrict economic
development in
depressed areas
make for an improper antidote.
Mr. Foreman adopts a measured tone and engages in
thoughtful analysis of a
troubling and highly controversial topic. One hopes that his
critics, and
there are sure to be many, are capable and willing to do the same.
* * *
The state of the world's oceans is finally attracting
serious attention from
mainstream environmental groups. For years, marine issues
languished in the
background as tragedy befell the great ocean commons. Robert Jay
Wilder's
Listening to the Sea: The Politics of Improving Environmental
Protection
(University of Pittsburgh Press, $45 cloth, $19.95 paper, 316
pages) is one of several
recent books which seek to explain how the oceans began their
decline and what
can be done about it.
The author brings both his legal and scientific background
to bear, outlining
the evolution of jurisdictions from European customs to the debate
over the law
of the sea. This history, often overlooked in fishery discussions,
is
important, and
Mr. Wilder provides a valuable service in supplying the
background, as well as
by reminding the reader that oceanic issues cannot be wholly
separated from
environmental concerns on land; much marine pollution, after all,
is not
generated at sea.
While the history and much of his analysis is
insightful, the author's solutions are more of a mixed bag. He
rightly notes
the need for institutional reform, and a greater role for state
governments in
managing their coasts, but he neglects to discuss recent fishery
management
innovations, in New Zealand for instance, that have made
significant progress. Mr. Wilder bandies about the need for a
precautionary
approach to environmental policy without addressing the trade-offs
implicit in
the argument. Saving the world's oceans requires more serious
consideration
than adopting the precautionary principle as a mantra.
* * *
David Lebedoff's recounting of the
civil litigation spawned by the Exxon Valdez spill, Cleaning Up:
The Story
Behind the Greatest Legal Bonanza of Our Time (Free Press, $25, 321
pages), may be less gripping and compelling than Jonathan Harr's
best
seller,
"A Civil Action," but the story is equally important.
The
sight of several million gallons of oil coating the shores of
Prince William
Sound in 1989 catalyzed the environmental movement. Much ink was
spilled over
Exxon's efforts to clean up the spill and the Sound's subsequent
ecological
recovery, but comparatively little attention has been paid to the
private
lawsuits
against Exxon and Capt. Joseph Hazelwood, the man in charge of the
Valdez when
it ran aground.
As oil spread along the coast, lawyers spread through
Alaska in search of
clients. Some saw a noble
cause, others an opportunity. The result was a massive class
action suit on behalf of Alaska fishermen that produced a $5
billion verdict against the oil giant. Mr. Lebedoff occasionally
gets mired
in the minutiae of the case, and at times his language is
overwrought, but the
book provides a valuable behind-the-scenes look at the
legal aftermath of one of the most signifigant environmental events
of the past
20 years.
Jonathan H. Adler is senior director of environmental
policy at the
Competitive Enterprise Institute and the editor of
"The Costs of Kyoto: Climate Change Policy and Its
Implications" (1997).
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