Article ID: CBB066968357

Deflated Dreams: The EPA's Bubble Policy and the Politics of Uncertainty in Regulatory Reform (Spring 2019)

unapi

In the late 1970s, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled the bubble policy as a central part of Jimmy Carter's plan to reform environmental regulations that many believed had grown too proscriptive and too costly for American industry. Since the EPA's formation, regulators had dictated method and means for reducing air pollution. The bubble returned the prerogative to business. But despite bipartisan support, the bubble never took off. Drawing on EPA records and interviews, this article shows how skeptical regulators intentionally made the bubble unwieldy, driving away businesses wary of uncertainty. Though Ronald Reagan's election seemed to lift the bubble's fortunes, his undiscerning assault on the administrative state ironically deflated the EPA's development of a viable alternative to the proscriptive model.

...More
Associated with

Article Ann-Kristin Bergquist (Spring 2019) Renewing Business History in the Era of the Anthropocene. Business History Review (pp. 3-24). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB066968357/

Similar Citations

Book David Vogel; (2018)
California Greenin': How the Golden State Became an Environmental Leader (/isis/citation/CBB569183355/)

Book William M. Alley; Rosemarie Alley; (2020)
The war on the EPA : America's endangered environmental protections (/isis/citation/CBB217333973/)

Article Angela N. H. Creager; (September 2021)
To Test or Not to Test: Tools, Rules, and Corporate Data in US Chemicals Regulation (/isis/citation/CBB745420064/)

Article Becky Mansfield; (2021)
Deregulatory science: Chemical risk analysis in Trump’s EPA (/isis/citation/CBB234438851/)

Book Samuel P. Hanes; (2019)
The Aquatic Frontier: Oysters and Aquaculture in the Progressive Era (/isis/citation/CBB514942004/)

Article John B. Stranges; Matthew M. Troia; Claudette E. Walck; (2017)
Limited Victory: Love Canal Reclaimed (/isis/citation/CBB623185406/)

Article Grant, H. Roger; (Fall-Winter 2017)
The Prince Plan (/isis/citation/CBB308813674/)

Article Langston, Nancy; (January 2018)
DOCUMERICA and the Power of Environmental History (/isis/citation/CBB114442000/)

Book John L. Neufeld; (2016)
Selling Power: Economics, Policy, and Electric Utilities Before 1940 (/isis/citation/CBB220506803/)

Article Daniel A. Crane; (Winter 2019)
A Premature Postmortem on the Chicago School of Antitrust (/isis/citation/CBB064762036/)

Article Richard E. Greenwood; (1999)
Condos, Photos, and Singing Bridges: IA in the State Historic Preservation Offices (/isis/citation/CBB677082382/)

Article Jennie L Durant; (October 2020)
Ignorance loops: How non-knowledge about bee-toxic agrochemicals is iteratively produced (/isis/citation/CBB459611870/)

Book Train, Russell E.; (2003)
Politics, Pollution, and Pandas: An Environmental Memoir (/isis/citation/CBB000550660/)

Article Lauren Richter; Alissa Cordner; Phil Brown; (October 2018)
Non-stick science: Sixty years of research and (in)action on fluorinated compounds (/isis/citation/CBB792947339/)

Article Hoffman, Karen; (2013)
Unheeded Science: Taking Precaution out of Toxic Water Pollutants Policy (/isis/citation/CBB001320662/)

Book Collin, Robert W.; (2005)
The Environmental Protection Agency: Cleaning Up America's Act (/isis/citation/CBB000700829/)

Authors & Contributors
Samuel P. Hanes
Rosemarie Alley
Camp, Michael
Richter, Lauren
Troia, Matthew M.
Mansfield, Becky
Journals
Social Studies of Science
Science, Technology and Human Values
IA. The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology
Railroad History
Osiris: A Research Journal Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences
NTM: Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Technik und Medizin
Publishers
University of Pittsburgh Press
University of Massachusetts Press
University of Chicago Press
Rowman & Littlefield
Princeton University Press
Island Press
Concepts
Regulation
Public policy
Environmental policy
Environmental pollution
Technoscience; science and technology studies
Environmental protection
People
Trump, Donald H.
Time Periods
20th century
21st century
20th century, late
19th century
20th century, early
Places
United States
California (U.S.)
Love Canal
Germany
Appalachian region (North America)
India
Institutions
United States. Environmental Protection Agency
New Deal (1933-1939)
Chicago School of Economics
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment