Strategic Planning in Environmental Regulation: A Policy Approach that Works.

• Position: Book review

Steven Cohen, Sheldon Kamieniecki, and Matthew A. Cahn. 55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA, 02142: The MIT Press, May 2006. (800) 405-1619. mitpress.mit.edu. ISBN 0-262-53275-1. 304 pp. $24.00 Paperback.

Strategic Planning in Environmental Regulation introduces an approach to environmental regulatory planning founded on a creative, interactive relationship between business and government. The authors argue that regulation--often too narrowly defined as direct, command-and-control standard setting and enforcement--should include the full range of activities intended to influence private behavior to conform to public goals. The concept of strategic regulatory planning that the book introduces provides a model for designing more effective environmental regulation. Strategic planning requires careful consideration of the regulatory objectives, the target audiences for regulation, and the characteristics of the regulatory agency.

The two important case studies in the book--one on the use of the gasoline additive MTBE and the other on the cleanup of underground storage tanks (USTs)--apply the model, compare the approaches and results, and illustrate the advantages of a strategic approach.

The case of MTBE--in which an additive intended to produce...