Business and Environmental Policy: Corporate Interests in the American Political System (American and Comparative Environmental Policy)

It is well known that American businesses make an effort to influence
environmental policy by attempting to set the political agenda and to influence
regulations and legislation. This book examines what is not so well known: the
extent to which business succeeds in its policy interventions. In Business and
Environmental Policy, a team of distinguished scholars systematically analyzes
corporate influence at all stages of the policy process, focusing on the factors
that determine the success or failure of business lobbying in Congress, state
legislatures, local governments, federal and state agencies, and the courts. These
experts consider whether business influence is effectively counterbalanced by the
efforts of environmental groups, public opinion, and other forces.The book also
examines the use of the media to influence public opinion--as in the battle over
drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge--and corporations' efforts to sway
elections by making campaign contributions. Because the book goes well beyond the
existing literature--much of which is narrow, descriptive, and anecdotal--to provide
broad-based empirical evidence of corporate influence on environmental policy, it
makes an original and important contribution and is appropriate for a variety of
undergraduate and graduate courses.