The question of how public policy is and should be made is among the most important questions political scientists research. From David Easton's systems theory to the competing pluralist schools (Robert Dahl and Charles Lindblom, 1953; Dahl, 1956, 1961) to elite (G. William Domhoff, 1974), feminist (Amy Mazur, 2002; Nancy Fraser, 1997; Deborah Stone, 1997), postpositivist (Pushkala Prasad, 2005; Dvora Yanow, 2000), policy learning (Sabatier, 1987, 1999), and other theories of public policy, political scientists continue to wrestle with the causes and consequences of public policy.

In his third book, The Politics of Air Pollution, George Gonzalez challenges several prevailing notions regarding the promulgation of air pollution and environmental policy. His central argument is the idea that significant gains in air pollution reduction are not the result of the political efficacy of large mainstream environmental groups who effectively lobby federal officials and top-level bureaucrats.

Instead, Gonzalez argues that regional business elites and, following Harvey Molotch (1976, 1979), “growth machines” pursue air pollution reductions purely in response to capital accumulation and wealth maximization. Cleaner air equals higher profits and growth potential. A relatively healthy environment is a valued commodity. Conversely, Gonzalez identifies numerous cases wherein dirty air, or the perception thereof, becomes an investment liability.

Unlike the command and control modes of the 1970s, Gonzalez successfully illustrates how regional growth coalitions seek technology-based solutions. Turning to private markets to generate new and improved pollution-reducing technologies effectively mitigates any calls for reducing industrial production and economic output of automobiles and other elements of large-scale manufacturing and development. In fact, Gonzalez identifies how technological solutions have spillover effects and can stimulate latent elements of a regional or national economy. Perhaps most importantly, a market-centered approach “places industry at the center of the formulation and implementation processes” (p. 15). While some environmental groups collaborate with industry on environmental alternatives (e.g., Environment Defense and McDonald's use of paper instead of Styrofoam containers), organized green groups play a largely symbolic role in the political chimera of interest-group bargaining pluralism (John Dryzek, 1996). Because the policy agenda and alternatives are constrained to largely technological solutions, environmental groups operate within Peter Bachrach and Morton S. Baratz's notion of the “second-face of power” (1962).

The middle portion of the book addresses two policymaking models to determine which more accurately describes the techno-fix hegemony in air pollution policy. While perhaps helpful for political science students, this review of state autonomy/issue networks and economic elite theories is a good start but does not comprehensively address the environmental policy applications. The empirical evidence presented in Chapter 3, 4, and 5 is at times compelling, but overall, Gonzalez relies too much on historical examples to support applicability of the book's thesis for contemporary air pollution and urban growth management. Due to the burgeoning literature and local success stories regarding “smart growth,” his coverage of this interrelated area was surprisingly minimal. From Maine to Minnesota to Texas and Arizona, myriad political coalitions, including bipartisan state and local leaders, activists, and business elites, have pushed for mixed-use infill development, mass transit systems, conservation easements, and other smart growth measures. In some cases, such as the state of Maryland, smart growth measures were most clearly implemented (and retracted) by political elites—primarily Governors Parris Glendening (D-MD, 1995–2003), Jennifer Granholm (D-MI, 2002–current), Jesse Ventura (I-MN, 1998–2002).

As a result of the technology “fixes” and fairly anemic success by national environmental groups, Gonzalez calls for environmentalists to “withdraw from the polity and seek to mobilize the public on both local air quality and global warming issues” (p. 107). According to the author, this would remove legitimacy on the policy process and thereby make the formation, implementation, and execution of environmental policy more difficult. By focusing on public education as a political solution, he states that environmental groups could “contribute to sparking a social movement on these issues” (p. 107). Furthermore, he advocates a “confrontational social movement” to challenge the dominance of local growth machines. While this may be true in certain local contexts, the “calls for public education” are nothing new.

As environmentalists continue to struggle for national policy achievements, grassroots and national leaders alike are rightly debating the most effective political strategies. Gonzalez's push for environmentalists to refocus and energize the public follows, in some ways, the widely discussed speech and paper “The Death of Environmentalism” (Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, 2004). Gonzalez's call for “strong ecological modernization” (p. 102), albeit insufficiently explained, is directly in line with Shellenberger and Nordhaus's challenge of the rhetoric and politics of national environmental groups and foundations. By discussing air pollution in the context of urban livability, rather than pitching the debate as environmental quality or economic growth, environmental groups can contest and supplement the technology-only solutions for clean air, transportation, and other related policy matters. By removing issues from their policy silos and talking instead about energy alternatives, livability, and job creation, the political discourse and widespread conceptual support for environmentalism can materialize as smart growth solutions created by both the public and private sectors.

Due to its accessibility and contributions to an understanding of environmental policy in a federalist context, this book is recommended for all readers.