The Life Cycles of the Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency

In this slim volume, Conant and Balint offer a comprehensive and rewarding history of the U.S. CEQ and the EPA. They ground their assessment in organizational lifestyle models and explore a variety of intriguing questions about the two agencies. Of particular importance is their rigorous analysis of EPA funding over time, which has major implications for the agency's effectiveness during periods of heightened political controversy over environmental policy. --Michael E. Kraft, co-author of Environmental Policy: New Directions for the Twenty-First Century Conant and Balint have examined the 45 year history of the US' principal environmental entities and rated their standing through the changes of Administrations and the vicissitudes of public concern for the environment. I applaud their making institutional history an appropriate object for social scientists to put under the microscope. Their rigorous objectivity and focus on budget allocations leads them to surprising conclusions: the agencies fared better under Republicans than under Democrats. Their extensive research equips them to take the case further, and evaluate the quality of the agencies' performance for which budget numbers are indicative though not conclusive determinants. --William K. Reilly, Senior Staff Member at CEQ 1970-73, and US EPA Administrator 1989-93 This book provides an invaluable perspective on the political economy of federal budgeting from the agency point of view. The insights generated by the authors on resource allocation and bureaucratic politics break new ground that hopefully may stimulate much needed new research on the politics of national budgeting. The authors do the great service to students and interested observers alike of demystifying the often obscure and specialized world of budgeting by clearly illustrating demonstrating the broader policy and political consequences of budget choices and routines. --Paul L. Posner, Chairman, National Academy of Public Administration