Book Summary of Environmental Law and American Business: Dilemmas of Compliance by Joseph F. DiMento

Environmental Law and American Business: Dilemmas of Compliance, Joseph F. DiMento, (New York: Plenum Press, 1986), 219 pp.

Environmental Law and American Business: Dilemmas of Compliance will be of interest to those who seek an understanding of the compliance of American businesses to environmental laws. The first chapter examines four cases of non-compliance. The first of these involves a mushroom farmer whose compost mixture drains into a local creek; the second case concerns the disposal of toxic chemicals in a sewer system. The other two cases involve large corporations and took many years to cite into court. The author discusses the disparity in these two cases.

The second chapter addresses the non-compliance problem wherein the author discusses the nature of environmental violations, and the nature of compliance. The author hopes that this volume will answer the question "What policies will achieve the goal of persuading business to comply with reasonable environmental law?". The third chapter examines the tools society uses to pursue compliance. The author addresses the use, and the advantages of, three sort of sanctions: criminal, civil and administrative. He also discusses less formal approaches such as conference and conciliation and negotiation based approaches. He closes the chapter with a consideration of incentive based approaches and their relative advantages and disadvantages.

Chapter four is concerned with the behaviour of compliance and serves as an introduction to a later chapter. In this chapter, the author offers the framework of the compliance system and a brief discussion of: enforcement, communication of the law, and the actors. This is followed by a chapter on enforcement characteristics and compliance. DiMento discusses further, the necessary but not sufficient condition of enforcement. In an examination of the nature of the sanction, the author offers the business perspective and cost-benefit calculations of the regulated. Fairness, legitimacy and the rationality of enforcement policy is the next topic. The role of the courts in achieving certainty and imminence is the closing topic of the chapter.

Chapter six is devoted to consideration of the behaviour of compliance and how to communicate the law. The author has three main concerns in this chapter: the clarity and specificity of the law, consistency in articulation of the law, and the rationality of regulation. DiMento asserts that participation in rule-making is an avenue both to clarity and compliance. He asserts that the degree of consistency determines the outcome, and that legislative irrationality considers it possible to have clean air and dirty coal.

The penultimate chapter examines the actors. The author first addresses what makes a successful public agency. He finds that: access to resources and coordination of government effort are important. Equally important are: the qualities of the administrator of the agency, agency characteristics, and the quality of the legal staff in an agency. DiMento finds that support groups for compliance offer business support and may improve compliance. Finally the author acknowledges that the type of business and its size make a difference in its degree of compliance. The final chapter addresses the necessary components for making environmental laws work. These are: laws which clearly communicate, appropriate enforcement, and providing assistance to support groups.

Environmental Law and American Business: Dilemmas of Compliance is a careful and considered work which offers practical advice to regulatory agencies in achieving their goals for a high rate of compliance to environmental laws.