Economy and Environment Rationality and Ritual

Abstract

The Delaware River Basin Commission mounted a massive attack on pollution in their estuary,¹ “hailed by many as representing one of the few triumphs of American environmental policy.”² The effort was (and is) the largest aimed to clean up our rivers. The work involves five states, hundreds of millions of dollars, and extensive attempts at the most modern technical analyses of costs and benefits. In its economic rationale and political procedures this large-scale attack on water pollution is typical of environmental policy-making. It is also a failure. Of course, the river will be cleaned up somewhat, except that, for the most part, the Delaware will remain unswimmable, unboatable, unsightly, and only slightly more fishable, smellable, and spotable. That is not much gain for approximately three quarters of a billion dollars, not much, that is, if you value results. But if the cleaning is what you value, if your aim is the ritual of purification, then the whole thing is a rip-roaring success.