The first comprehensive account of the Trump administration's efforts to destroy our government institutions, by the man Ralph Nader says "writes authoritatively and with revealing detail about important topics that few others cover" "Tom McGarity writes authoritatively and with revealing detail about important topics that few others cover." -Ralph Nader Koch Industries spent $3.1 million in the first three months of the Trump administration, largely to ensure confirmation of Scott Pruitt as head of the EPA. By July 2018, more than sixteen federal inquiries were pending into Pruitt's mismanagement and corruption. But Pruitt was just the first in a long line of industry-friendly, incompetent, and destructive agency heads put in place by the Trump administration in its effort to dismantle the federal government's protective edifice. Remember Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, who, before he faced eighteen separate federal inquiries and was fired, made a deal with Halliburton to build a brewery on land that Zinke owned in Montana? Or how about Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who rescinded requirements that high-hazard trains install special braking systems, weakened standards for storing natural gas, and lengthened the hours that truck drivers could be on the road without a break, even as she failed for two years to divest her interest in a road materials manufacturer? And then there were Rick Perry, Betsy DeVos, Sonny Perdue, Andrew Puzder . . . the list goes on. In an original and compelling argument, Thomas McGarity shows how adding populists to the Republican's traditional base of free market ideologues and establishment Republicans allowed Trump to come dangerously close to achieving his goal of demolishing the programs that Congress put in place over the course of many decades to protect consumers, workers, communities, children, and the environment. Finally, McGarity offers a blueprint for rebuilding the protective edifice and restoring the power of the American government to offer all Americans better lives.

The electric power industry has been transformed over the past forty years, becoming more reliable and resilient while meeting environmental goals. A big question now is how to prevent backsliding. Pollution, Politics, and Power tells the story of the remarkable transformation of the electric power industry over the last four decades. Electric power companies have morphed from highly polluting regulated monopolies into competitive, deregulated businesses that generate, transmit, and distribute cleaner electricity. Power companies are investing heavily in natural gas and utility-scale renewable resources and have stopped building new coal-fired plants. They facilitate end-use efficiency and purchase excess electricity produced by rooftop solar panels and backyard wind turbines, helping to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. But these beneficial changes have come with costs. The once-powerful coal industry is on the edge of ruin, with existing coal-fired plants closing and coal mines shutting down. As a result, communities throughout Appalachia suffer from high unemployment and reduced resources, which have exacerbated a spiraling opioid epidemic. The Trump administration's efforts to revive the coal industry by scaling back environmental controls and reregulating electricity prices have had little effect on the coal industry's decline. Major advances therefore come with warning signs, which we must heed in charting the continuing course of sustainable electricity. In Pollution, Politics, and Power, Thomas O. McGarity examines the progress made, details lessons learned, and looks to the future with suggestions for building a more sustainable grid while easing the economic downsides of coal's demise.

How much economic freedom is a good thing?
This book tells the story of how the business community, and the trade associations and think tanks that it created, launched three powerful assaults during the last quarter of the twentieth century on the federal regulatory system and the state civil justice system to accomplish a revival of the laissez faire political economy that dominated Gilded Age America. Although the consequences of these assaults became painfully apparent in a confluence of crises during the early twenty-first century, the patch-and-repair fixes that Congress and the Obama administration put into place did little to change the underlying laissez faire ideology and practice that continues to dominate the American political economy. In anticipation of the next confluence of crises, Thomas McGarity offers suggestions for more comprehensive governmental protections for consumers, workers, and the environment.

In this book, Professor McGarity reveals the complex and problematic relationship between the "regulatory reform" movements initiated in the early l970s and the United States' federal bureaucracy. Examining both the theory and application of "regulatory reform" under the Reagan administration, the author succeeds in offering both a relevant analysis and critique of "regulatory reform" and its implementation through bureaucratic channels. Using several case studies from the early Reagan years, this book describes the clash of regulatory cultures resulting from the President's attempt to incorporate "regulatory analysis" into the bureaucratic decisionmaking process. McGarity examines the roles that regulatory analysts and their counterparts in the Office of Management and Budget play in decisionmaking by offering hundreds of interviews with scientists, engineers, regulatory analysts and upper level personnel in federal agencies. The author then critiques the reformers' claim that regulatory analysis will result in "better" decisionmaking. Yet while McGarity recognizes the limitations of regulatory analysis, he concludes with suggestions for enhancing its effectiveness. This book could be used not only as a textbook for political science and government courses but also for graduate applications in public policy and public administration.

In this book, Professor McGarity reveals the complex and problematic relationship between the "regulatory reform" movements initiated in the early l970s and the United States' federal bureaucracy. Examining both the theory and application of "regulatory reform" under the Reagan administration, the author succeeds in offering both a relevant analysis and critique of "regulatory reform" and its implementation through bureaucratic channels. Using several case studies from the early Reagan years, this book describes the clash of regulatory cultures resulting from the President's attempt to incorporate "regulatory analysis" into the bureaucratic decisionmaking process. McGarity examines the roles that regulatory analysts and their counterparts in the Office of Management and Budget play in decisionmaking by offering hundreds of interviews with scientists, engineers, regulatory analysts and upper level personnel in federal agencies. The author then critiques the reformers' claim that regulatory analysis will result in "better" decisionmaking. Yet while McGarity recognizes the limitations of regulatory analysis, he concludes with suggestions for enhancing its effectiveness. This book could be used not only as a textbook for political science and government courses but also for graduate applications in public policy and public administration.

What do we know about the possible poisons that industrial technologies leave in our air and water? How reliable is the science that federal regulators and legislators use to protect the public from dangerous products? As this disturbing book shows, ideological or economic attacks on research are part of an extensive pattern of abuse.

Thomas O. McGarity and Wendy Wagner reveal the range of sophisticated legal and financial tactics political and corporate advocates use to discredit or suppress research on potential human health hazards. Scientists can find their research blocked, or find themselves threatened with financial ruin. Corporations, plaintiff attorneys, think tanks, even government agencies have been caught suppressing or distorting research on the safety of chemical products.

With alarming stories drawn from the public record, McGarity and Wagner describe how advocates attempt to bend science or spin findings. They reveal an immense range of tools available to shrewd partisans determined to manipulate research.

"Bending Science" exposes an astonishing pattern of corruption and makes a compelling case for reforms to safeguard both the integrity of science and the public health.

Most people are unaware of a quiet war that has been raging for the last decade in the courts, federal regulatory agencies, and Congress--a war over federal agency preemption of state common law claims. But the outcome of these battles will affect us all, says regulatory law expert Thomas O. McGarity, and consumers stand to be the biggest losers. In this comprehensive and balanced book, McGarity takes up for the first time this increasingly important subject. He shows how preemption affects the way citizens are protected from harm and companies are held accountable for damage they unlawfully cause. The book offers scholars and policymakers a full analysis of the legal and policy issues under debate, and it brings into sharp focus the impact of preemption on the lives of people involved in actual lawsuits. McGarity highlights the arguments for and against preemption and suggests guidelines for resolving difficult issues in a variety of contexts.