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Fighting Westway is a very good book on a rich topic. William W. Buzbee has done impressive research and is well acquainted with environmental litigation in general and his main protagonists in particular. Oliver A. Houck, Tulane University Law School, author of Taking Back Eden: Eight Environmental Cases That Changed the World

Just as a military history combines the chronology of each side's moves and blunders, the capabilities of each army's weapons, and the personalities of the generals to explain the outcome of a war, Professor Buzbee weaves the stories of the Westway camps' political tactics, shifts in the doctrines of environmental regulation and citizen access to courts, and the biographies and decisions of individual stakeholders into a comprehensive and definitive history. Part tactical postmortem, part courtroom drama, and part seamy tale of political intrigue (p. 6), Fighting Westway will be of interest to lawyers, environmentalists, and historians alike. -Harvard Law Review (Dec. 2014) Written by a law professor, Fighting Westway is a carefully researched and clear narrative for a broad audience. For community and environmental activists as well as professionals, it is well worth the read because it vividly illustrates the depth and complexity of the struggle that was needed in order to beat back the giant deal. - Tom Angotti, The Indypendent (January 2015) The Westway was envisioned by many prominent New Yorkers in the 1970s and early 1980s as a massive highway and commercial development along the city's Hudson River shore, generously financed with federal highway funds. But that vision was never fulfilled, for it aroused 14 years of intense opposition from a host of citizen groups, as chronicled here in detail by Buzbee (law, Emory Univ.)... This is an excellent study of how broadly written regulations can engender conflicts over their application to specific projects. It speaks strongly to students of public and environmental law as well as public administration. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, and research collections. -W. C. Johnson, CHOICE (December 2014) Fighting Westway is a fluid historical narrative that offers rich political discernments about a legendary case study of environmental politics. Buzbee's chronological account and legal analysis of the rise and fall of the proposed redevelopment of an interstate along the Lower West Side of Manhattan island is accomplished with an inspirational, firsthand, objective, third-party storyline... The author, an experienced environmental scholar, is insightful on numerous fronts but is profound when discussing what he refers to as the regulatory war... Fighting Westway draws on an incredible amount of research from the primary actors in the courtroom battles that ultimately defined Westway's place in history. The story is a thoroughly detailed look into how regulatory policies function, are challenged, and can be altered. The importance of citizen activism in holding the relevant agencies accountable is great because the intent of environmental laws via citizen-suit provisions is a lesson that needs to be understood by public administrators and politicians. -Nicholas Guehlstorf, Law and Politics Book Review (September 2014) Finally! The first thorough, truthful account of one of the great environmental battles of the twentieth century! William W. Buzbee captures in rigorous detail the successful fight a group of dedicated citizens waged against the major economic and political powers of the day. Westway was a victory for honesty, principle, and the rule of law. Long live the Clean Water Act and the Hudson River striped bass! -John H. Adams, Founding Director, Natural Resources Defense Council, coauthor of A Force for Nature Fighting Westway is the definitive account of the fifteen-year struggle over Westway. An infrastructure project proposed for Manhattan's West Side, Westway would have significantly changed the cityscape of New York City. William W. Buzbee tells the compelling story of how an unlikely collection of citizen activists, politicians, scientists, and public interest lawyers defeated a mega-project backed by New York's most powerful business and civic leaders. The dramatic story of the battle over Westway serves as a masterful case study of how today's regulatory wars are waged across the United States. By weaving together the many different, overlapping roles played by politics, regulatory agencies, environmental science, grassroots advocacy, and public interest lawyering, Buzbee reveals the structure in which public policy is often made today. -Richard Briffault, Joseph P. Chamberlain Professor of Legislation, Columbia University Law School, coauthor of State and Local Government Law Finally we have a much-needed historical analysis of the embattled West Side Highway Project, known as Westway. It's a page-turner as the reader seeks reasons for, and the outcome of, the wars that were fought over the future of Lower Manhattan's Hudson River waterfront from the 1971 Plan to the conclusive court decision. William W. Buzbee has amalgamated governmental, political, civic, and legal documents and interviews with participants into an insightful and thought-provoking story about the travails of a large physical project in the post-Robert Moses era. -Ann L. Buttenwieser, author of Manhattan Water-Bound Fighting Westway has much to teach us about the dynamics of environmental disputes, the role of courts, and the history of a great American city. -Daniel Farber, Sho Sato Professor of Law and Co-Director, Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, University of California, Berkeley, author of Eco-Pragmatism University of California, Berkeley, author of Eco-Pragmatism Fighting Westway provides a deep and highly nuanced analysis of a landmark environmental battle that, though it took place two decades ago, remains highly relevant in today's fractious political economy. -Thomas O. McGarity, Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Chair in Administrative Law, University of Texas School of Law, author of Freedom to Harm: The Lasting Legacy of the Laissez Faire Revival William W. Buzbee's absorbing history unearths the complex and fascinating events, personalities, and regulations that conspired to create one of New York's most public failures of city planning-and one of its most memorable triumphs of citizen activism. At the beginning of a new mayoral administration, this book is a timely reminder that urban advocacy is never out of fashion in the city that never sleeps. -Elizabeth L. Bradley, author of Knickerbocker Fighting Westway is a very good book on a rich topic. William W. Buzbee has done impressive research and is well acquainted with environmental litigation in general and his main protagonists in particular. -Oliver A. Houck, Tulane University Law School, author of Taking Back Eden: Eight Environmental Cases That Changed the World

Author Information

William W. Buzbee is Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center. He is coauthor of Environmental Protection: Law and Policy and editor of Preemption Choice: The Theory, Law, and Reality of Federalism's Core Question. He has published in many leading law reviews.

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