Chapter 7 topics:






Environmental policies
Major U.S.
environmental laws
Approaches to
environmental policy
The environmental
policy process
Science and policy
International
environmental policy
Environmental policy


Policy = a set of general plans and principles for
addressing problems and guiding decision-making
Public policy = made by governments
 Laws,
regulations, orders, incentives, and practices
 Intended to advance societal welfare

Environmental policy = pertains to human
interactions with the environment
 Regulates
resource use or reduces pollution
 To promote human welfare and/or protect resources
The ingredients and the players


Science, ethics, and economics help formulate policy
Government interacts with citizens, organizations,
and the private sector
Fixing marketplace short-comings

Capitalist markets
 Are
driven by short-term profit
 Do not consider long-term social impacts or
environmental stability
 Provide little incentive to minimize impacts

Environmental policy goals
 Protect
resources against the tragedy of the commons
 Promote equity by eliminating free riders
 Address external costs
Marketplace inequities




Tragedy of the
commons = common
resources become
overused/degraded
Best prevented by use
restrictions and
management
Cooperative approach
can work
Privatization can work




Free riders = people
are tempted to cheat
Avoiding sacrifices
made by others, they
get a “free ride”
Actions mandated by
public policies are
more effective
All parties sacrifice
equally
Marketplace inequities



External costs =
harmful impacts of
market transactions
borne by people not
party to transaction
Policies promote fairness
regarding external costs
Polluter pays principal
= polluters cover costs
of impacts
Objections

Environmental policies are challenged, ignored, and
rejected by citizens and policymakers because
 Environmental
policy involves government regulation –
property owners and businesspeople think regulations
are inconvenient and cause economic loss
 Problems
develop gradually, over the long term, but
human behavior is geared toward short-term needs
 Businesses
 News
opt for short-term economic gain
media have short attention spans
 Politicians
act out of short-term interest
Framework of U.S. policy


Legislative branch = creates statutory law
Executive branch = executes (carries out) laws
 Agencies
= implement and enforce laws
 Regulations = rules/requirements to achieve objectives
of broadly written statutory laws
 Executive orders = legal instructions for agencies

Judicial branch = interprets laws
 Precedents
= guides for later cases
 Lawsuits are filed for and against protection
State and local governments


States, counties, and municipalities also generate
environmental policies, often experimenting with
novel concepts
California, New York, and Massachusetts have
strong environmental laws
 Well-funded
agencies
 Citizens value protecting the environment

State laws cannot violate principles of the U.S.
Constitution, federal laws take precedence
Balancing constitutional ideas


Environmental policy involves a sensitive balance
between private rights and the public good
Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
 Prohibits
denying “equal protection of its laws”
 The constitutional basis for environmental justice

Fifth Amendment = the “takings” clause
 Bans
the literal taking of private property
 Also bans regulatory taking, which deprives a
property owner of economic uses of the property
st
1



wave of environmental policy
From 1780s to the late 1800s, environmental policy
promoted settlement and extraction of resources
People believed land was infinite and inexhaustible
Results:
 Increased
 Relieved
prosperity for citizens, railroad companies
crowding in Eastern cities
 Displaced
millions of Native Americans
Example laws from




st
1
wave
General Land Ordinances of 1785 and 1787:
surveying and readying federal land for sale
Homestead Act (1862): anyone could buy or settle
on 160 acres of public land
General Mining Act (1878): people could mine on
public land for $5/acre with no oversight
Timber Culture Act (1873): 160 acres to anyone
promising to plant trees on 25% of that land
nd
2


wave of environmental policy
From1880s to1960s, public perception and policy
shifted, a conservation/preservation ethic emerged
Recognition that Western resources were not
inexhaustible and needed legal protection
 Yellowstone
National Park opened in 1872
 National Forests became possible in 1903
 Soil conservation stresses after the 1930s Dust Bowl
 The 1964 Wilderness Act preserved pristine land
rd
3


wave of environmental policy
From 1960s to present increased awareness of
environmental problems caused further shifts
People were better off
economically but lived with
dirtier air, dirtier water,
more waste, toxic chemicals
 Rachel
Carson’s Silent
Spring (1962) described
the effects of pesticides
 The Cuyahoga River
caught fire in the 1960s
Support for the

rd
3
wave
Several factors converged to allow major advances
in environmental policy in the 1960s and 1970s
 Wide
evidence of environmental problems
 People could visualize policies to deal with problems
 The political climate was ripe
 Supportive public and leaders who were willing to act

Congress strengthened and elaborated laws in the
1980s with amendments to the Clean Water and
Clean Air Acts
Two turning points - NEPA



The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
formalized the modern era of environmental policy
Requires an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
for federal action that might impact the environment
Government and businesses must evaluate a
project’s environmental impacts using a cost-benefit
approach
 Provides
incentives to decrease damage
 Citizens are granted input into the policy process
Two turning points – U.S. EPA

President Nixon used an executive order to create
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
 Conducts
and evaluates research
 Monitors environmental quality
 Sets and enforces standards for pollution levels
 Assists states in meeting standards and goals
 Educates the public

The EPA is the leading agency for studying and
developing solutions for environmental problems
Significant environmental laws
Current trends in policy
United States



Many feel regulations
are too strict
Federal environmental
laws being weakened
since1994
NC laws continue to be
weakened
International


Other nations are
increasing efforts
“4th wave” focuses on
sustainability, safeguarding ecosystems
while raising living
standards
Approaches to environmental policy



Tort lawsuits in court
Command-and-control
Economic policy tools
Tort lawsuits in court

Lawsuits are often used to address U.S. policy issues
 In
the absence of laws and regulations
 To get laws and regulations enforced

Tort law = deals with one entity harming another
 Nuisance
law = individuals suffering from pollution
would seek redress through lawsuits
 Courts can make polluters stop using injunctions or fines
 Courts often reluctant, seeking to balance costs
 Tort law not a viable option to prevent pollution
Command-and-control

Command-and-control = a regulating agency sets
rules or limits, establishes and enforces punishment
for violators
 It
brings cleaner air, water, safer workplaces, etc.
 May
be well-intentioned, but not always well-informed
 Interest
groups—people seeking private gain—unduly
influence politicians and work against public interests
 Citizens
may view policies as restrictions on freedom
Economic policy tools

Green taxes
A
means to “internalize” external costs
 Flexibility to achieve objective

Subsidies
 “Giveaways”
of public money or resources
 Many existing ones promote unsustainable practices

Permit trading
 Cap-and-trade
market systems
 Buying and selling the “right” to pollute
Green taxes




Tax environmentally harmful activities to internalize
external costs and discourage undesirable activities
Businesses reimburse the public for damage they
cause – the more the pollution, the higher the tax
Gives companies financial incentives to reduce
pollution with the freedom to decide how to do so
Costs are passed on to consumers
Subsidies



Subsidy = a giveaway of cash or resources to
encourage an activity, often as tax breaks
Still used to support
activities we now know
to be unsustainable
From 2002 to 2008,
fossil fuel companies got
$72 billion, renewable
energy only $29 billion
Environmentally harmful subsidies

The General Mining Act of 1872
 Mining
companies get $500 million–$1 billion in
minerals from U.S. public lands each year
 No royalties are paid to taxpayers
 Mining activities have polluted 40% of Western
watersheds

The U.S. Forest Service builds roads for logging
companies
 Spends
$35 million of taxpayer money/year
 Companies sell the trees for profit
Permit trading markets


Permit trading = a government-created market in
permits for an environmentally harmful activity
Cap-and-trade emissions trading system = the
government sets levels (“caps”) and issues permits
 Polluters
can buy, sell, and trade these permits
 Pollution is reduced overall
 Companies have an incentive to reduce emissions


Sulfur dioxide emissions have decreased by 43%
Cuts were obtained more efficiently and at lower
cost than command-and-control regulation
Market incentives at the local level





Municipalities charge residents for waste disposal,
according to the amount of waste generated
Cities tax disposal of costly items (tires, motor oil)
Some cities give rebates for water-efficient
appliances
Power utilities give discounts for efficient light bulbs
and appliances
Well-planned market incentives can reduce
environmental impact while minimizing costs to
industry
Public-private partnerships



Public-private partnership = a for-profit entity
does the work, a public entity acts as overseer
Public policy goals will be achieved in a timely,
cost-effective manner, private entities try to
maximize efficiency
But it can be challenging to design workable
partnerships while serving both private and public
interests
Making environmental policy
Making environmental policy
Influencing the process



Corporations and industries can not make direct
campaign contributions so they establish Political
Action Committees (PACs) to raise money for
political campaigns and help candidates win
A 2010 Supreme Court decision allows corporations
and unions to buy ads for or against candidates
The revolving door = movement of people
between the government and the private sector
The role of science


Effective decisions are informed by scientific
research
Sometimes policymakers ignore science
 They
let political ideology determine policy
 Government scientists have had their work censored,
suppressed, or edited and their jobs threatened
 Unqualified people were put into power
 When taxpayer-funded research is suppressed or
distorted for political ends, everyone loses
International environmental policy

International environmental policy is supported by
 Customary
law = laws/customs held by most cultures
 Conventional
 Montreal
law = from conventions or treaties
Protocol = addressed ozone-depleting chemicals
 Kyoto
Protocol & Paris Conference = address greenhouse
gas emissions from fossil fuels that cause climate change

International organizations influence nations through
funding, peer pressure, and media attention
An uphill effort





Globalization interconnects our world
Societies and ecosystems changing at
unprecedented rates
Trade and technology allow increased consumption
Consumptive nations exert very high pressures
Multinational corporations operate outside the
reach of national laws with little incentive to
conserve resources or act sustainably
International Organizations


United Nations
Environment
Programme (UNEP)
Helps nations
understand and solve
environmental
problems


World Bank
One of the largest
funding sources for
economic development


Dams, irrigation,
infrastructure
Funds unsustainable,
environmentally
damaging projects
International Organizations


European Union (EU)
Seeks to promote
Europe’s unity, economic
and social progress
Can sign binding treaties
and enact regulations
 Can also issue advisory
directives
 Sees environmental
regulations as barriers to
trade



World Trade
Organization (WTO)
Represents multinational
corporations promoting
free trade
Can impose penalties on
nations that don’t comply
 Interprets environmental
laws as unfair barriers to
trade

Take-aways




Environmental policy is a problem-solving tool that
uses science, ethics, and economics
Conventional command-and-control approach uses
legislation and regulations to make policy
Tort law is still influential
Market-based policies are being developed, but
unsustainable and environmentally harmful projects
are still promoted