1. Environmental Decision- Making Business as Usual, Crisis- Response, and Prevention

2. I. How is environmental policy made? Must understand: level of policy, decision- making process, issue characteristics, and policy implementation.

3. A. Levels of Environmental Policy LevelInstitutions Policy example Neighborhood Homeowner’s associations Trash cleanup City/County Zoning/Planning boards Limit residential development

4. Local Policy  Many environmental problems have local cause and small radius of effects  Long history of local community actions to regulate members of the community –Traditional use of common property resources –Regulation of public nuisances –Zoning laws

5. A. Levels of Environmental Policy LevelInstitutions Policy example Neighborhood Homeowner’s associations Trash cleanup City/County Zoning/Planning boards Limit residential development State Commission on Environmental Quality Pollution permits Multi-State Interstate Compact Program to fight acid rain Nation Congress, Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Act

6. National Policy  The main wave of (US) Federal environmental legislation starts around 1970 at a crest of the environmental movement (First Earth Day 1970)  The Big 4: –National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 1969 –Clean Air Act - 1970 –Clean Water Act - 1972 –Endangered Species Act - 1973

7. B. Patterns of Decision-Making 1.Business as usual: Interest Group Politics (see previous lecture) 2.Crisis Response: a.“Something must be done” – Driven by media coverage (remember spin bias) b.“This is something” – Agenda-setters asked for proposals c.“Therefore, this must be done” – Little debate, easy and often unanimous passage

8. 3. Bureaucratic Regulation: Incrementalism a.Slow: EPA regulations typically require 12-18 months to become effective b.Deliberate: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) Process i.EPA Inter-Office Work Group concurrence required for significant actions (agency is fragmented by issue area) ii.Inter-Agency agreement required for many rules (Agriculture, State, Defense, etc) iii.Office of Management & Budget (OMB) review -- up to 90 days (added by Reagan Administration) iv.Public Comment period (30-60 days) v.Process repeated for Final Rules (except Public Comment)

9. C. Framing the Problem 1. Technological Problem –Identify the best technologies to reduce environmental damage and mandate their use –Style: Command and control –Most common in 1970s and 1980s

10. 2. Behavioral Problem  Eliminate the incentives that cause people to damage the environment  Style: Market-based incentives (costs and benefits)  Most common in 1990s, 2000s

11. 3. Dominant Principles a.Polluter Pays: Initial wave of “toxic waste” laws b.Pollution Prevention: Principle of CAA, CWA c.Sustainable Development: Try to overcome growth-environment trade-off d.Precautionary Principle: Act while action is still possible (analogous to pre-emptive strikes)

12. D. Policy Implementation 1.General constraint: resources allocated to program funding and enforcement Example: EPA gets more workers, no more money  cuts in program funding

13. EPA Budget and Workforce

14. 2. Implementation is Political a.Efforts to limit enforcement budget of EPA b.Repeated deadline extension c.Arguments against “adversarial” enforcement – support for partnerships with communities and businesses

15. II. How does politics affect the environment? A.Party Politics – Republicans and Democrats have different bases of support.

16. Party Platforms, 1976: DemocratsRepublicans Environmental protection needed for just society. Control pollution to improve health. Spread economic impacts uniformly across nation. Control strip mining. Clean air and land use are state/local responsibilities. Minimize regulation of coal mining. Increase use of nuclear power.

17. Party Platforms, 1984: DemocratsRepublicans Fully fund hazardous waste cleanup. Strengthen CAA, CWA. Restore EPA budget. Expand National Wilderness Preservation System. Environmental protection must be balanced by economic growth. More coal, oil, gas should be mined. Increase use of nuclear power.

18. Party Platforms, 1992: DemocratsRepublicans “No net loss” of wetlands. Establish civilian youth conservation corps. Increase recycling, energy efficiency standards. Trade agreements must protect environment. US must lead world on global warming, ozone, biodiversity, population. No restrictions on international trade. Protect rights of farmers, ranchers, foresters. Use public lands, including ANWR, for mining, oil, gas, lumber. Private ownership and growth best protect environment. Resist demands for global warming treaty.

19. Party Platforms, 2000: DemocratsRepublicans Trade agreements must protect environment. Support treaty on global warming. Protect public lands. Incentives for fuel efficiency and clean energy technologies. Growth is key to environmental protection. Government must not be adversarial but instead use market-based incentives. Increase power of state/local governments. Allow logging, oil, gas, mining on public lands, including ANWR.

20. Party Politics? NEPA, CAA CWA RCRA, TSCA CAA, CWA CERCLA SARA, EPCRA CAA Senate House

21. B. The Environment as a Campaign Issue