policies for enviornment

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings

PowerPoint® Slides prepared by

Jay Withgott and Heidi Marcum

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings

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PowerPoint® Slides prepared by

Jay Withgott and Heidi Marcum

Ch 3

Environmental Policy: Decision Making and Problem Solving

Part 1: Foundations of

Environmental Science

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings


Why are environmental laws unpopular?

• Environmental laws are challenged, derided, and ignored

• Environmental policy involves government regulations

• Businesses and individuals view laws as overly restrictive and unresponsive to human needs

• Most environmental problems are long-term processes

• Human behavior is geared toward short-term needs

• News media have short attention spans

• Politicians act out of their own short-term interest


• Results from actions of the three branches of government

• Legislative branch = creates statutory law

• Executive branch = enacts or vetoes legislation

- Issues executive orders

• Judicial branch = interprets laws

• Administrative agencies = the “fourth branch”

- Established by the president or Congress

Framework of U.S. policy


Early U.S. environmental policy

• Involved management of public lands, 1780s to the late 1800s

• Promoted settlement

• Extraction of natural resources

• Increased prosperity

• Relieved crowding in Eastern cities

• Displaced millions of Native Americans

• People believed that land was infinite and inexhaustible


The second wave of U.S. policy

• Addressed impacts caused by the first wave

• Public perception and government policy shifted

• Mitigated environmental problems associated with westward expansion

• Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first national park, opened in 1872

• Other protected areas were created

• National wildlife refuges, parks, and forests

• Reflected a new understanding that the West’s resources were exhaustible and required legal protection


The third wave of U.S. environmental policy

• Mid-to late-20th century

• Better off economically

• But dirtier air, dirtier water, and more waste and toxic chemicals

• Increased awareness of environmental problems shifted public priorities and policy

• 1962: Silent Spring (by Rachel Carson) described the negative ecological and health effects of pesticides and industrial chemicals


Modern U.S. environmental policy• The Cuyahoga River was

polluted with oil and industrial waste

• It caught fire in the 1950s and 1960s

• Today, public enthusiasm for environmental protection remains strong

• The majority of Americans favor environmental protection

• In April, millions of people celebrate Earth Day


The National Environmental Policy Act

(NEPA)• 1970 began the modern era of environmental policy

• Created the Council on Environmental Quality

- Requires an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for any federal action that might impact the environment

NEPA forces the government and businesses to evaluate the environmental

impacts of a project


The EPA shifts environmental policy

• Nixon created 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


Significant environmental laws

• The public demanded a cleaner environment and supported tougher environmental legislation


The social context for policy can change

• Three 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, with a supportive public and leaders who were willing to act

• In recent years, the political climate has changed

• People felt burdened by environmental regulations

• Attempts have been made to roll back or weaken environmental laws


Future environmental policies

• Will depend on having the American environmental movement reinvent its approach

• It needs to appeal to people’s core values

• Start showing why these problems are actually human issues and affect our quality life

• Future policies need to articulate a positive, inspiring vision for the future

• Currently, the United States has retreated from its leadership

• Other nations have increased their attention to environmental issues


Six steps to making environmental policy

• Requires curiosity, observation, awareness


Step 2

• Involves scientific research and

• Risk assessment = judging risks a problem poses

to health or the environment


Step 3

• Risk management = developing strategies to minimize risk

• Involves social or political action


Step 4

• Organizations are more effective than individuals

• But a motivated, informed individual can also succeed


Step 5

• Lobbying = spending time and money to influence a politician

• Environmental advocates are not the most influential

lobbyists

• Political Action Committees (PACs) = raise money for political

campaigns

• The revolving door = the movement of people between the

private sector and government

• Intimate knowledge of an issue or conflict of interest?


Step 6

• Prepare a bill, or draft law, containing solutions

• Following a law’s enactment

• Administrative agencies implement regulations

• Policymakers evaluate the policy’s successes or failures

• The judicial branch interprets the law


Science plays a role, but can be politicized

• Effective policy decisions are informed by scientific research

• Sometimes policymakers ignore science

• They let political ideology determine policy

• Scientists at government agencies have had their work suppressed or discredited

- Their jobs were threatened

When taxpayer-funded research is suppressed or distorted

for political ends, everyone loses


Approaches to environmental policy

• Command-and-control approach: environmental policy sets rules or limits and threatens punishment for violators

• Heavy-handed

• Alternative approaches involve using economic incentives to encourage desired outcomes and use market dynamics to meet goals

• Most current environmental laws

- Have resulted in safe, healthy, comfortable lives


What is the optimal amount of pollution? (If there is

such a thing?)

• If pollution exceeds the

optimum amount of

pollution

– the harm done exceeds

the cost to reduce it.

• If pollution is small it

may cost too much to

control the small

amount.


Clean Water Act

The Clean Water Act is a 1977 amendment to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972

Set the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants in the US

The law gave EPA the authority to set water quality standards for industry and for all contaminants in surface waters

Attain water quality levels that make these waterways safe to fish and/or swim in

Restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's water

The CWA makes it unlawful for any person to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters unless a permit (NPDES) is obtained

The amounts and types of pollutants than can be discharged or allowed to run in to waters from watersheds are regulated

Environmental Science ENSC 2800 - Pollution in the Bay-Delta

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Drawbacks of command-and-control

• Government actions may be well-intentioned but not informed

• Interest groups–people seeking private gain–unduly influence politicians

• Citizens may view policies as restrictions on freedom

• Costly and less efficient in achieving goals


Widespread economic policy tools

• Tax breaks = encourage desirable industries or activities

• Subsidy = a government giveaway of cash or resources to encourage a particular activity

• Have been used to support unsustainable activities

In 2003, $58 billion of taxpayer’s money was spent on 68

environmentally harmful subsidies such as building logging roads


Another economic policy tool

• Green taxes = taxes on environmentally harmful activities

• Polluter pays principle = the price of a good or service includes all costs, including environmental degradation

• Gives companies financial incentives to reduce pollution

• But, costs are passed on to consumers


Market permitting and incentives• Permit trading = government-created market in

permits

• Businesses buy, sell, trade these permits

• Emissions trading system = government-issued permits for an acceptable amount of pollution and companies buy, sell, or trade these permits with other polluters

• Cap-and-trade system = a party that reduces its pollution levels can sell this credit to other parties

- Pollution is reduced overall, but does increase around polluting plants

• Companies have an economic incentive to reduce emissions


Approaches to Environmental Policy

Tax it

Subsidize it

Provide a tax break

Regulate it

Cap and trade

Tradable environmental permits

Ban it

Phase it out

Fines

Prohibit trade

Inspections


Conclusion

• Environmental policy is a problem-solving tool

• Uses science, ethics and economics

• Conventional command-and-control approach

• Uses legislation and regulations

• Most common approach

• Market-based incentives

• Can be more complicated but can be less expensive

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