Transcript Document

This lecture will help you understand:
• Environmental
policy’s societal
context
• U.S. environmental
laws
• Different approaches
to policy
• The policy process
• International
environmental policy
• Transboundary issues
Policy
• A set of plans and principles to address problems and
guide decision making in specific instances.
• Public policy consists of laws, regulations, orders,
incentives, and practices designed to advance societal
welfare.
• Environmental policy pertains to human interactions
with the environment and generally aims to regulate
resource use or pollution to promote human welfare
and/or protect natural systems.
Environmental policy
•
Addresses issues of equity and resource use
•
Prevents overexploitation of public resources
(tragedy of the commons)
•
Ensures that some people do not harm others while
benefiting from common resources
•
Prevents free riders by ensuring, through
enforcement or taxation, that all parties sacrifice
•
Prevents external costs by ensuring that some
parties do not use resources in ways that harm others
Pollution from sewage
• Much of the Tijuana River’s pollution results from
sewage that has not been properly treated.
External costs
• Users of river water can create external costs for other
users downstream.
This woman may suffer pollution from upstream factories, and create
pollution affecting downstream families.
What can hinder environmental policy?
• Opposition from landowners fearing loss of control over
land
• Opposition from businesses, developers, and industry
groups fearing government regulation
• Human tendency (especially businesses, media,
politicians) to focus on short-term problems and ignore
long-term problems
U.S. federal government
• In the U.S. government, power is shared among three
branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.
Administrative agencies, the “fourth branch”
Constitutional amendments
• Several amendments bear on environmental policy,
including the Fifth Amendment and its “takings clause.”
• In the Lucas case, the Supreme Court ruled that a law
prohibiting beach development was a “regulatory
taking.”
First wave of environmental policy in the
U.S.
• Laws to promote land settlement and resource extraction;
for example:
• General Land Ordinances, 1785, 1787
• Homestead Act, 1862
• Mineral Lands Act, 1866
• Timber Culture Act, 1873
Land settlement
• U.S. policy encouraged settlers like these in Nebraska,
circa. 1860, to move west.
Resource extraction
Logging in Washington
Mining in Alaska
Second wave of environmental policy in the
U.S.
• To address impacts of the first wave; for example:
• • Creation of national parks
• • Creation of national forests
• • Soil conservation policy
• • Wilderness Act, 1964
Third wave of environmental policy in the
U.S.
• Modern environmental activism and policy arose in
response to pollution and other problems.
• • Silent Spring
• • Earth Day
• • EPA and National Environmental Policy Act
• • Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act
Rachel Carson and Silent Spring
Carson’s 1962 book
brought attention to
pesticide dangers, and
catalyzed environmental
awareness.
Rivers on fire
The petroleum-polluted Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught
fire, showing the need for action against water pollution.
Earth Day
Earth Day began in 1970…
…and is bigger than ever today.
EPA and NEPA
• In 1970, President
Richard Nixon:
• • Signed the
National
Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA)
into law
• • Created the
Environmental
Protection Agency
(EPA) by executive
order
EPA
• Was directed to:
• • Conduct and evaluate research
• • Monitor environmental quality
• • Set and enforce standards (e.g., for pollutants)
• • Assist states in meeting standards
• • Educate the public
NEPA
• Created the Council on Environmental Quality
• Mandated environmental impact statements for
public projects
and has:
• Prioritized understanding our impacts on the
environment
• Slowed down or prevented environmentally
destructive development
• Given citizens a say in the policy process
Key environmental protection laws,
1963-1985
Some approaches to environmental policy
• Command and control (end of pipe): government
regulation; limits/standards/quotas set; penalties for
violations
• Green taxes: charges on environmentally harmful
products, activities
• Marketable permits: firms can buy/sell/trade permits to
emit certain amounts of pollutants
Many subsidies are environmentally harmful
Some examples from the 2002 Green Scissors report:
• Mining: billions of dollars of
minerals extracted from public
lands leased cheaply
• Coal: billions of dollars to
coal industry while money
also goes to find cleaner
energy sources
• Timber: hundreds of millions
of dollars spent by Forest
Service building roads for
private logging on public land
The environmental policy process
The environmental policy process
Viewpoints: Public or private vs. pollution?
“The private sector can more often
implement projects faster, and at a
lower cost, than a lumbering
government.”
“Relying on private for-profit
companies to solve water
problems can result in higher
costs and fees that families cannot
afford.”
From Viewpoints
Satellite monitoring and international policy
• The same radar technology used to map sewage outflow
from the Tijuana River was used to pinpoint the 2002 oil
spill off the Spanish coast.
From The Science behind the Stories
Legislative process
• Bills go through a long
process before becoming
law, involving:
• Committees,
subcommittees, and floor
votes in both houses
• A joint conference
committee
• Final approval
• Signature or veto by the
president
International law
• Conventional law arises from conventions or treaties
agreed to among nations.
• (e.g., Montreal Protocol to protect ozone layer)
• Customary law arises from practices or customs held in
common by most cultures.
• (e.g., resource use should be equitable and one nation
should not cheat another.)
U.S.–Mexican cooperation
• In 1990 the U.S. and Mexico agreed by treaty to build and
operate the International Wastewater Treatment Plant to
handle excess sewage from Tijuana that otherwise would
pollute the river.
Important international bodies
• United Nations (UN): main body of international accord;
UNEP handles environmental issues
• World Bank: funds major development projects worldwide
• European Union (EU): government body with
representatives from most European nations
• World Trade Organization (WTO): promotes free trade
worldwide
• Non governmental organizations (NGOs): nonprofit
advocacy organizations
Conclusion
• Environmental policy draws from science, ethics,
economics, and the political process.
• Command-and-control legislation and regulation are the
most common approaches to policymaking.
• Innovative economic policy tools have also been
developed.
• Environmental issues often overlap political boundaries
and require international cooperation.
Conclusion
• The political process produced promising solutions to the
Tijuana River Valley Estuary and Beach Sewage Cleanup
Act (renewed in 2004).
• Binational agreements and management plans also played
a role.
• Understanding the fundamentals of environmental policy
will help students develop creative solutions to problems.
QUESTION: Review
The first wave of environmental policy in the U.S. was
designed to:
a. Prevent pollution problems.
b. Facilitate settlement and resource extraction.
c. Restrict use of public lands.
d. Restrict use of private lands.
QUESTION: Review
According to NEPA, before the government can embark
on a major development project, it must conduct a(n):
a. Pollution prevention and assessment study.
b. Public opinion poll.
c. Business feasibility study.
d. Environmental impact statement.
e. None of the above.
QUESTION: Review
Which is NOT a responsibility of the EPA?
a. Monitor environmental quality
b. Set and enforce pollutant standards
c. Conduct and evaluate research
d. Educate the public
e. All of the above are responsibilities of the EPA.
QUESTION: Review
Which illustrates a “command-and-control” approach to
an environmental problem?
a. A reward for recycling the most aluminum cans
b. A five-year jail term for exceeding air pollution limits
c. A contest for designing the most fuel-efficient
automobile
d. An exemption from the Clean Air Act during wartime
e. None of the above
QUESTION: Weighing the Issues
What if a state bans beach development to prevent
erosion, and a property owner cannot then build condos
on his land?
a. It is a regulatory taking, and the ban should be
overturned.
b. It is a regulatory taking, and the property owner
should be compensated.
c. The state has a right to ban development, for
the public good, without compensating landowners.
QUESTION: Weighing the Issues
Should executives from industry be allowed through the
“revolving door” to take government jobs regulating their
industry?
a. No, regulating one’s former industry is a conflict of
interest that undermines the regulatory process.
b. Yes, government will receive people who are
experienced and have inside knowledge.
QUESTION: Interpreting Graphs and Data
What law was passed in 1973?
a. Wilderness Act
c. Food Security Act
b. Clean Water Act
Act
d. Endangered Species
QUESTION: Viewpoints
What are the appropriate roles of the public and private
sectors in resolving water pollution problems?
a. Government should enforce regulations and assure
that public water supplies are safe.
b. Private companies should provide drinking
water and assure that supplies are safe.
c. We should seek public-private partnerships for
supplying water and cleaning wastewater.