Environmental PolicyChapter 21

Copyright © 2011 Cengage

Pop Quiz 21

1.What agency enforces the Clean Air Act?

2.What device was supposed to make smokestacks cleaner?

3.On what date (m/d/y) was the 1st Earth Day celebrated?

4.What pool of money pays for environmental clean-up caused by corporations?

5.What book by Rachel Carson led to the banning of the pesticide DDT?

6.Name an environmental disaster that was polarized by the media.

Environmental Policy: What is it?

• Any course of action deliberately taken, or not taken, to manage human activities.

• Prevents, reduces, or mitigates harmful effects on nature and natural resources by humans.

• Very controversial: Which is a priority—• People or Places?• Jobs or Animals?• Protection or Affordability?

What's the BIG Deal?

There are 4 main reasons why Environmental Policy is so controversial:  Every government policy creates winners & losers Issues are debated by scientific uncertainty Most controversial measures take form of

Entrepreneurial Politics Environmental Policy of the federal government

impacts the states and other nations• Clean Air & Water Acts• The Kyoto Protocol (1997)

Environmental Politics• Entrepreneurial: Controlling pollution by

corporations (All benefit, corp. pays)• Majoritarian Politics: Reducing air

pollution cost caused by automobiles (Everyone benefits, everyone pays)

• Interest Group Politics: Mediating issues over Acid Rain (Businesses pay, farmers & certain industries benefit)

• Client Politics: Continuing use of pesticides to yield more (Farmers benefit, everyone pays)

Entrepreneurial Politics: History

• Rachael Carson’s Silent Spring highlights dangers of pesticides.

• Oil spill in 1969 in Santa Barbara, CA• Start of Earth Day (1st celebrated 4-20-70) • The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

created by Nixon administration in 1970.• Congress strengthened the Clean Air Act &

the Water Quality Improvement Act (1970)• Various laws and amendments to these acts

were passed in the 1990s

Is global warming real or a myth? Is it human generated or cyclical? How does this impact environmental policy in the US?

Entrepreneurial Politics: Issues• Endangered Species Act (1973)

o forbids buying or selling of endangered animals & plants

oAnimal rights groups support and polarize destruction and poaching…benefits widely distributed/costs to poachers

oMay be popular if it saves a symbol as a result: Example of the bald eagle

oMay be unpopular if jobs are lost as a result: Example of spotted owl

Majoritarian PoliticsBased around perspective of the costs Examples:Low Perceived Costs: National Environmental Policy Act (1969) required that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) be written before any agency undertakes an activity that affects the environment.

EIS is a report that assesses possible effects of project on the environment.

Costs are passed on to everyone, but large projects move forward and costs are hidden

Discuss issue of mid-county bridge

Majoritarion Politics (cont.)

High Perceived Costs: Raising taxes on gasoline

o Discourages driving, conserves fuel & reduces smog

o Everyone pays and everyone benefitso Costs are greatly felt by most familieso Remains very unpopular o Must sell an increase in the gas tax as

conferring a benefit

Majoritarian Politics: Issues

Clean Air Act (1970): imposed tough restrictions on amount of automobile emissions

o Amended from original act passed in 1963o Smog became a huge problem in large citieso Led to auto emissions and air quality standards

• Provision in law required states to develop land-use and transportation rules

• Catalytic converters reduced emissions, but raised auto prices. Leaded gasoline was phased out.

The public will support tough environmental laws when someone else has to pay or the cost is hidden; if they have to pay then their isn't strong support

Save the Planet!

The legislation passed by Congress (Clean Air Acts of 1970, 1977 & 1990) set strict time limits that could not be met without burdening individuals.Results? Time tables pushed back (1990 pushed smog

timeline to 2010, then reduced the requirement in 2010)

Some successes in major cities have been realized with these measures. Debate centers on which action led to the success, though.

How will we gauge success and how much is the average American willing to sacrifice to “save the planet?”

Interest Group Politics:

Acid Rain is any form of precipitation that is acidic.• What are the sources?

• Burning fuels from steels mills and electrical power plants

• How did uncertainties provide support for each side? • In the Northeast and East, some forests & lakes

damaged, others were not• The Midwest argued that not all could be

blamed on smokestacks• Transitioning to low sulfur coal was too

expensive

Interest Group Politics: Solution? (1977)Scrubbers (Eliminate sulfurous fumes from gas

before leaving smokestacks) Four Great Advantages:1.Jobs are protected2. Environmentalists liked them 3. Scrubber manufacturers liked idea4.Costly, but prevent shutdowns or moving plantsProblems? (1990)Scrubbers didn’t work well, old factories not fitted, created offsets and allowances, timetables extended

Client Politics: Agricultural Pesticides Silent Spring by Rachel Carson caused public outcry against the use of DDT• In 1972, the EPA banned DDT, a common

pesticide, because it was shown to have detrimental effects on wildlife

• Use of many pesticides make it hard for the EPA to evaluate and remove dangerous ones.

• Many farmers advocate the continuing use of pesticides on crops because they believe that they have positive effects on crop yield

• Farmers are well-organized with iron triangles to protect their use of pesticides.

Client Politics: The SuperfundHazardous sites were found all over America which led to the clean up of Toxic WasteoComprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as Superfund

Signed by Carter in 1980Taxed chemical and petroleum industriesGives gov't the power to sue and person or

company that dumps wasteoOnly limited success due to lawsuits and appellate process

Environmental Uncertainties

Difficulties of the Environmental Policy Process:1.Identifying the problem: Some are easy but

many problems are less clear-cut.2.Costs & Benefits: What will it take to solve

problem, who pays & how much? How big is the threat?

3.Setting Goals: What is good enough? What goals are realistic?

4.Achieving Goals: Issuing rules and defining them is easy, but enforcing them is difficult. 

Environmental Strategieso Command-and-Control Strategy is assumed to

achieve greatest gain with the least cost. improve air & water quality setting of detailed standards & rules

o Offsets: Companies wanting to open a new plant can do so as long as in generates a counterbalance by reducing pollution

o Bubble Standards: Total amt. of air pollution that can come from each factory.

o Pollution Allowances (or banks): When company reduces pollution more than required, it can use excess to cover future plant expansions or sell to other companies as an offset