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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


This lecture will help you understand:

• Environmental policies

• Major U.S. environmental laws

• International environmental policy

• The environmental policy process

• Different approaches to environmental policy


San Diego and Tijuana

• The Tijuana River empties into the Pacific Ocean, carrying millions of gallons of untreated wastewater

• San Diego’s waters receive storm water runoff

• Beaches are off-limits to swimming

• Rains wash pollutants onto U.S. and Mexican beaches, but things are worse on the Mexican side

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Environmental policy

• Policy = a formal set of general plans and principles to address problems and guide decisions

• Public Policy = policy made by governments that consists of laws, regulations, orders, incentives, and practices

• Environmental Policy = pertains to human interactions with the environment

• Regulates resource use or reduce pollution


Environmental policy and resource use

• Policies include science, ethics, and economics

• Market failure = businesses or individuals don’t minimize environmental impact

• Justification for government intervention

• The tragedy of the commons = we must develop guidelines for commonly held resources

• Restrict use and actively manage resources

• Some traditional societies safeguard against exploitation

• The threat of overexploitation is a driving force behind much environmental policy


Environmental policy and equity

• Free Riders = reducing pollution tempts any one person to cheat

• Private voluntary efforts are less effective than mandated efforts

• External Cost = harmful impacts result from market transaction but are borne by people not involved in the transaction

Environmental policy goals = protect resources against the

tragedy of the commons and to promote equity by eliminating

free riders and addressing external costs

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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


State and local policies affect

environmental issues• Important environmental policy is also created at

the state and local levels

• State laws cannot violate principles of the U.S. Constitution,

• If laws conflict, federal laws take precedence

• California, New York, and Massachusetts have strong environmental laws

• The interior western states put less priority on environmental protection and favor unregulated development

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Constitutional amendments and

environmental law• Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

• Prohibits denying “equal protection of its laws”

• It’s the Constitutional basis for the environmental justice movement

• Fifth Amendment = takings clause

• Bans the literal taking of private property

• Also bans regulatory take, which deprives a property owner of economic uses of the property

• There is a sensitive balance between private rights and the public good


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

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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

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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

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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


The Earth Summit

• The largest international diplomatic conference ever held • It centered on the idea of sustainable development

• This fourth wave of environmental policy focuses on sustainable development • Finding ways to safeguard natural systems while

raising living standards for the world’s poorest people

Rio de Janeiro,

Brazil, in 2002


International Environmental Policy

• International issues can be addressed through creative agreements

• Customary law = practices or customs held by most cultures

• Conventional law = fromconventions or treaties

• Montreal Protocol: nations agreed to reduce ozone-depleting chemicals

• Kyoto Protocol: reduces fossil fuel emissions causing climate change

An international

wastewater treatment

plant

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Organizations help shape international

policy• International organizations influence the behavior

of nations

• Providing funding, applying peer pressure, directing media attention

• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) = helps nations understand and solve environmental problems

• The European Union seeks to promote Europe’s unity and economic and social progress

• Can enact binding regulations

• Can also issue advisory directives


The World Trade Organization (WTO)

• Represents multinational corporations to promote free trade

• Has authority to impose penalties on nations the don’t comply with its directives

• Interprets some environmental laws as unfair barriers to free trade

• Brazil and Venezuela filed a complaint against the U.S. EPA’s regulations requiring cleaner-burning fuel

• The WTO agreed with Brazil and Venezuela, despite threats to human health

• Critics charge the WTO aggravates environmental problems


NGOs and the World Bank

• Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) = entities that influence international policy

• Some do not get politically involved

• Others try to shape policy through research, lobbying or protest

• The World Bank = one of the world’s largest funding sources for development

• Dams, irrigation, infrastructure

• Funds unsustainable, environmentally damaging projects

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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

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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

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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


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

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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

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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


QUESTION: Review

_______ is defined as “laws and regulations made by government.”

a) Tort lawb) Public policyc) Market failured) Tragedy of the commons


Which of the following is NOT a goal of environmental policy?

a) Increased resource extraction

b) Elimination of free riders

c) Addressing external costs

d) Promoting equity

QUESTION: Review

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What happened to the Cuyahoga River to increase awareness of environmental problems?

a) It smelled bad

b) People drowned in it

c) It was drained

d) It caught on fire

QUESTION: Review


NEPA requires an Environmental Impact Statement when:

a) An economically expensive project is proposed

b) Any state action may affect the environment

c) Any federal action may affect the environment

d) Politicians decide one is needed

QUESTION: Review


External costs are:

a) Defined when a person cheats on cleaning up pollution

b) Borne by people involved in a transaction

c) Voluntary efforts to decrease environmental impacts

d) Borne by people not involved in a transaction

QUESTION: Review

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QUESTION: Review

Which of the following entities tries to shape policy through research, lobbying, or protest?

a) NGOsb) The EUc) The World Bankd) The WTO


a) Emissions have greatly

increased since 2000

b) Emissions have

decreased since 2000,

but are above permitted

levels

c) The U.S. no longer emits

sulfur dioxide

d) Permitted levels have

been lowered since 2000

QUESTION: Interpreting Graphs and Data

What major conclusion can be drawn from this graph on emissions

trading of sulfur dioxide.


QUESTION: Viewpoints

Should the government be able to prevent development in an environmentally sensitive area, even if that area is privately owned?

a) Yes, if the public good is threatenedb) Yes, if the landowner agreesc) Yes, but only if the courts allow itd) No, private property development should never be

prevented by government

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If one nation has strict environmental laws, should another nation be allowed to sue to overrule those laws in the name of free trade?

a) Yes, free trade must not be interrupted between two countries that have trade agreements

b) Yes, but only if the negatively affected country is poor and trying to develop

c) No, countries have the right to pass environmental protection laws that other nations must follow

QUESTION: Viewpoints

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