1. Environmental Policy: Making Decision Solving Problems
Chapter 7

2. Environmental Policy: An Overview
Environmental Policy and Societal Context:
Policy – a tool used to address problems and guide decision making
Public policy – policy made by governments with the intent of advancing societal welfare
Laws, regulations, incentives, and orders
Environmental policy – policy that pertains to human interactions with the environment
Environmental policy aims to protect environment, natural resources people use, and promote fairness in people’s use of resources

4. Mixed Market Economies:
Governments intervene to:
Provide social services (defense, medical care, education)
Provide security for elderly and disabled, disaster victims, etc.
Provide level playing field for buyers and sellers
Manage publicly held resources
Mitigate pollution and other threats to health and quality of life

5. Tragedy of the commons – a resource held in common becomes degraded when it’s unregulated and overused
Individuals are motivated by self interest so resource is often degraded
Free rider – an entity that does not participate in a voluntary effort to improve the environment
Private efforts are less effective than mandated public policy

6. The goal of environmental policy is to promote fairness by dealing with external costs
External costs – the impacts of transactions are endured by people not involved
Polluter-pays principle – principle specifying that polluters pay to cover the costs of impacts

7. Vested Interest and Lobbying:
Vested interest – special interest shown by people, organizations, or corporations that stand to benefit from a policy
Interests often self serving, often has the most influence over policymakers
Lobbying – spending one’s time or money to influence an elected official’s decision
Revolving door – movement of people between the private sector and government

8. Science Informs Policy:
Effective decisions are informed by scientific research
Policymakers sometimes ignore science
Personal ideology
Science is censored, suppresses, or edited
Public was misled with misrepresented information

9. US Environmental Law and Policy
Legislation – created by the Senate and the House of Representatives
Regulations – specific rules or requirements for intended to help achieve objectives of laws
Executive orders – specific legal instruction for government agencies
Executive branch – passes or vetoes legislation
Judicial branch – interprets legislation
Case law – decisions made by the courts
Precedents – are previous rulings that become legal guides for later cases

11. Regulatory taking - occurs when the government denies a property owner some or all of the economic use of their property

13. State and Local Governments also Make Policy:
State governments usually copy the federal government’s structure
States, counties, and cities can generate environmental policies too
State laws can’t violate the principles of U.S. Constitution
If laws conflict, federal laws take precedence
The federal government can influence state laws
Rarely, states are forced to change due to federal laws
Policymakers can give financial incentives to encourage change

14. “Cooperative federalism” – approach by which a federal agency works with the state to achieve national standards
Federal control is vital
Protects citizens
National effort is more effective that 50 efforts
Disputes over boundaries are minimized

15. Historical Context for Environmental Policy:
1780s to late 1800s western lands thought to be infinite and have inexhaustible resources, policies encouraged settlement and development
General Land Ordinance of 1785 and 1787 gave federal government right to manage unsettled lands and ready them for private ownership
Homestead Act (1862) – allowed for purchase or settle of 160 acres of public land
General Mining Act (1878) – allowed mining on public land for $5/acre with no government oversight
Timber Culture Act (1873) – gave 160 acres to anyone promising to plant trees on 25% of that land

17. After late 1800s public perception began to change as population rose and resources were exploited
National parks, wildlife refuges, and national forests established
Yellowstone National Park (1st ) established 1872
1964 Wilderness Act preserves pristine land
Since WWII policies have in response to pollution
Rachel Carson’s 1962 book Silent Spring brought attention to pesticide use
Ohio’s Cuyahoga River was so polluted that it caught fire multiple times in the 1950s and 1960s

18. The first Earth Day was in 1970
NEPA (National Environmental Protection Act) was signed in 1970 which created the Council on Environmental Quality
Requires environmental impact statements(EIS) for all federal activities that are carried out
Uses a cost-benefit approach that does not halt projects but provides incentive to decrease damage

19. 1970 President Richard Nixon issued an executive order creating the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)