Mr. Blahnik
AP Government
Ch. 21 homework Environmental Policy 18 points
1. List three reasons that environmental policy tends to be so controversial and provide examples of
each.
1. Describe the role of the U.S. political system and local politics in shaping environmental policy.
Contrast these with environmental policy making in Britain.
2. Describe the role of entrepreneurial politics in the government’s response to global warming.
3. Describe the role of majoritarian politics in the government’s efforts to reduce automobile
emissions. Explain why majoritarian politics has worked in some cases and not in others.
4. Describe the role of interest-group politics in the government’s efforts to resolve the acid rain
controversy. List proposed alternative solutions and outline the terms of the compromise reached by
Congress and the George H. W. Bush administration.
5. Describe the role of client politics in the government’s efforts to regulate the use of agricultural
pesticides and logging in U.S. forests.
Vocabulary 10 points
acid rain
bank (or pollution allowance)
bubble standard
catalytic converter
Clean Air Act of 1990
client politics
command-and-control strategy
DDT
Earth Day
entrepreneurial politics
environmental impact statement
(EIS)
Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA)
interest-group politics
Kyoto Protocol
majoritarian politics
offset
scrubber
sulfer dioxide
WaterQuality Improvement Act of
1970
Superfund
7. Recently, the federal government has granted large tax credits to Americans who purchase gaselectric hybrid vehicles. California has modified its law to allow hybrid car owners to drive in the lesscrowded highway carpool lanes. Do you think that such “giveaways” are more effective than higher fuel
taxes in convincing Americans to exchange their large, inefficient cars for more environmentally friendly
models?
8. Evaluate the political aspects of other major environmental laws (such as disposal of toxic wastes,
recycling, and so on) and decide what types of politics (client, majoritarian, and on) are involved in each.