Understanding the Environmental
Policy Process
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Stages of the Policy Process
Agenda
Setting
Option
Formulation
Decision
Implementation
Evaluation
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Forms of Government Action
Markets
Information
Laws
Do
Nothing
Services
Rules
Rights
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Policy Process as a “Game”
1. What are the structure & rules of the
game and how do they affect the
outcome?
2. Who are the players?
3. What tools do the players have to
influence the game?
4. Where in the game are players most
influential?
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Structure of the Environmental Policy
“Game” in the U.S.
• Fragmentation of Authority
• Federalism
• Separation of Powers
– National Government
– State Government
– Local Government
– Executive
– Legislative
– Judiciary
• Checks & Balances
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Structure of the Environmental Policy
“Game” in the U.S.
• Political Power is Widely Dispersed &
Fluid
– Pluralism
– Elections
– Rights
• Diverse Interests & Values Survive
Political Loss
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Implications
•
•
•
•
Many “access points” to government
Policy requires broad political consensus to advance
Easier to stall policy than it is to make it
Policy change tends to be incremental
– Crises
– Issues of Low political salience
• Environmental Policy =
∑
many policies
– Duplication & Overlap
– Inconsistency & Conflict
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Players in the Environmental Policy
Game – Chief Executive
• Chief Executive
– White House Staff
– CEQ
– OMB
• Executive Agency
Chiefs
– Political appointees
• Tools
– Executive Authority
•
•
•
•
Decision-making
reorganization
Executive orders
Hire & fire
– Agenda setting
• Dept. Secretaries
• Deputy & Assistant
Secretaries
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Players in the Environmental Policy
Game – Bureaucracy
• Many Agencies
– EPA
– DA
– DOI
– DC
– USACE
• Sub-agencies
– Dept. of Interior
• F&WS
• NPS
• BLM
• Agency Personnel
– Political Appointees
– Professional staff
– Dept. of Agriculture
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• Forest Service
• NRCS (SCS)
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Players in the Environmental Policy
Game – Bureaucracy
• Tools
– Information
– Professional/analytic staff
– Implementation power (client contact)
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Players in the Environmental Policy Game
– Legislative Branch
• House & Senate
• Tools
– Leadership
• Majority party
• Minority party
– Membership
– Committees & staffs
–
–
–
–
Law-making power
Budgetary power
Investigative power
Standing committees
& staff
– Approval of senior
agency appointments
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Players in the Environmental Policy Game
–Judicial Branch
• Courts
– Federal courts
– Appellate courts
– Supreme Court
• Tools
– Constitutional
authority
– Insulation from
electoral politics
– Case selection &
legal methodology
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Players in the Environmental Policy
Game – States
• Duplicate Federal “Cast of Characters”
• States Rights to Define Policy
• Federal Policy Implementation Roles
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Players in the Environmental Policy
Game – Interest Groups & NGOs
• Non-Governmental Organizations
– Industry & Trade associations
• Nat’l. Assoc. of Home Builders
• American Mining Association
• Teamsters
– Environmental Groups
– Property Rights & Wise Use Groups
• Media
• Public
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Players in the Environmental Policy
Game – Interest Groups & NGOs
• Tools
– Membership & Organization
– Professional & analytic staff
– Information
– “Votes”
– Money
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Implications
• Many diverse interests and values in policy
process
– Many are not directly concerned with
environmental problem solving
• Decision-making institutions & organizations
are not monolithic
• Information & analysis are widely dispersed
• Decision-making influence (power) & tools
vary among players
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The Legislative Maze I
House
Committee
subcomm.
Senate
Committee
subcomm.
subcomm.
Committee
subcomm.
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Committee
subcomm.
subcomm.
17
Legislative Maze II
President
House
Conference
Committee
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Senate
18
Subcommittee Setting
Report to Committee
Majority Staff
Report
Witness
Testimony
Minority Staff
Report
Subcommittee
Hearings
Member
Interests
Interest
Groups
Outside
Experts
Agencies
Events
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Public
Opinion
Partisan
Politics
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Rule-Making in the Bureaucracy
•
•
•
•
Enabling Law & Statutory Authority
Administrative Procedures Law
Science & Technology Data
Organizational Mission/Health
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Rule-Making in the Bureaucracy
Publication of Rules
Witness
Testimony
Enabling Law
Interest
Groups Outside
Experts
Regulatory
Hearing
Staff Report
on Proposed Rules
Agency
Interests
Public
Comment
Agency
Studies
Court
Other
Agencies Rulings
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Events
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Courts
• Legality
– Does the law authorize this action?
• Constitutionality
– Does the Constitution allow this action?
• Rationality
– Does this action make sense?
• “Hard look” at administrative action
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Judicial Review
• No Authority to Initiate Action
– Must wait for cases
• Standing
– Parties bringing suit must suffer direct harm
• Judicial Philosophy
– Judicial activism
• Making policy by broad interpretations of what the law
intended
– Strict Constructionism
• Ruling on merit of the specific case as read in the
context of the precise wording of the law
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Federal Environmental Laws Passed
Number Passed
(including amendments)
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
50 955 960 965 970 975 980 985 990 995 000
9
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
5- 51- 56- 61- 66- 71- 76- 81- 86- 91- 964
19
19
19
19
19
1 9 19
19
19
19
19
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