Environmental Policy
I. Context of American environmental policy:
A. Environmental policy is more adversarial than in Europe. The disputes
between regulatory agencies and business are far more bitter.
B. Environmental policy is affected by federalism:
Centralization/decentralization tension has increased between the national
government and the state governments. The states have an incentive to
reduce regulations for fear that businesses will relocate to other states,
while the national government may want a uniform policy to effectively deal
with environmental issues.
C. The key issue has not been whether or not the environment should be
protected, but the extent to which it should be protected and the costs of
doing so. A delicate balance has tried to be achieved because environmental
regulation involves so many competing interests:
 1. The public wants a clean environment.
 2. Business is concerned about the extent and the costs of changing its
operations to produce a better environment.
 3. Workers are concerned that excessive regulation may lead to the loss
of jobs.
II. Key legislation:
A. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969: required
environmental impact reports (EIR's) before major
construction projects began.
B. Air Quality Act of 1967 and the various Clean Air Acts
from 1960s-1990s: established standards for cars and
factories.
C. After the Cuyahoga River caught fire, various Clean
Water Acts of 1970s-1990s.
D. Creation of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
1970.
E. CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards
established in 1975 to set standards for average MPG
for automobile manufacturers.
F. As a result of Love Canal, the Superfund was created
in 1980 to fund the cleanup of toxic waste dumps.
III. Four types of environmental policies:
A. Entrepreneurial environmental policies.
These involve programs that have narrowly-concentrated
costs and widely- distributed benefits. Usually, there is
great opposition from cost payers, but less support from
beneficiaries since the benefits may be small, and since
they may not even “see” the benefits.
Example: Clean Air Act
B. Majoritarian environmental policies.
These involve programs that have widely-distributed costs
and widely-distributed benefits
Example: California Smog Check
C. Interest group environmental policies.
These involve programs that have narrowly-concentrated
costs and narrowly-concentrated benefits.
Example: Sunrise Powerlink (Energy to San Diego from
Imperial Valley through Cleveland National Forest)
D. Client group environmental policies.
These involve programs that have widely-distributed costs
and narrowly- concentrated benefits.
Example: Love Canal