Chapter 2
Environmental Laws, Economics and
Ethics, Part II
Readings last Week and
this Week:
Chapter #1 – “Hooknose”
Chapter #2 – “The Five Houses
of Salmon”
US Environmental Legislation
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Numerous laws passed since 1970
They address:
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Clean water
Clean air
Energy conservation
Hazardous waste
Pesticides
Federal regulation of pollution
US Environmental Legislation
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Environmental Protection Agency
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Est. 1970
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
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Cornerstone of Environmental Law
Requires Environmental Impact Statements
(EIS) for any proposed federal action
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Ex: highway or dam construction
EIS must answer many questions (next slide)
Revolutionized environmental protection in US
Environmental Impact Statements
Effects of Environmental Legislation
(According to EPA’s Draft Report on the Environment 2003)
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Since 1970,
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Since 1990
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94% of US had healthy drinking water
(up from 79% in 1993)
As of 2002
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wet sulfate levels decreased 20-30%
In 2002
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6 air pollutants have dropped by 25%
846 of 1498 Superfund Sites are
cleaned up
Fewer streams violate water
standards
Economics and the Environment
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Economics- study of how people use limited
resources to satisfy unlimited wants
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Analytical tools include models
Precepts to study Economics
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Economics is utilitarian
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Rational Actor Model
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Goods and services have value that can be
converted to currency
Assumes all individuals spend limited resources
to maximize individual utilities
Ideal economy
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Resources are allocated efficiently
Optimum Level of Pollution
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Optimum Level of Pollution
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Cost to society of having less pollution is
offset by benefits (short-term?) to society of
activity creating pollution.
Must identify
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Marginal Cost of Pollution- Cost of small
additional amount of pollution.
Marginal Cost of Abatement- Cost of reducing
small amount of pollution.
Economic Optimum Level of Pollution
Private vs Social Cost of Pollution
Strategies for Pollution Control
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Command and Control Solutions
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Government agency requires limitations to
emissions or pollutants
Discourages development of low-cost
alternatives
Economists dislike this
Environmental Taxes/ Tradable Permits
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If taxes are set at correct level private
marginal cost of pollution = social cost of
pollution
Economists like this
Critiques of Environmental Economics
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Difficult to assess true costs of
environmental pollution and abatement
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Impacts of pollution on people and nature is
uncertain (not anymore!)
Ecosystem services have no known value (not
quite!)
Utilitarian economics may not be
appropriate
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Dynamic changes and time are not considered
Based only on monetary value – what is
monetary value of clean earth? (A better
question: what is the value of a polluted,
damaged Earth?)
National Income Accounts
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Estimates of National Economic
Performance and used in Politics
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Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
Net Domestic Product (NDP)
Environment may be overexploited to yield
a higher GDP in developing countries
(Tragedy of the Commons)
EPI (Environmental Performance Index)
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Assesses a country’s commitment to
environmental and resource management
Case Study- Environmental Problems in
Eastern Europe
Fall of Communist governments revealed
large environmental destruction
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Soil and water poisoned
Unidentified leaks in dumping sites
Industry with air
pollutants causing
acid rain
Children with chronic
asthma, bronchitis,
and heart problems
Case Study- Environmental Problems in
Eastern Europe
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Meeting industrial quotas took precedence
over environmental concerns
Switch from communism to market
economies- need to improve environment
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Will take decades to clean up polluting
economics of communism
Success varies by country
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Romania- EPI = 90th
Czech Republic- EPI = 4th
Environmental Ethics
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Field of ethics that considers the moral
basis of environmental responsibility
Western Worldview
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Deep Ecology Worldview
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Human superiority and dominance over nature
All species have an equal worth to humans
Most people’s ethics fall somewhere in
between (a gradient of ideas)
Societies and Sustainability
Ecological systems
(“Ecosystems”) and the services
they provide to economic systems
are interdependent.
Society Sustainability
Societies and Sustainability
For economies, societies and cultures to be
sustainable, extraction of resources from
ecological systems must not exceed the
biological populations’ (and ecological
systems’) ability to produce them. Societies
and cultures have multiple purposes:
Recreational
Cultural
Aesthetic
Economic
Educational
The Bill of Rights
(and responsibilities and…)
A right: A just moral, ethical or legal claim.
A privilege: A special right or immunity granted to a
person or group.
Do responsibilities come with rights?
Do we need rights w/respect to the ecological system? Why?
Source: Webster’s Dictionary
In Summary. . . . . .
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Environmental Legislation Effects.
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Environmental Economics Analyses?
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Sustainable Economics?
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Rights and privileges
Individual and Societal Ethics