CH. 21 – Environmental Policy
I.
The American Context
• Environmental policy, like welfare policy, is shaped by the unique features of American
politics
• Environmental policy making in the United States is much more adversarial than it is in
most European nation
• Many rules for improving air and water quality have strict deadlines and require
expensive technology
• Government and business leaders have frequently denounced each other for being
unreasonable or insensitive
• Antagonistic are the interests involving in environmental policy that it took 13 years,
from 1977 to 1990 to agree on a congressional revision of the Clean Air Act
• In England, by contrast, rules designed to reduce air pollution were written by
government and business leaders acting cooperatively
• When Congress decided in 1982 to select place in which to dispose of such waste, it
announced that sites would be chosen on the basis of “science”
• In the congressional committee that made the final decision, in 1988, Nevada had the
least influence, and so Nevada got the waste
• Federalism reinforces adversarial politics; one of the reasons environmental issues are
so contentious in this country is that cities and states fight over what standards should be
apply where
• The separation of powers guarantees that almost anybody who wants to influence over
environmental policy will have an opportunity to do so
• In England and in most European nations, the centralized, parliamentary form of
government means that the opponents of a policy have less leverage
• Controversies over controlling pollution from stationary sources , such as factories and
power plants, take the form of entrepreneurial politics in which many people hope to
benefit from rules that impose costs on a few firm
• Policies intended to reduce air pollution caused by automobiles involves majoritarian
politics in which many people hope to benefit
II. Entrepreneurial Politics: Global Warming
• Entrepreneurial politics created the environmental movement at which it became
difficult or impossible for the government or business firms to resist the demands that
threats to our natural surrounding be curtailed
• The emerging environmental movement created an occasion- Earth Day, first celebrated
on April 22nd, 1970.
• In 1970, President Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and
Congress toughened the existing Clean Air Act and passed the Water Quality
Improvement Act.
• Existing environmental organization grew in size, and new ones were formed.
• In 1997, the United States signed the Kyoto protocol in which it pledged to lower
emission of greenhouse gases by 7 % below 1990 levels
• In 2001, President Bush announced that he opposed the treaty; in 2002, he proposed
some alternative policies
• As with most kinds of entrepreneurial politics, global warming has resulted in a conflict
among elites who often base their arguments on ideology as much as on facts
• Environmental activists raise money with scary statements about the harm global
warming will cause
• Another environmental example of entrepreneurial politics is the Endangered Species
Act Pass in 1973 in which buying and selling a bird, fish, or plant that the government
regards as endangered.
• Firms and government agencies that wish to build a dam, bridge, factory, or farm in an
area where an endangered species lives must comply with federal regulation are outweigh
by the public support for the law
III. Majoritarian Politics: Pollution from Automobiles
• The Clean Air Act of 1970 imposed tough restrictions on the amount of pollutants that
could come out of automobiles tail pipes
• By 1975, new cars would have to produce 90% less of 2 pollutants and by 1976 achieve
a 90% reduction in another
• In the 1970, law soon shoved the battle over automobile pollution into the arena of
majoritarian politics, which provision required states to develop land-use and
transportation rules to help attain air quality standards
• The increase in the number of cars or in the number of miles driven in those places
outweighed the gain from making the average car less polluting
• The EPA reacted by abandoning any serious effort to tell people when where they could
drive
• The Clean Air Act, when revised again in 1990, set new, tougher auto emission control
standards
• The National Environmental Policy Act passed in 1969 contained a provision requiring
that an
Environmental impact statement (EIS) be written before any federal agency undertakes
an activity that will significantly affect the quality of the human environment
IV. Interest Groups Politics: Acid Rain
• Sometimes the rain, snow or dust particle that falls onto the land are acidic, this is called
acid rain
• One source of that acid precipitation is burning fuel, such as certain type of coal that
contains a lot of sulfur
• Many lakes and rivers in the eastern United States and in Canada have become more
acidic, and some forests in these areas have died back
• The long term effects of higher acid levels in lakes and forests are unclear
• These scientific uncertainties were important because they provided some support for
each side in a fierce interest group battle
• An attempt to deal with eh issue in 1977 reflected the kind of bizarre compromises that
sometimes results when politically opposed forces have to be reconciled
• The 1977 law in effect required scrubbers on all new coal-burning plants-even ones
located right next to mines where they could get low-sulfur coal
• The 1977 bill did not solve much; many of the scrubbers didn’t work well
• In the early 1980's, the Reagan administration took the position that too little was
known to warrant strong action
• With a deadline in the year 2000, there would be sharper emission reduction for many
more plants, and this would probably require the use of scrubbers
• Interest group politics permeates many aspects of environmental policy making
• Interest group politics often lack the moral fervor of entrepreneurial politics and rarely
taps the deep steams of public opinion that are reflected in majoritarian politics
• Public interest groups, such as the Environmental Defense Fund now compete with
other environmental groups for money and publicity
• Labor unions, such as the United Auto Workers that once fought for tough air pollution
laws now are worried about these laws may cost them their jobs
V. Client Politics: Agricultural Pesticides
• Some client groups have so far escaped this momentum.
• For a while it seemed as though farmers would also fall before the assault of policy
entrepreneurs,
When Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962, she set off a public outcry about
the harm to wildlife
• In 1972, the EPA banned the use of DDT
• The same year Congress directed the EPA to evaluate the safety of all pesticides on the
market, unsafe ones were removed
• Though attacked by environmental organization, farm groups have been generally
successful at practicing client politics
• The EPA'S budge for reviewing pesticides has been kept small
• Only 13% of all cut timbers comes from these forests and 2/3 of the U.S forest system is
already off limit to logging, environmentalist wants further restrictions, especially to
prevent clear-cutting.
• Congress have generally supported the timber industry, ordering the Forest Service to
sell harvesting rights at below market prices, in effect subsidizing the industry
VI. The Environmental Uncertainties
• Making environmental policy strikes many people as easy such as identifying a
problem, raising a fuss, defeat “the interests” and enjoy the benefit
• Science doesn't know whether we are experiencing a dangerous level of global warming
or how bad the greenhouse effect is
• The cost of removing from the air the last 10% of some pollutant is often greater than
the cost of removing the first 90%
• Many voters became much less interested in nonpolluting cars if the device that reduced
the pollution also reduced the car's gas mileage
• The command-and-control strategy assumes that the rule makers and rule enforcers
knows how to achieve the greatest environmental gain at the least cost became much less
interested in nonpolluting cars if the device that reduced the pollution also reduced the
car's gas mileage
• When the EPA was told by Congress to eliminate all pollutants entering our waterway
by 1985, to cut auto emissions by 90% within 5 years and to eliminate smog in all cities,
Congress should had known that these goals were unrealistic
• The EPA was given the responsibility to administer certain laws governing air, water,
and pesticides
• The EPA was zealous about using a command-and-control strategy to improve air and
water quality
• The EPA issued rules broken down into 642 industry subcategories
• When the Clinton administration took office in 1993, it had the strong support of
environmentalist. Vice President Gore was a visible and influential supporter of
Environmental protection
Secretary Of The Interior Bruce Babbitt was also a staunch environmentalist
• American politics, though often messy, confusing, and conflict-ridden, sometimes
changes as people learn from their experiences
VII. The Result
• Though Americans think that their environment has gotten worse, in fact, many aspect
of it have gotten better since 1970
• There is now much less carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and lead in the atmosphere
than once was the case
• It is less clear whether there have been equally noticeable improvements in water
quality
• Hazardous waste is found at thousands of known locations
*************************************************************
Chapter 21
John Guerin
Environmental Policy
1. The Real Controversy
a. People want the government to do more for the environment.
i. Every government policy creates political winners and losers.
1. Losers pay most of the cost without benefits.
2. Average citizens don’t want to change their lifestyle, even
if they like the environment, in order to protect it.
ii. Many issues are trapped in scientific uncertainty.
1. Experts disagree on the issues and how to solve them.
iii. Most environmental policy is entrepreneurial politics.
1. Mobilizing decision makers with emotional and logical
appeals.
2. Stir up controversy and villains to make change.
3. This leads to change, but also distorted priorities.
2. The American Context
a. Environmental policymaking is more confrontational and argumentative in
the United States than it is in most European nations.
i. Bitter and lasting conflict still remains after the Clean Air Act.
ii. Minimum auto emissions standards are uniform across the nation,
regardless of local conditions.
iii. In England, this contrasts, as businesses follow national
government standards for pollution.
b. What is done depends heavily on the states.
i. Regardless of national standards, states decide how to execute
these regulations.
ii. Local governments run government-funded projects, like sewage
management.
iii. Federalism reinforces adversarial politics: one of the reasons
environmental issues are so contentious in this country is that cities
and states fight over what standards should apply where.
3. Entrepreneurial Politics: Global Warming
a. When events happen that spark environmental concern, it’s hard for
businesses and the government to turn a blind eye and not respond.
b. In 1970 President Nixon created the EPA, Environmental Protection
Agency, and congress toughened the existing Clean Air Act and passed
the Water Quality Improvement Act.
c. Global Warming means that gases, such as carbon dioxide, produced by
people when they burn fossil fuels – wood, oil, or coal – get trapped in the
atmosphere and cause the earth’s temperature to rise.
i. When the temperature goes up, bad things may follow – floods on
coastal areas as the polar ice caps melt, wilder weather as more
storms are created, and the spread of tropical diseases to North
America.
ii. Scientists still argue over global warming, and the scientific
community is deeply divided over this issue.
iii. As with most kinds of entrepreneurial politics, global warming has
resulted in a conflict among elites who often base their arguments
on ideology as much as on facts.
1. Environmental activists raise money with scary statements
about the harm global warming will cause.
2. Conservatives raise money with scary statements about the
economic pain an American cut in greenhouse gases will
cause.
4. Majoritarian Politics: Pollution from Automobiles
a. The Clean Air Act of 1970 sparked debate over how many pollutants can
be emitted from a car’s exhaust.
i. The issue put “the public” against “the interests” and the public
won, urging automobile companies to be required to make their
cars less polluting.
ii. The provision in the 1970 regulation that set off majoritarian
politics required states to develop land-use and transportation rules
to help attain air quality standards.
1. In any area where smog was still a problem, even after
emissions controls had been placed on new cars, there
would have to be rules restricting the public’s use of cars.
2. There was no way major cities could get rid of smog just by
requiring people to buy less-polluting cars.
3. The government would have to impose unpopular methods
like bans on downtown parking, mandatory use of buses
and carpools, and even gasoline rationing.
iii. Everyone wants clean air, but few people are willing to give up the
personal freedom that their automobiles afford them.
1. Popular opposition to government smog rules was too
great, and the few such rules that were put into place didn’t
work.
2. The public will support tough environmental laws when
somebody else pays or when the costs as hidden (as in
when buying a car); it will not give much support what it
believes that it is paying, especially when the payment
takes the form of chancing how and when it sues the family
car.
b. Majoritarian Politics when people believe the costs are low
i. NEPA, The National Environmental Policy Act, contained a
provision requiring that an environmental impact statement (EIS)
be written before any federal agency undertakes an activity that
will “significantly” affect the quality of the human environment.
ii. Because it needed merely a statement rather than some specific
action and because it was a pro-environment law, it passed easily.
c. Majoritarian Politics when people believe the costs are high
i. From tie to time, someone proposes that gasoline taxes be sharply
raised. Such taxes would discourage driving, and this not only
would conserve fuel but also would reduce smog.
ii. Almost everyone would pay, but almost everyone would benefit
from it.
iii. The public does not regularly support higher taxes, no matter their
effects.
iv. People pay the tax first, and then the benefit, if any, comes later.
Gasoline benefits (cleaner air, less congestion) that many people
doubt will ever appear or, if they do, will not be meaningful to
them.
v. Usually, politicians promise concrete benefits if they were to
impose a higher tax, like more highways or buses.
5. Interest Group Politics: Acid Reflux
a. Acid Rain includes the acidic rain, show, or dust particles that fall onto the
land. One source of acid precipitation is burning fuels, such as coal, that
contains a lot of sulfur. Some of the sulfur will turn into sulfuric acid as it
comes down to Earth. Steel mills and electric power plants that burn highsulfur coal are concentrated in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions of the
United States. The prevailing winds tend to carry those sulfurous fumes
eastward, where some fall to the ground.
b. Controversy – the natural effects could be from acid rain or from natural
occurrences. There is little proof to inspire change.
c. Midwestern businesses, labor unions, and politicians vs. residents of
Canada and New England.
d. Require power plants to burn low-sulfur coal.
i. Cut back on sulfur emotions, but it would cost money, because
low-sulfur coal is mined mostly in the West, hundreds of miles
away from the Midwestern coal-burning industries.
e. Require power plants to install scrubbers – complicated and expensive
devises that would take sulfurous fumes out of the gas before it came out
of the smokestack.
i. Didn’t always work.
ii. Generated a lot of unpleasant sludge that would have to be haled
away and buried somewhere.
iii. Would allow Midwestern utilizes to continue their practice of
using cheap, high-sulfur coal.
f. Congress voted for scrubbers.
i. The jobs of miners in high-sulfur coalmines would be protected.
ii. Environmentalists liked scrubbers.
iii. Scrubber manufacturers liked the idea.
iv. Eastern governors liked scrubber because if all new plants had to
have them, it would be more costly, and thus less likely, for
existing factories to close down and move to the West.
g. The 1977 law did not solve much. Many scrubbers didn’t work well and
there remained the question of what to do about existing power plants and
factories. For thirteen years there was a political stalemate in Congress, as
is often the case when strongly opposed interest groups fight it out. And
when a final solution was finally agreed upon, it was a compromise.
h. Interest group politics often lacks the moral fervor of entrepreneurial
politics and rarely taps the deep streams of public opinion that are
reflected in majoritarian politics. Despite the rise of interest groups, the
political momentum usually remains with the policy entrepreneurs.
6. Client Politics: Agricultural Pesticides
a. Farmers have sharply resisted using pesticides. In 1972, the EPA banned
the use of a common pesticide, DDT, and ordered the inspection of all
pesticides on the market; unsafe ones were to be removed.
i. There are over 50,000 pesticides now in use, with 5,000 introduced
every year. Testing all of these chemicals is a huge, vastly
expensive, and very time-consuming job.
ii. Pesticides have many beneficial uses; therefore someone has to
balance the gains and the risks of using a given pesticide and
compare the relative gains and risks of two similar pesticides.
b. American farmers are the most productive in the world, and most of them
achieve that they cannot achieve that output without using pesticides.
c. Though many of these chemicals do not remain in the crops that are
harvested, large amounts sink into the soil, contaminating water supplies.
d. Though attacked by environmental organizations, farm groups have been
generally successful at practicing client politics.
7. The Environmental Uncertainties
a. Problems are not always clear-cut. Science doesn’t know whether we are
experiencing a dangerous level of global warming or how bad the
greenhouse effect is, if it exists at all.
b. To what extent will the public change their lives for an environmental
concern?
c. The command-and-control strategy of enforcing laws assumes that the rule
markers and rule enforcers know how to achieve the greatest
environmental gain at the least cost.
d. How do we achieve our goals?
i. Offsets - If a company wants to open a new plant in an area with
polluted air, it can do so if the population it generates if offset by a
reduction in pollution from another sources in that area. To achieve
that reduction, the company may buy an existing company and
shut it down.
ii. Bubble standard - A bubble is the total amount of air pollution that
can come from a given factory. A company is free to decide which
specific sources within that factory must be reduced and how to
meet the standard.
iii. Pollution allowances (banks) - If a company reduces its pollution
emissions by more than the law requires, it can either use this
excess to cover a future plant expansion or sell it to another
company as an offset.
8. The Results
a. Since 1970, many aspects of our environment have improved.
b. There is now much less carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and lead in the
atmosphere.
c. Hazardous waste is found at thousands of known locations and the cleanup
job is so great that it will be years before much progress can be shown.
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Chapter 21: Environmental Policy
I. Environmental Legislation Timeline
1963 -Clean Air Act
1964 - Wilderness Act
1965- Highway Beautification Act
1965 - Water Quality Act
1967 - Air Quality Act
1968 - Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
1969 - National Environmental Policy Act
1969 - Endangered Species Conservation Act
1970 - Clean Air Amendments
1970 - Water Quality Improvement
1972 - Federal Water Pollution Control Act
1972 - Marine Mammal Protection Act
1972 - Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act
1973 - Endangered Species act
1974 - Safe Drinking Water Act
1976 - Federal Land Policy and Management Act
1976 - National Forest Management Act
1976 - Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
1977 - Clean Air Act Amendments
Clean Water Act
Surface Mining Control
Reclamation Act
Environmental Response
Alaska National Interests and land
1984 - Hazardous and solid waste amendments1986 - Safe Drinking water Amendments
1987 - Endangered Species Act Reauthorize
1988 - Federal Incestide, Fungicide Act Amendments
1990 - Clean Air Act
1900 - Pollution Prevention Act
II. Problems with Environmental Policy
1. Many different opinions
A. Interest Groups
B. Citizens
C. Companies
2. Controversial Issues/ Two sided issues
Ex. Global Warming
A. Many environmental problems are not clear cut
B. Means of carrying out legislation are complicated by
-Local circumstances
- Technological problems
- Economic costs
C. are often unclear and public opinion can shift
III. Common/ Ongoing Environment Issues
1.Global warming
A. Earth's temperature rises from trapped gases in the atmosphere
B. Wilder weather as more storms are created on coastal areas
C. the polar ice caps melt;
D. Scientists strongly suggest to act now however some people consider this an
unproved theory
2. Endangered Species
3. Air Pollution
A. Transportation, factories, smoking are all cause of air pollution
B. A wide variety of health issues can be caused by it
4. Acid Rain
A. Caused by burning of high-sulfur coal in factories
B. Winds carry sulfuric acid
C. Acidification of lakes
D. Destruction of forests
IV. Types of environmental policies
1.Entrepenurial politics
A. Costs are narrow (big companies have to pay the costs) and everyone benefits
B. Ex. Clean Air Act- the burden to prevent too much car emissions was at first
placed on the car companies
Power plants had to “pay the costs” by controlling their emissions, and everyone
benefited from this
2. Majoritarian
A. Between entrepreneurial to majoritarian- drivers began to feel the
negative effects of cleaning the environment because the people had to
more to go through the hassle of carpooling
pay
B. Costs and benefits are widespread
C. Once policies became majoritarian rules were dictated, and the people
3. Interest Groups Politics
A. Ex. Acid rain
- Two groups were against each other- people who burned coal in factories
and the people who had the acid rain
two
4.
B. Costs and benefits are not widespread- they are spread just amongst
groups that are fighting it out over an issue
Client politics
Ex. Pesticides are found to be unhealthy but Farmers don’t want to pay the
costs of growing without pesticides and want to use insecticides and
pesticides
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Chapter 21
I. Environmental policy and population
A. Environment
B. Large majority of population believes gov should protect
C. 80% of college freshman believe that the country
doesn’t do enough to control pollut.
D. Why is environmental policy so controversial, then?
1. Creates both winners and losers
a. Losers = people who must pay the costs
without getting enough of the benefits
E. Many environmental issues are enmeshed in scientific
uncertainy
1. Experts either don’t know or they disagree
about what is happening and how to change it.
F. Entrepreneurial politics, mobilizing devision makers with
strong often emotional appeals in order to overcome political
obstacles
1. Stir up controversy and create villains
II. The American Context
A. Shaped by American politics’ unique features
1. More adversarial
B. Depends heavily on states’ powers
1. Interpretation of national standards are left up to
the states
C. Federalism reinforces adversarial politics
D. Separation of powers guarantees that almost anybody
who wants to wield influence over environmental policy will have
an opportunity to do so.
III. Entrepreneurial Politics: Global Warming
A. Entr. Politics created the environmental movement
B. Movement hugely successful
C. Prez. Nixon created the EPA
D. Congress toughened the Clean Air Act
1. Also Passed Water quality improvement act
2. Endangered Species Act
E. Public Opinion rallied around environmental slogans
F. Foolish for politicians to oppose environmentalism
1. Creates a problem
2. Because not all environmental political issues are
equally deserving of support
G. Global Warming
1. Means greenhouse gas problem
2. Politicians say all/almost all scientists know that
global warming will occur in ways that will hurt
humankind.
3. Neither all nor most scientists believe this theory
4. The sci. community is deeply divided by the issue
5. Mosts scientists agree that the earth has gotten a
bit warmer over past years
6. But from there on, lots of disagreement
7. Activists say earth - warmer
a. And greenhouse gasses are making earth
hotter
8. But Skeptics say that the earths atmosphere is
getting cooler
a. Natural cycle of getting warmer, etc
9. Number of skeptic scientists outnumber the
activists
H. The activists have had the most profound effect on
politics
I. Activists raise $ using scare tactics, etc
J. Endangered Species Act
1. Prevents anyone for selling or buying an
endangered fish, bird, etc
a. Unless receiving special protection
2. >600 species on the list
a. about ½ plants
3. Complying with federal regulations
IV. Majoritarian Politics: Pollution from Automobiles
A. Clean Air Act 1970 imposed tough restrictions on the
amount of pollutants that could come out of automobile
tailpipes
B. Most debate about bill was about this issue
C. Aroused public media support demanded that car co’s
be requred to make their ars less polluting
D. “Public” vs. “Interests”
a. Public Won
E. Tall order for emission reductions
F. Installing devices
G. Requirement for states to develop land use and
transportation rules to help attain air quality standards
H. In any area where smog was a problem, even after
emission controls had been placed on new cars, there would
have to be rules restricting the public’s use of cars
I. No way cities could get rid of smog just by those
requirements
J. 1990 tougher laws
K. Examples of Majoritarian Politics
1. When ppl believe the costs are low
2. environmental impact statement
3. When people believe costs are high
V. Interest Group Politics: Acid Rain
A. Acid rain is acidic rain, snow, etc
B. Source is burning fuel
1. Sulfurous coal
C. Other than the travel of particles in the air is shrouded in
mystery
D. Long term effects unclear
E. Uncertainties provided support for each side of a fierce
interest group battle.
F. Solution = compromise
G. Interest group politics permeates many aspect of
environmental policy making
1. When cities or states consider land use controls
and zoning ordinanves, they are weighing the competing
demands of established residents
a. Who often want as little new growth in
comm.’s as possible)
2. Often lacks the moral fervor of entrepreneurial
politics and rarely taps the deep streams of public
opinion that are reflected in majoritarian
3. As enviro. politics has become more
complicated and complex, and as ppl adjust to
existing laws,
4. New interest groups have been formed that
have a power in how policy is made
a. Now harder to change existing laws/politics
5. Now large and growing industry that makes
products designed to improve the environment.
a. Industry can play an important role in
supporting laws that favor their machines,
whether or not they are the best solution to
the problem.
6. Environmental defense fund
a. Did not exist in 1965, now competes with
other environmental groups
for $ and publicity
7. OVERALL
a. Environmentalism is seen as GOOD politics,
b. Politicians rarely want to be seen on the
wrong side of the spectrum
VI. Client Politics: Agricultural Pesticides
A. Client groups have so far escaped this momentum
B. Farmers have resisted efforts to de-pesticide
C. DDT (common pesticide) banned in 1972
1. EPA banned
2. COngress also directed the EPA to evaluate the
safety of all pesticides on the market
3. Unsafe ones were removed
4. That is easier said than done
5. Hard because there are over 50 thousand
pesticides now in use
6. Testing all chemicals is expensive and time
consuming
7. Some beneficial uses with pesticides, too
8. American farmers = most productive in the world
a. many believe they can’t be productive without
pesticides
9. Few pesticides removed from market, and ones
that are, usually bc of
extensive media coverage
10. Client politics have been able to protect the
use of pesticides despite a heavily political
atmosphere because there is only trivial evidence
of health problems
VII. Environmental Uncertainties
A. How to decide what to make policy on?
B. Some problems are less clearcut than just smog, clean
air, etc
C. Hard to back up
1. Science doesn’t have all the answers
D. What goals to achieve?
1. How clean is clean?
2. How much $ are we willing to pay?
E. How do we want to achieve our goals?
1. Command and control strategy
a. assumes that the rule makers and rule
enforcers know how to
achieve the greatest gain at the least cost
2. Under what circumstances?
F. Political controversy
G. What is the problem?
1. EPA given the responsibility to administer
certain laws governing air, water, pesticides.
2. Rarely left alone to define these problems
3.new environmental scandal leads to popular and
congressional debands that it drop everything and
solve that crisis
H. What are the costs and benefits?
1. Everyone wants a healthy environment
2. But people do not distinguish accurately
between realistic and unrealistic threats or
between reasonable and unreasonable costs
3. Biggest scare = cancer
4. People fear unknown
5. Diverts people’s attention from bigger issues
I. What are our goals?
1. Sometimes unrealistic goals
J. How to achieve goals?
1. Offsets
a. If a company wants to open a new plant
in an area with polluted air, it can do so if
the pollution it generates is offset but
reduction of poll. from another source in
that area
2. Bubble Standard
a. Bubble
i. total amount of air pollution that can
come from a given factory
b. A company is free to decide which
specific sources within that factory must be
reduced and how to meet bubble standard
3. Pollution allowances
a. If a company redices its polluting
emission by more than the law required, it
can either use this extra to cover a future
plant expansion or sell it to another co. as
offset.
VIII. Results
A. Many aspects of American environment have gotten
better since 1970
B. There is now much less CoMonoxide and Sulfur Dioxide
and lead in air
**********************************************************************
Chapter 21: Environmental Policy
1. The Environment and the American Public
A. Majoirty of the public wants government to protect environment
B. Over 80% of college freshmen believe government is not working hard
enough to protect the environment
C. Protecting the environment comes at too big a cost for many people
D. A lot about the environment comes from sciencenot many people believe in
it
E. The equipment needed to improve the environment is too expensive and time
consuming
F. A lot of the work falls into the hands of the statesthey enforce
environmental policy
2. Skeptics vs. Activists
A. There are more skeptics than there are activists when it comes to the
environment
B. More people would rather leave things be then work to protect the
environment from causes that are unproven
3. Automobiles
A. Public against automobiles: cars are producing too much harmful gases
B. Greenhouse gases are increasing global warming and acid rain
C. Car businesses were hard to sway because they are powerful and it is a lot of
money to fix and manufacture new cars that fit these regulations
D. Too many people were against smog so the amount of cars in a large city was
downsizedthe new rule was highly opposed because it told people when and
where they were allowed to drive
4. Acid Rain
A. Smokestacks in the Midwest are the leading cause of acid rain in the U.S.,
Canada and England
B. England and Canada blame their polluted lakes and forests on the U.S.
C. U.S. does not believe it is their fault or that they should pay
D. Jobs are also a big problem because plants and factories want to be shut down
but then there will be thousands of people without jobs
5. Agricultural Politics
A. Rachel Carson created the public outcry against pesticides
B. Pesticides make it easier to grow many crops but can be harmful to the
environment and people
C. It’s not good for people to consume so many pesticides
D. The pesticides pollute the soil and nearby rivers and streams
E. They cause insects to become resistant and stronger than the present pesticides
F. Farmers have a strong hold in the House and the Senate so it’s hard to get them to
follow certain regulations
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Chapter 21
I. Environmental Policy
A. Large majority of the public believes the government should do more to
protect the environment
B. 80 percent of college freshmen believe the gov’t is not doing enough to control
pollution
1. This is much more than the number who think the government is doing
too little about disarmament, protecting the consumer, or controlling
handguns
C. Three reason environmental policy is so controversial
1. Every governmental policy creates both winners and losers
a. These losers are the people that pay the costs without getting
adequate benefits.
i. May love the environment but not enough to change the
way they live to enhance it
2. Second, environmental issues are enmeshed in scientific uncertainty
a. Scientists either don’t know or they disagree about how to
change things
3. Environmental policy takes the form of entrepreneurial politics
a. Mobilizing decision makers with strong, often emotional appeals
in order to overcome the political advantages of the client
groups that oppose a change
b. People that want to make a change must stir up controversy and
find villains
II. The American Context
A. Environmental policy is shaped by unique features of American politics
1. Environmental policy in the U.S more adversarial than European
nations
a. Controversy surrounding the Clean Air Act
b. Auto emission standards are uniform across the nation
c. Improving air and water quality have strict deadlines and require
expensive technology
d. Thirteen years to agree on Clean Air Act
2. Environmental policy is dependent among the states
a. Standards are chosen by the states
b. States decide where radioactive waste will be properly disposed
c. Federalism- Cities and States fight over which standards should
apply where
d. Seperation of Powers- guarantees that almost anybody who
to wield influence over environmental policy will have an
opportunity to do so
III. Entrepreneurial Politics: Global Warming
A. Entrepreneurial politics created the environmental movement
1. Offshore well got oil in beaches of Santa Barbara California (January
1969
a. Government and businesses couldn’t resist the demand that
to our natural surroundings be curtailed
b. This began with the celebration of Earth Day on April 22, 1970
c. 1970- Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency,
strengthened the Clean Air Act, and passes the Water Quality
Improvement Act
d. 1972- laws passed to clean up water
e. 1975- adopted the Endangered Species Act
B. Global warming
a. Means that gases like carbon dioxide, produced by people when they
burn fossil fuels get trapped in the atmosphere and cause the Earth’s
temperature to rise
b. Can cause floods on coastal areas as the polar ice cps melt, wilder
weather storms, and the spread of tropical diseases to North America
c. Politicians say “all” or “almost all” scientists know that global warming
will occur in ways that hurt humankind which scientists disagree about
d. Activisti. The Earth is getting warmer
ii. Fossil Fuel gases are making the Earth warmer
iii. The sea will rise because of melting ice caps
iv. Their computer models prove the Earth will get warmer in the
the future
v. Warmer Earth will be bad for human kind
vi. We should act now
e. Skepticsi. Earth’s atmosphere has been getting cooler
ii. Earth’s temperature regularly changes causes like the sun’s
production of heat
iii. Ice caps are not melting
iv. Activist’s computer models cannot explain temperature changes
that have occurred in the past
v. A warmer Earth will make it easier to grow crops and feed
people
vi. Learn more before doing anything
f. Activist’s influence
i. 1997- U.S signed the Kyoto Protocol to pledge lower emissions
of greenhouse gases by 7 percent below 1990 levels. By 20082012 a reduction of more than 30 percent below the levels that
would normally occur
g. Endangered Species Act.
i. 1997- forbids the buying or selling a bird fish, animal, or plant
that the government feels is “endangered” or is likely to become
extinct unless it receives extra protection
ii. Engaging in an economic activity that would harm an
endangered species
iii. Firms and agencies that want to build a bridge, factory, or farm
in an area where and endangered species lives must obey
federal regulations
IV. Majoritarian Politics: Pollution from Automobiles
A. 1970 law moved pollution from automobiles apart of majoritarian politics
1. Required states to develop land-use and transportation rules to help
attain air quality standards
a. Certain cities would not be able to do this because the increase
in the number of cars or in the number of driven in these cities
outweighed the gain from making the average car less polluting
b. Would cause government to impose such unpopular measures as
bans on downtown parking, mandatory use of buses and
carpools, as well as gasoline rationing
2. This failed because of popular opposition
a. Congress postponed deadlines which air quality standards in
cities should be met
b. EPA stopped any serious effort to tell people when and where
they could drive
B. 1990 Clean Air Act revision set a tougher, new auto emission control standard
but pushed back the deadline for compliance
C. Majoritarian Politics when people believe the costs are low:
1. The National Environmental Policy (1969):
a. Contained provision requiring an environmental impact
be written before any federal agency undertakes an activity that
will significantly affect the quality of the human environment
i. People against any government sponsored project have
used the EIS to block, to change, or to delay a project
ii. Lawsuits have been filed to challenge this provision of
an EIS or to claim that a project that was not supported
by a satisfactory EIS
D. Majortarian Politics when people believe the costs are high
1. Gasoline taxes be raised sharply
a. Discourage driving, conserve fuel and reduce smog
b. Almost everyone would pay, but almost everyone would benefit
c. Difficult for people to support these taxes
V. Interest Group Politics: Acid Rain
A. Acid Rain
1. Acidic rain, snow, or dust particles that fall onto the land
2. Source of acid participation is burning fuel, like certain types of coal
That contains a lot of sulfur
a. Sulfur could potentially turn into sulfuric acid when it comes to
Earth
b. Steel mills and electric power in the Midwest and Great Lakes
burn this stuff
3. Lakes and rivers in the eastern U.S and in Canada have become more
acidic
a. naturally occurring acid in the soils and rainfall
B. 1977 two alternative solutions
1. Require power plants to burn low-sulfur coal
a. Cut back on sulfur emissions, but would cost money
2. Require power plants to install scrubbers
a. Scrubbers: complicated and very expensive devices that would
take sulfurous fumes out of the gas before it came out of the
smokestack
b. Allow Midwestern utilities to continue their practice of using
cheap, high- sulfur coal
3. Congress voted for the scrubbers for all new coal burning plants and
created four great political advantages
a. Jobs of miners in high-sulfur coal mines would be protected
b. Environmentalists liked scrubbers
c. Scrubber manufacturers like the idea
d. Eastern Governors liked scrubbers because if all new plants had
to have them it would be more costly and less likely for existing
factories in their states to close down and move into the West.
4. 1977 scrubber bill did not work
C. Strongly opposed interest groups created a stalemate for thirteen years
1. President George H.W Bush proposed two step regulation
a. First step was 111 power plants would be required to reduce
their emission of sulfur by a fixed amount. Power plants could
decide whether to buy low sulfur coal, install scrubbers, or use
some other technology
i. Done by 1995
b. Second Step: sharper emission reductions for many more plants
and may require the use of scrubbers.
D. Interest Groups
1. Permeates many aspects of environmental policy making
2. Lacks the moral fervor of entrepreneurial politics and rarely taps the
deep streams of public opinion that are reflected in majoritarian politics
a. The forming of new interest groups has made things harder to
change current policies
VI. Client Politics: Agricultural Pesticides
A. Organized farmers have successfully resisted efforts to restrict sharply the use
of pesticides or to control the runoff of pesticides from farmlands
1. One reason is because there are over fifty thousand pesticides now in
use with five thousand new ones coming each year
a. Testing all of these pesticides is really expensive and very time
consuming
2. Second reason is because pesticides do have some benefits
a. Someone has to balance the gains and the risks of using a given
pesticide and compare the relative gains and risks of two similar
pesticides
3. American farmers are the most productive in the world and may not
achieve their goals without pesticides
a. Farmers are well organized and well represented in Congress
4. Subsidies taxpayers give to farmers often encourage them to produce
more food and they end up using more pesticides than needed
a. Pesticides sink into the soil and contaminate water supplies
i. Problems are not made known to the public
5. EPA’s budget for reviewing pesticides has been kept small
a. Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Jamie
Whitten, was a supporter of farmers and against
Environmentalist
6. Pesticides have trivial effects on long-term human health like cancer