ENVIRONMENTAL
POLICY
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
 Once society agrees that a problem exists, it may persuade its
leaders to solve it through policy
 Policy: a formal set of general plans and principles to address
problems and guide decision making
 Public policy: governmental laws, regulations, orders, incentives,
and practices to advance societal welfare
 Environmental policy: pertains to human interactions with the
environment
 Regulates resource use or reduces pollution
 To promote human welfare and/or protect resources
POLICY IMPACTS ENVIRONMENTAL
PROBLEMS
 Science, ethics, and economics help formulate policy
 Science: provides information and analysis
 Ethics and economics: clarify how society can address problems
 Government
interacts with
 Citizens,
organizations,
and the private
sector
POLICIES PREVENT THE TRAGEDY OF THE
COMMONS
 Capitalist markets are driven by short -term profit
 Not long-term social or environmental stability
 Little incentive to minimize impacts
 Market failure justifies government intervention
 Environmental policy tries to protect environmental quality and
natural resources
 While promoting equity or fairness in resource use
 Tragedy of the commons : commonly held resources will become
overused and degraded
 Best prevented by restriction of use and management
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES PREVENT FREE
RIDERS AND EXTERNAL COSTS
 Free riders: people are tempted to cheat and not participate in
sacrificing to protect the environment
 An entity gets a “free ride” by avoiding sacrifices made by others
 Private voluntary efforts are less effective than public policies, where
everyone sacrifices
 Environmental policies also promote fairness by eliminating
external costs
 Policies ensure that parties do not use resources in ways that harm
others
FRAMEWORK OF U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL
POLICY
 The U.S. is a good model to understand environmental policy
 It has pioneered innovative policies
 Its policies serve as models for other countries
 Understanding federal policy helps us understand it at local, state, and
international levels
 Congress passes legislation (statutory law)
 It is signed into law by the president
 Laws are implemented and executed by agencies
 Regulations: specific rules to achieve objectives of broadly written
statutory laws
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTAL
POLICIES
 The structure of the federal government is mirrored at the
state level
 But state laws cannot violate principles of the U.S.
Constitution
 If laws conflict, federal laws take precedence
 California, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts have
strong environmental laws
 Well-funded agencies
 Citizens value protecting the environment
T YPICAL LAWS FROM THE 1780S TO LATE
1800S
• Homestead Act (1862): anyone could buy or settle on
160 acres of public land
Insert Fig. 5.10a
T YPICAL LAWS FROM THE 1780S TO LATE
1800S
• General Mining Act
(1872): people could mine
on public land for $5/acre
with no government
oversight
T YPICAL LAWS FROM THE 1780S TO LATE
1800S
• Timber Culture Act (1873): encouraged the timber
industry to clear-cut ancient trees with little
government policy to limit logging or encourage
conservation
THE SECOND WAVE OF U.S. POLICY
 Public perception and government policy shifted
 Laws addressed problems caused by westward expansion and
encouraged conservation
 Congress created Yellowstone National Park, the world ’s first
national park, in 1872
 Also, national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges
 Understood that the nation ’s resources were exhaustible
 They required legal protection
 Land management policies addressed soil conservation
 The 1964 Wilderness Act preserves pristine land
THE THIRD WAVE OF U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL
POLICY
 In the 20th century, people were better of f economically
 But lived with dirtier air, dirtier water, and more waste and toxic
chemicals
 Events increased awareness
of environmental problems
and shifted public priorities
and policies
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962)
described the ecological and health effects of
pesticides and chemicals
MODERN U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
 Ohio’s Cuyahoga River was so polluted that it caught fire in the
1950s and 1960s
 The public demanded more environmental protection
Today, U.S. health is better protected and the air and
water are cleaner mainly because of policies of the 1960s
THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT
(1970)
 NEPA began the modern era of environmental policy
 It created the Council on Environmental Quality
 Requires an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
 For any federal action that might significantly impact the environment
 To assess the environmental impacts of any federally -funded project
 An EIS usually does not halt projects
 Provides incentives to decrease damage
 Grants citizens input into the policy process
THE EPA SHIFTS ENVIRONMENTAL
POLICY
 In 1970, President Nixon’s executive order created the
Environmental Protection A gency (EPA)
 To develop an integrated approach to environmental policy
 The EPA:





Conducts and evaluates research
Monitors environmental quality
Sets and enforces standards for pollution levels
Assists states in meeting standards and goals
Educates the public
SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS
 The public demanded a
cleaner environment
 Environmental problems
needed tough regulations
Thousands of laws protect
health and environmental
quality in the U.S.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY CHANGES OVER
TIME
 Major advances in environmental policy in the 1960s and
1970s occurred because:
 Strong evidence of environmental problems existed
 People could visualize policies to deal with problems
 The political climate was ripe, with a supportive public and leaders who
were willing to act
 Pictures of Earth from space made us aware that our planet
was finite
MANY REACTED AGAINST REGULATION
 By 1990, many felt that regulations were too strict
 Imposed economic burdens on people and businesses
 George W. Bush and the Republican -controlled Congresses
(1994–2006) tried to weaken laws
 “The Death of Environmentalism ” (2004): the environmental
movement has to be reinvented
 It must appeal to core values with an inspiring vision
 This new outlook helped elect President Obama in 2008
ORGANIZATIONS SHAPE INTERNATIONAL
POLICY
• International organizations influence nations through:
– Funding, economic or political pressure, and media
attention
• United Nations (UN): plays an active role in policy
– Sponsors conferences, coordinates treaties, publishes
research
• UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme)
promotes sustainability
– Research, outreach activities
– Provides information to policymakers and scientists
THE WORLD BANK AND EUROPEAN UNION
 The World Bank: one of the largest funding sources for
economic development in poor countries
–
–
Dams, irrigation, infrastructure, etc.
Funds unsustainable, environmentally damaging projects
 The European Union (EU) seeks to promote Europe’s unity
and its economic and social progress


Can sign binding treaties and enact regulations
Sees environmental regulations as barriers to trade
THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
(WTO)
 Represents multinational corporations
 Promotes free trade
 Can impose penalties on nations that don ’t comply with its
directives
 Interprets environmental laws as unfair barriers to trade
 Brazil and Venezuela filed a complaint against U.S. regulations
requiring cleaner-burning fuel
 The WTO agreed with Brazil and Venezuela, despite threats to human
health
 Critics charge the W TO aggravates environmental problems
INTERNATIONAL TREATIES CAN WEAKEN
PROTECTION
 International treaties allow industries and corporations to
weaken environmental protection laws
 They see laws as barriers to trade
 Under NAFTA, investors can sue a country for lost profits
 Canada sued the U.S. for $300 million for banning beef after finding
mad cow disease in Canada cows
 Canada sued the U.S. for $1 billion for banning MTBE, a dangerous
gasoline additive
 The U.S. forced Mexico to pay $16 million and reopen a toxic waste dump
NGOS
 Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) : entities that influence
international policy
 Some do not get politically involved
 Example: The Nature Conservancy
 Others try to shape policy through research, education,
lobbying, or protest
 Example: Conservation International, the World Wide Fund for Nature,
Greenpeace, Population Connection
SEVEN STEPS TO MAKING ENVIRONMENTAL
POLICY
 Theoretically, in the U.S.,
everyone has a voice and
can make a dif ference
 But money wields influence
 Some people and organizations
are more influential than others
 Creating environmental policy
has several steps
 Requires initiative, dedication,
and the support of many people
STEP 1: IDENTIFY A PROBLEM
 Requires scientific inquiry and data collection
STEP 2: PINPOINT CAUSES OF THE
PROBLEM
• Involves scientific research
STEP 3: ENVISION A SOLUTION
 Science plays a vital role here, too
 Solutions also require social or political action
STEP 4: GET ORGANIZED
 Organizations are more ef fective than individuals
 But a motivated, informed individual can also succeed
STEP 5: CULTIVATE ACCESS AND
INFLUENCE
• People gain access to policymakers and influence them
through lobbying and campaign contributions
– Professional lobbyists are employed by businesses
and organizations
– Anyone can donate money to a candidate
STEP 6: SHEPHERD THE SOLUTION
INTO LAW
 Prepare a bill, or draft law, containing solutions
 Find members of the House and Senate to introduce the bill
and shepherd it through committees
 The bill may become law or die in various ways
HOW A BILL BECOMES LAW
Before a bill becomes law, it
must clear multiple hurdles
STEP 7: IMPLEMENT, ASSESS, AND
INTERPRET POLICY
 Following a law’s enactment
 Administrative agencies implement regulations
 Policymakers evaluate the policy’s successes or failures
 The courts interpret the law
SCIENCE PLAYS A ROLE, BUT CAN BE
POLITICIZED
 A nation’s strength depends on proper use of science
 Governments use some tax money to fund research
 Sometimes policymakers let ideology determine policy
 Politicians ignore scientists and mislead the public
 Government scientists have had their work censored, suppressed, or
edited and their jobs threatened
 Unqualified people are put into powerful positions
 Scientifically literate citizens must ensure that our government
uses proper use of science
When taxpayer-funded research is suppressed or distorted
for political ends, everyone loses
THREE MAJOR T YPES OF POLICY
APPROACHES
• Environmental policy has 3
major approaches:
– Lawsuits
– Command-and-control
– Economic policy tools
STRATEGY: LAWSUITS IN THE COURTS
 Before legislation, lawsuits addressed U.S. policy issues
 Individuals suffering from pollution sued polluters in court
 Courts make polluters stop or pay fines
 Industrialization and population growth made it harder to control
pollution
 Also, justices were reluctant to hinder industry
 People saw legislation and regulation as more ef fective in
protecting health and safety
STRATEGY: COMMAND AND CONTROL
 Command-and-control approach: a regulating agency prohibits
actions, or sets rules or limits
 Threatening punishment for violators
 This is the approach used for most environmental laws and
regulations enforced by agencies today
 This simple approach has worked well
 It brings cleaner air, water, safer workplaces, and healthier
neighborhoods
STRATEGY: ECONOMIC POLICY TOOLS
 People don’t like the top-down approaches that dictate particular
solutions to problems
 Alternative approaches channel innovation and economic policies
to benefit the public:
 Promote desired, and discourage undesired, outcomes
 Encourage market competition to produce new solutions at lower cost
 Strategies include:
 Green taxes, subsidies, permit trading, and ecolabeling
GREEN TAXES DISCOURAGE
UNSUSTAINABILIT Y
 Governments use taxes to benefit the public
 Internalizing harmful external costs makes them part of the cost of
doing business
 Green taxes: tax environmentally harmful activities and products
 Businesses reimburse the public for damage they cause
 The more pollution, the higher the tax payment
 Companies have financial incentives to reduce pollution with
freedom to decide how to do so
 But costs are passed on to consumers
WHO SHOULD PAY FOR POLLUTION?
 Green taxes are not widely supported in the U.S.
 Other “sin taxes” (e.g., on cigarettes and alcohol) are tools of U.S. social
policy
 Polluter-pays principle: the party that pollutes is held responsible
for covering the costs of its impacts
 Widely used in Europe
 Carbon taxes: controversial taxes on gasoline, coal -based
electricity, and other fossil fuels
 Used to fight climate change
SUBSIDIES PROMOTE CERTAIN ACTIVITIES
 Subsidy: a government giveaway of cash or resources to
encourage a particular industry or activity
 Tax break: helps an entity by relieving its tax burden
 Subsidies can promote sustainability, but they have been used to
support unsustainable activities
 The U.S. subsidizes logging, grazing, and mining
– Benefits private parties while degrading publically held resources
 Nations give $1 .45 trillion per year in harmful subsidies
U.S. fossil fuel companies received $72 billion taxpayer
money (2002–2008)—renewable energy received $29 billion
PERMIT TRADING SAVES MONEY
 Permit trading: a government-created market in permits for an
environmentally harmful activity
 Businesses buy, sell, or trade these permits
• Cap-and-trade emissions trading system : the government sets
pollution levels (“caps”)
 Permits let polluters emit some amount of pollution
• Polluters can exchange (sell) permits
– The government can set lower emission levels
 Companies have an economic incentive to reduce emissions
A CAP-AND-TRADE SYSTEM FOR AIR
POLLUTION
 One U.S. cap-and-trade system decreased sulfur dioxide
emissions
 Cuts were obtained more
cheaply than expected
 With no effects on
electricity supply or
economic growth
 Billions of dollars
per year are saved
 Benefits outweigh costs
40 to 1
ECOLABELING EMPOWERS
CONSUMERS
 Uses the marketplace to counteract market failures
 Ecolabeling: tells consumers which brands use environmentally
benign processes
 Dolphin-safe tuna,
labeling recycled
paper, etc.
Ecolabeling is a
powerful incentive for
businesses to change
MARKET INCENTIVES WORK AT THE
LOCAL LEVEL
 Municipalities charge residents for waste disposal
 According to the amount of waste generated
 Cities tax disposal of costly items (tires, motor oil)
 Some cities give rebates for buying water -efficient appliances
 Power utilities give discounts to those buying ef ficient lightbulbs
and appliances
 It is cheaper than expanding generating capacity
CONCLUSION
 Environmental policy is a problem -solving tool
 It uses science, ethics, and economics
 Conventional command-and-control approach uses legislation
and regulations to make policy
 It is the most common approach
 Innovative economic policy tools are being developed
 Environmental and ecological economists quantify the value of
ecosystem services
 Economic well-being does not need a trade -of f with
environmental quality