Focusing events Deaths by air inversion pollution PA 1948 Cuyahoga River Fire 1969 Three Mile island near meltdown 1979 Pollution credits Market incentives improvement Subsidies public education campaigns and tax credits which are a form of market incentive o Market permits for emissions of sulfur dioxide Market incentives improve economic efficiency by reducing overall cost of environmental Government reduces number of permits over time to ensure that the goal of lower emissions is reached Information disclosure Flexible regulatory approaches Collaborative regulatory approaches o Reduce conflict between regulators and those being regulated o Work cooperatively to develop appropriate environmental standards regulations and actions programs Decentralization of environmental responsibilities to the state Equity Performance from state to state is uneven Environmental problems cross state lines o National or regional approach might be more effective and equitable Sustainable development Sustainable development economic growth that is compatible with environmental systems and social goals o Economic growth that is compatible with natural environmental system and social goals o Objective Meeting the needs of the present without compromising ability of future generations to meet their own needs o UN goal from 1987 o Not all agree on what s best for the environment or on social goals o US under Bush did not agree with the policy Conservative groups within the GOP see it as blocking income growth in the S o Sounds harmless but politically fraught GW Bush position on climate change More interested in conservative base than GHW Bush closer to Reagan s policies than his father s Called for voluntary actions by business agriculture and so on Open to criticism from environmentalists Not a lot of money spend in climate change and energy related initiatives Supported use of Yucca Mountain in Nevada as nuclear waste repository Ideological and financial base in business community particularly industrial corporations and timber mining agriculture and oil interests Sought to deregulate environmental protection through new era of voluntary flexible and cooperative programs and to transfer more responsibility for enforcement of federal laws to state Partisan differences on environment Nixon created Environmental Protect Agency at end of 1970 through executive order that consolidated government agencies and expanded their role Fundamental issues o Legitimacy of government regulation to protect public s welfare o Sanctity of private property rights o Whether environmental problems posed real and substantial risk to public s health and well being Environmental Protection Agency EPA EPA at center of fractious political fights Target of criticism by Congress business community and environmental groups Environmental Protection Agency independent federal regulatory agency charged with enforcement of most environmental protection laws Largest of federal regulatory agencies 18 000 staff 7 4 billion budget in 2008 34 increase in EPA funding proposed by Obama 10 5 billion Clean water initiatives and a new Great Lakes Initiative Among the most profession agencies Resource insufficient to handle its vast responsibilities Policies dealing with control of toxic chemicals and hazardous wastes have been least successful Half cost paid by private sector All 7 major environmental protection statues o Rely on regulatory policy strategy o Command and control traditional approach o environmental regulation in which government sets and enforces standards for air water quality and other resources o Direct regulation aka command and control or regulation government regulates or controls environmental health and safety performance of industry or other facilities through the setting and enforcement of standards and sometimes through requirements for certain technologies to be used o Standards set and enforced according to language of each statue Science never complete of definitive Agency tends to focus on highly visible risks about which the public is concerned rather than on those most dangerous to public s health Way people perceive environmental risks is often at odds with how professionals see them US energy policy what is it why so hard to get one The evolution of environmental and energy policy Developed during 1960s Environmental decade of 1970s Early environmental and energy policies Early 17th century o Congress enacted most of major environmental statutes in effect today o New England colonists adopted local ordinances to protect forest land None of these early actions challenged prevailing U S values relating to the sanctity of private property individual rights a limited role for government and primacy of economic growth o Impose important cultural constraints on environmental policy o Signal emergence of new social forces that eventually collided with long standing values and led to government s strong role in environmental protection and resource management By late 19th century cities began to recognize importance of establishing services such as o Providing clean water o Managing waste o Treating wastewater President FDR expanded conservation policies to deal with flood control and soil conservation as part of New Deal o Tennessee Valley Authority TVA in 1933 Demonstrated critical policy belief government land use planning could further public interest Energy policy was not major concern of government prior to 1970s o Consisted of federal and state regulation of coal natural gas and oil particularly of prices charges and competition in the private sector Goal stabilize markets and ensure both profits and continuing energy supplies Federal support for commercialization of nuclear power Congress shielded nascent industry from public scrutiny spent lavishly on research and development promoted rapid advancement of civilian nuclear power plants through Atomic Energy Commission and Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Department of Energy DOE Price Anderson Act of 1957 greatly restricted industry s liability and allowed it to flourish part of environmental protection and part natural resource policy argue that U S has no real energy policy o individual and corporate decisions in the marketplace largely determines energy use organization of petroleum exporting countries OPEC association of oil producing and exporting nations that was established to help fuse their mutual interest particularly the price of oil on the
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