ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

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ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
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Why is environmental policy so controversial?

• Creates both winners and losers
• Losers may be interest groups or average citizens
  
• Losers may not want to pay costsExample auto
  exhaust control
• Shrouded in scientific uncertaintyExample
  greenhouse effect
• Takes the form of entrepreneurial politics
• Encourages emotional appeals "good guys" versus
  "bad guys"

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THEME A POLITICS OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
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I. MAJORITARIAN POLITICS Distributed benefits,
distributed costs A. Gives benefits to large
numbers. B. Distributed costs to large numbers
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II. INTEREST GROUP POLITICS Concentrated
benefits, concentrated costs. A. Gives
benefits to relatively small group. B. Cost
imposed on another small group
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III. CLIENT POLITICS Concentrated benefits,
distributed costs A. Relatively small group
benefits B. Costs distributed widely C.
Most people unaware of costs
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IV. ENTREPRENEURIAL POLITICS distributed
benefits, concentrated costs A. Gives benefits
to large number B. Cost imposed on small group
C. Success depends on people who work for
unorganized majorities - Ralph Nader, Rachael
Carson
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The American context

• Environmental policy is shaped by unique features
  of American politics
• More adversarial than in Europe
• Rules are often uniform nationally (auto
  emissions)
• But require many regulators and rules, strict
  deadlines, and expensive technologies
• Often government (pro-) versus business (anti-)
• Example Clean Air Act, which took thirteen years
  to revise in Congress
• In England, rules are flexible and regional(1).
  Compliance is voluntary(2). Government and
  business cooperate

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The American context

• Depends heavily on states
• Standards are left to states, subject to federal
  control
• Local politics decides allocations
• Federalism reinforces adversarial politics
  separation of powers provides multiple points of
  access

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Figure 21.1 Government Regulation
Source Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report
(January 20, 1990), 185, updated with Wirthlin
Worldwide Survey.
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MAJORITARIAN POLITICS POLLUTION FROM
AUTOMOBILES Many people hope to benefit, but
many people (anyone who owns a car) will have to
pay the cost. When People Believe the Costs Are
Low Environmental Impact Statements. When People
Believe the Costs Are High Gasoline Taxes
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INTEREST GROUP POLITICS ACID RAIN Regions hurt
by acid rain (mainly in the Northeast) argue with
regions that product a lot of acid rain (mainly
in the Midwest) about who should pay.
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CLIENT POLITICS AGRICULTURAL PESTICIDES Farmers
manage to minimize federal controls over the use
of pesticides. Most people are unaware of what
foods contain what pesticides or which, if any,
are harmful farmers are keenly aware of the
economic benefits of pesticides and are well
organized to defend them.
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ENTREPRENEURIAL POLICIES POLLUTION FROM
FACTORIES Many people hope to benefit from rules
that impose costs on a few firms.
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Entrepreneurial politics gave rise to
environmental movement

• Santa Barbara oil spill, Earth Day
• Led to the formation of EPA and passage of the
  Water Quality Improvement Act and tougher Clean
  Air Act in 1970
• Two years later Congress passed laws designed to
  clean up water
• Three years later Congress adopted the Endangered
  Species Act
• New laws passed into the 1990s
• Existing environmental organizations grew in size
  and new ones formed
• Public opinion rallied behind environmental
  slogans

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Global warming

• Earth's temperature rises from trapped gases in
  the atmosphere
• Predicted result floods on coastal areas as the
  polar ice caps melt wilder weather as more
  storms are created and tropical diseases spread
  to North America
• Activist scientists versus skeptics scientists
• Activists agree with predicted results and say we
  should act now, despite scientific doubts
• Skeptics say we should learn more before doing
  anything
• Survey indicates skeptics outnumber activists
• Activists have greatest influence
• U.S. signed Kyoto Protocol in 1997

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THEME B - TRANSPORTATION AND THE
ENVIRONMENT Much of environmental policy is
connected with the nation's transportation system
especially to the use of automobiles.
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At present, the number of cars in use is
increasing two times faster than the rate of
population growth. The amount of land nationwide
devoted to parking lots is equivalent to the size
of the state of Georgia. The largest source of
toxins in our air is from Motor Vehicles. .
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Majoritarian politics pollution from automobiles

• Clean Air Act imposed tough restrictions
• 1975 90 percent reduction of hydrocarbons and
  carbon monoxide 1976 90 percent reduction in
  nitrous oxides
• Required catalytic converters
• States were required to restrict public use of
  cars
• If auto emissions controls were insufficient-
  parking bans required, implementation of car
  pools, gas rationing
• Efforts failed opposition too great
• Congress and the EPA backed down, postponed
  deadlines
• Consumers, auto industry, and unions objected
• Loss of horsepower
• Loss of competitiveness
• Loss of jobs
• The Clean Air Act was weakened in 1977 but
  revived in 1990 with tougher standards

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Public will support tough laws

• If costs are hidden (catalytic converters)
• But not if they have to change habits (car pools)

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Majoritarian politics when people believe the
costs are low National Environmental Policy Act
of 1969 (NEPA)

• Requires environmental impact statement (EIS)
• Does not require specific action
• Passed Congress with overwhelming support
• But encouraged numerous lawsuits that block or
  delay projects
• Popular support remains strong costs appear low,
  benefits high

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Majoritarian politics when people believe the
costs are high

• Increased gasoline taxes
• Would discourage driving, save fuel, and reduce
  smog
• Most would pay, most would benefit
• But costs come long before benefits
• And benefits may not be obvious
• Easier to raise gas tax if benefits are concrete,
  for example, highways, bridges, and so forth

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Interest group politics acid rain

• Source of acid rain
• Burning of high-sulfur coal in midwestern
  factories
• Winds carry sulfuric acid eastward
• Rains bring acid to earth
• Effects of acid rain
• Acidification of lakes
• Destruction of forests
• Long-term and some short-term effects are unclear
• Regional battle
• East versus Midwest, Canada versus United States
• Midwestern businesses deny blame and costs

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Interest group politics acid rain

• Solutions and compromise
• Burn low-sulfur coal one alternative
• Effective but expensive
• Low-sulfur coal comes from West, high-sulfur coal
  is local
• Install smokestack scrubbers a second alternative
  
• Costly, not always effective, and leave sludge
• But allow use of inexpensive high-sulfur coal
• Congress voted for scrubbers for all new plants
• Including those that burned low-sulfur coal
• Even if plant was next to low-sulfur coal mine
• Political advantages
• Protected jobs of high-sulfur coal miners
  powerful allies in Congress
• Environmentalists preferred scrubbers
  "definitive" solution to problem
• Scrubber manufacturers preferred scrubbers
• Eastern governors preferred scrubbers made their
  plants more competitive

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Interest group politics acid rain

• Solutions and compromise
• Practical disadvantages
• Failed to allow for plants that burn low-sulfur
  coal why spend money on scrubbers?
• Scrubbers didn't work well
• Failed to address problem of existing plants
• Stalemate for thirteen years
• Two-step regulation proposed by Bush
• Before 1995 some plants could choose their
  approach fixed reduction but plants decide how
  to do
• After 1995 sharper reductions for many more
  plants, requiring some use of scrubbers
• Sulfur dioxide allowances could be bought and
  sold
• Financial compensation for coal miners who lose
  jobs
• Became part of Clean Air Act of 1990

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Client politics agricultural pesticides

• Issue control of use and runoff of pesticides
  farmers have mostly resisted policy
  entrepreneurs, with DDT an exception
• EPA efforts to evaluate safety of all pesticides
• Given mandate by Congress in 1972
• Program has not succeeded
• Too many pesticides to evaluate(1). Many have
  only long-term effects needing extended
  study(2). Expensive and time-consuming to
  evaluate
• Benefits of pesticide may outweigh harm
• Political complications
• Farmers are well-represented in Congress
• Subsidies encourage overproduction, which
  encourages overuse of pesticides
• Damage is hard to see and dramatize
• The EPA budget is small
• Few pesticides have been removed from the market
  only those receiving heavy media coverage such as
  DDT in 1972
• Client politics has won out

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THEME C - ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY WITHOUT PUBLIC
INTEREST THE ENVIRONMENTAL UNCERTAINTIES 1.
What is the Problem? 2. What Are Our Goals? 3.
How Do We Achieve Our Goals.?
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Offsets

• An environmental rule that a company in an area
  with polluted air can offset its own pollution by
  reducing pollution from another source in the
  area. For instance, an older company that can't
  afford to pay for new anti-pollution technologies
  may buy pollution credits from a newer company
  that has reduced its source of pollution below
  the levels required by law.

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Bubble standard

• 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 bubble standard.

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Pollution Allowances (or banks)

• If a company reduces its polluting 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.

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Command-and-control strategy

• A strategy to improve air and water quality,
  involving the setting of detailed pollution
  standards and rules.

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Why is it so controversial? 1. Every policy
creates winners and losers. 2. Many environmental
issues are enmeshed in scientific uncertainty. 3.
Much environmental policy takes the form of
entrepreneur politics - mobilizing decisions
with strong, often emotional appeals in order to
overcome the political advantages of client
groups that oppose a change.
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THEME D - THE FUTURE ENVIRONMENT - THE
RESULTS Evidence indicates that many current
environmental problems are intensifying while new
problems are continually emerging. Science has
been unable to develop workable solutions to most
forms of pollution. Such uncertainty precludes
the formulation of a coherent public policy. As
a result, this is an area where politics will
necessarily lag behind technology. Science must
define a direction.
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The results the environment has improved since
1970 in some aspects

• Less air pollution
• Maybe less water pollution but harder to judge
• Hazardous wastes remain a problem

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IMPORTANT WEB SITES www.worldwatch.org www.epa.go
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SELF TEST