Environmental Policy Flashcards

Flashcards on Environmental Policy

Policy

A formal set of plans and principles intended to solve problems and aid decision making.

Public policy

Includes laws, regulations, orders, incentives, and practices enacted by the various levels of government.

Environmental policy

Specifically addresses our interactions with the environment.

Market capitalism

Driven by short-term gains, providing little motivation to address environmental impacts, social benefits, and equalizing costs and benefits between all parties.

Market failure

When market prices do not reflect the full cost of environmental degradation.

Tragedy of the commons

A scenario where a public pasture (or “common”) would be overexploited as individuals acting in their own best interest increase their grazing animals, leading to resource depletion.

External costs

Harmful impacts suffered by people not involved in the actions that created them.

Polluter-pays principle

Internalize costs by forcing industries to deal with harmful impacts that they caused .

Revolving door

The movement of individuals between the government and private sector, results in officials that favor industry.

Statutory law

Law created by Congress.

Executive orders

Provide legal instructions to government agencies.

Judiciary

In charge of interpreting laws.

Court law

Decisions rendered by the courts.

Precedents

Previous rulings serving as the basis for future cases.

Takings clause

Private property shall not “be taken for public use without just compensation.”

Cooperative federalism

A federal agency sets standards and works with state agencies to achieve them

General Land Ordinances

Gave the government the right to manage lands it expropriated from Native Americans.

Silent Spring

Informing the public of the ecological and health impacts of industrial chemicals like DDT.

Clean Air Act

Sets standards for air quality, restricts emissions from new sources, enables citizens to sue violators, funds research on pollution control, and established an emissions trading program for sulphur dioxide.

Endangered Species Act

Seeks to protect species threatened with extinction.

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

Sets standards and permitting procedures for the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste.

Clean Water Act

Regulates the discharge of wastes, especially from industry, into rivers and streams.

Safe Drinking Water Act

Authorizes the EPA to set quality standards for tap water provided by public water systems and to work with states to protect drinking water sources from contamination.

Toxic Substances Control Act

Directs the EPA to monitor thousands of industrial chemicals and gives it power to ban those found to pose too much health risk.

Soil and Water Conservation Act

Directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture to survey and assess soil and water conditions across the nation and prepare conservation plans.

CERCLA (“Superfund”)

Funds the Superfund program to clean up hazardous waste at the nation’s most polluted sites.

National Environment Policy Act (NEPA)

Created an agency called the Council on Environmental Quality and required that an environmental impact statement (EIS) be prepared for any major federal action that might impact environmental quality.

Environmental impact statement (EIS)

Forces government agencies and businesses to do a cost-benefit analysis of any new dam, highway, or other building project.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Evaluates research, monitors environmental quality, and sets and enforces pollution standards.

Green New Deal

A non-binding congressional resolution that sets ambitious goals, including a 100% renewable power grid.

Globalization

Describes the increased interconnectedness of the world’s societies.

Command-and-control policy

Approach where the regulating agency prohibits certain actions or sets limits, with punishment for violations.

Green tax

A tax on an environmentally harmful activity or product.

Subsidy

A government giveaway of money or resources that is intended to support or promote an industry or activity.