Envir policy and solutions to Enviro policy

Public Goods

a good that, once provided, cannot be limited to those who have paid for it

Informative Asymmetries

Transactions where one party has more or better information than the other party - sometimes the public is unaware of environmental contaminants in their midst while others may be very aware

Externalities

When a third party to an exchange is forced to involuntarily either pay a cost or receive a benefit; most are negative

Equality

the assurance that all in society have equal access to the private market and public goods and that negative externalities are not concentrated within certain populations 

Agenda Setting

an issue is actively on gov agenda

Policy formulation

actors generating ideas or solutions to the policy problem

Policy legitimation (adoption)

passing of law by congress/establishing of the policy

Policy Implementation 

carrying out the public policy, when people who are against it try to break it

Policy Evaluation

review the policy and the impact it is having

Political stream

public opinion, the political climate; who is in office, who wields power

Policy stream

usually ready made policy solutions waiting to be coupled with problems

Problem stream

the various conditions/public problems that exist and are viewed as worthy of gov intervention

Command and Control Regulation

• Regulators set standards or limits and apply them uniformly to a broad category of sources

• Regulation mechanisms: ambient, emissions, technology standards

• Examples: Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

• Advantages: Clear easy to easy-to-understand standards, strong enforcement, proven effectiveness, and quick results

• Problems: Inflexibility, does not account for differences among firms, and is more expensive overall

Market-Based Incentives

• Incentive-based policies aimed to encourage polluters to find innovative, low-cost ways to reduce their emissions by offering them rewards or by doling out punishments in the form of taxes or fees, marketable permits, or liability

• Examples: Taxes, fees, subsidies, emissions trading

• Pros: politically feasible

• Cons: Corps can afford fees and continue what they were doing

Voluntary Programs

• seek to improve the environment by encouraging, rather than mandating, businesses and other organizations to adopt environmentally protective measures 

• Examples: AgStar - A voluntary partnership between EPA, USDA, and the Livestock farm, Virginia Agricultural Cost Share Programs

• Effective: many orgs want the Pos PR that comes from it

• Drawbacks: they are voluntary, so participation and enforcement are weak, making them insufficient for major envir challenges

International Agreements

coordinating among various countries to achieve environmentally protective goals typically used for environmental problems that are global or regional in nature 

Egocentric

concern over the environment relates to how problems affect themselves

Social Altruistic

concern comes from how environmental problems affect the public at large 

Biocentric

belief that the natural environment is of utmost concern. Humans are part of nature and have some obligation 

Legislative Leadership

ability of president to pass bills through Congress/work with Congress

Administrative actions

oversight of the bureaucracy, appointments, regulatory process, executive orders 

Political Communication

where environment is on the agenda, how it is discussed/framed, whether the president advocates for/against enviro protection

Environmental diplomacy

negotiations with other countries, where we stand on environmental treaties 

What are the types of market failures associated with the environment?

• public goods

• information asymmetries

• externalities

• equality

What are the 5 stages of the policy cycle

1. Agenda Setting

2. Policy Formulation

3. Policy legitimation (adoption)

4. Policy Implementation

5. Policy Evaluation

According to Kingdon’s 3 stream theory how do issues come to the agenda

When the 3 streams align policy issues can make it to the agenda, with hopes that policy will then be adopted to solve them

What level of government primarily handled air and water pollution pre 1970s

Primarily handled at the state and local levels of governement

What did the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) do?

• First major U.S. environmental laws

• Declared a national environmental policy and recognized the federal governments responsibility to use all practicable means to protect the environment for future generations

• Required Environmental Impact statements (EIS)

• created the council on Environmental quality 

who signed and advocated for the NEPA

President Richard Nixon

Benefit-cost analysis (BCA)

is a decision-making tool used in economics and public policy to evaluate whether a project, policy, or regulation is worthwhile

Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA)

Is a decision-making tool that compares the relative costs of different ways to achieve the same goal or outcome

• ask which option achieves the goal at the lowest cost

Nonpoint sources of pollution

are sources of pollution that do not come from a single, identifiable discharge point and instead come from diffuse, widespread activities

Ex: urban streets, suburban development, wastewater treatment plants

Point sources of pollution

are single, identifiable, and localized sources that discharge pollutants directing into the environment through a clear outlet like a pipe, smokestack, or drain

Ex: Factories/industrial plants, power plants, pipelines, municipal sewage treatment plants

Chesapeake Bay: Challenges in adopting and implementing policy

• Most bay pollution comes from agriculture and urban runoff which is hard to regulate

• multi-state coordination bc the bay watershed includes 6 states

• farmers and industry resist costly regulations and their are enforcement gaps bc state commitment varies

Key pollutants that impact the bay

Nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment buildup; leads to the loss of fish, oysters, crabs, and grasses and invasive species begin to crowd out native species 

the role of the EPA and federal government when it comes to protecting the bay

• EPA has coordinated Bay restoration since the 1983 Chesapeake Bay Agreement

• Chesapeake Bay program - a federal state partnership led by EPA to set goals, monitor progress, and provide funding

• Enforcement authority: if states fail to meet their plans, EPA can impose stricter permits or withhold funding

Chesapeake bay: focusing events that led to action over time

• 1972 - Tropical Storm

• Early 1980s - Initial planning, research

  • 1983 - Report and creation of the Chesapeake Bay Program

Ecosystem Based Management

an integrated approach to management that considers the entire ecosystem, linkages across systems and disciplines, and the cumulative impacts of different human sectors

Types of Government policy options for enviro problems

• command and control regulation

• market based mechanisms

• voluntary programs

• international agreements

• ecosystem based management