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Environmental Science and Policy

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Title: Environmental Science and Policy


1
Environmental Science and Policy
  • Chapter 15

2
Outline
  • Decision Making
  • Environmental Policy Cycle
  • NEPA and EIS
  • Environmental Law
  • Statutory Law
  • Case Law
  • Administrative Law
  • International Treaties
  • Dispute Resolution
  • Collective Action

3
Table 15.1
4
DECISIONS IN AN UNCERTAIN WORLD
  • Adaptive Management
  • A solutions approach designed to test clearly
    formulated hypotheses about the actions being
    taken.
  • Learning by doing.
  • Polices are designed at the outset to utilize
    scientific principles to examine alternative and
    assess outcomes.

5
Table 15.2
6
Wicked Problems
  • Environmental problems tend to be intractable
    because they are nested within sets of
    interlocking issues.
  • Often poor match between bearers of costs and
    bearers of benefits.
  • No value-free objective answers.
  • Best approach is often consensus building.

7
Environmental Decision Making
8
Precautionary Principle
  • Four basic tenets.
  • People have a duty to take anticipatory steps to
    prevent harm.
  • Burden of proof with new technologies lies with
    its proponents.
  • Full range of alternatives must be examined
    before using a new technology.
  • Decision must be open, informed, and democratic.

9
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
  • Broad Goals
  • Improve understanding among the general public of
    natural and built environments and the
    relationships between human and their
    environment.
  • Encourage postsecondary students to pursue
    environmental careers.

10
Table 15.3
11
Table 15.4
12
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
  • Environmental Policy - Official rules and
    regulations concerning the environment that are
    adopted, implemented, and enforced by a
    governmental agency.
  • Also encompasses public opinion.

13
Environmental Policy
14
The Policy Cycle
  • Acts to continually define and refine the public
    agenda.
  • One big obstacle is getting a problem noticed in
    the age of ever-increasing volume and tenor of
    shocking news.
  • Does rhetoric help or harm ?

15
The Policy Cycle
16
Political Decision Making
  • Politics as Power
  • Politics is a struggle among competing interest
    groups as they strive to shape public policy to
    suit their own agendas.
  • Rational Choice
  • In choosing between policy alternatives,
    preference should be given to those with the
    greatest cumulative welfare and the least
    negative impacts.

17
Arguments Against Rational Choice
  • Conflicting views are not comparable.
  • Few agreed-upon broad social goals.
  • Policymakers not motivated by societal goals.
  • Large investments create path dependence.
  • Uncertainty drives policy makers toward past.
  • Costs and benefits difficult to calculate.
  • Segmented nature of large bureaucracies.

18
National Environmental Policy Act
  • National Environmental Policy Act (1970)
  • Authorizes Council on Environmental Quality as
    the oversight board.
  • Directs federal agencies to take environmental
    consequences into account during decision making.
  • Requires an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
    for every federal project having significant
    environmental impact.

19
Environmental Impact Statement
  • Every EIS must contain
  • Purpose and need for project.
  • Alternative to proposed action.
  • Statement of positive and negative impacts of the
    proposed activities.

20
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
  • Statutory Law The Legislative Branch
  • Federal laws (statutes) are enacted by Congress
    and signed by the President.
  • After introduction, each bill is referred to a
    committee or sub-committee for hearings and
    debate.
  • Language is modified, multiple bills may be
    combined, and overall bill is passed on to full
    committee.

21
Case law The Judicial Branch
  • Establishes environmental law by ruling on
    constitutionality of statutes and interpreting
    their meaning.
  • First must be determined if participants have a
    right to initiate an action.
  • Legal Standing

22
The Judicial Branch
  • Criminal Law - Derives from federal and state
    statues that prohibit wrongs against the state or
    society.
  • Charges always initiated by a government
    prosecutor.
  • Guilt or innocence of defendant determined by a
    jury of peers.

23
The Judicial Branch
  • Civil Law - Defined by a body of laws regulating
    relations between individuals or corporations.
  • Burden of proof lies with prosecution.
  • Guilt or innocence based on whether the defendant
    could reasonably have anticipated and avoided the
    offense.
  • Purpose of civil suit may be an injunction from
    the actions of an individual or corporation.

24
SLAPP
  • Strategic Lawsuits Against Political
    Participation - Practice of suing citizens who
    criticize businesses or government agencies over
    environmental issues.
  • Legal defense costs can be exorbitant.

25
Administrative Law The Executive Branch
  • More than 100 federal agencies have environmental
    oversight.
  • Federal agencies often delegate power to a
    matching state agency to decentralize authority.

26
The Executive Branch
27
Regulatory Agencies
  • EPA - Primary agency with responsibility for
    protecting environmental quality.
  • Cabinet-level department.
  • Department of Interior (Natural Resources)
  • National Park Service
  • Bureau of Land Management
  • US Fish and Wildlife Service

28
Regulatory Agencies
  • Department of Agriculture
  • US Forest Service
  • Department of Labor
  • Occupational Health and Safety Agency (OSHA)
  • Revolving door with workers moving back and forth
    between industry and government.

29
Table 15.5
30
INTERNATIONAL TREATIES AND CONVENTIONS
  • Over past 25 years, more than 170 environmental
    treaties and conventions have been negotiated.
  • Unfortunately many of these are vague.
  • Most nations unwilling to give up sovereignty.
  • International court has no enforcement powers.
  • Accords and sanctions
  • World opinion

31
Table 15.6
32
DISPUTE RESOLUTION
  • Arbitration is a formal dispute resolution, based
    in a trial-like setting.
  • Arbitrator takes a more active role than a judge,
    and is not constrained by precedent.
  • Useful when winning an entire case might be
    difficult.
  • Does not create legally-binding precedent.
  • Less opportunity to appeal.

33
Legislative Branch
  • A bill succeeding in full committee is reported
    to full House or Senate for a floor debate.
  • Amendments proposed at each stage.
  • House and Senate versions are often different,
    and must be sent to conference committee to meld
    differences.
  • Bill goes back to House and Senate for
    confirmation.
  • Passed on to President for signature.

34
Mediation
  • Mediation is a process in which disputants are
    encouraged to come up with a solution on their
    own.
  • Useful in complex issues with multiple
    stakeholders with different interests.

35
Collaborative Approaches to Planning
  • Community-Based Planning - Incorporates holistic,
    adaptive, pluralistic approaches.
  • Collaborative Approaches - Working with local
    communities to gain traditional knowledge and
    gain local acceptance of management plans.
  • Especially important in nonlinear, nonequilibrium
    problems.

36
COLLECTIVE ACTION
  • Student Environmental Groups
  • Student Environmental Action Coalition
  • Public Interest Research Groups
  • Mainline Environmental Organization
  • National Wildlife Federation
  • Sierra Club
  • Radical Environmental Groups
  • Earth First
  • Sea Shepherd
  • International Nongovernmental Organizations

37
Summary
  • Decision Making
  • Environmental Policy Cycle
  • NEPA and EIS
  • Environmental Law
  • Statutory Law
  • Case Law
  • Administrative Law
  • International Treaties
  • Dispute Resolution
  • Collective Action

38
Table 15.7
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