Robert O. Vos

Sheldon Kamieniecki

George A. Gonzalez

As a contribution to public policy and to help educate students about natural resource issues, this book identifies the likely "hot spots" of environmental policy and presents alternative and often opposing points of view on the major controversies that are likely to be with us well into the next century. Among the topics covered are comparative risk assessment; market incentives in environmental regulation; environmental justice; public versus private management of public lands; international trade and sustainable development; and the relationship between national security and environmental protection.

Controversies in Achieving Sustainability

Flashpoints in Environmental Policymaking

Michael Clarke

Robert O'Brien

Controversies in Environmental Policy presents comprehensive analyses of the politics surrounding decision-making on such environmental issues as land use, toxic waste management, new federalism, and economic incentive. It recognizes that environmental policy-making is a blend of politics, technology, and economics, and provides a sophisticated understanding of the interrelationship of the three. The contributors to this volume examine the underlying value systems of the proponents of government-dominated solutions and private-enterprise-dominated solutions to the questions of environmental policy. This book is unique in that it exposes the biases inherent in both sides of the debate, analyzing the differing views on the effectiveness of such policy evaluation strategies as cost benefit analysis and regulatory agency control. It provides conservative and liberal opinions on the social and economic impact of the Reagan administration's effort to shape environmental policy. Controversies in Environmental Policy recognizes the fundamental differences in values, strategies, and desired outcomes among those involved in the debates on environmental policy. Disguised by a fragile consensus throughout the 1970s, these divisions emerged with the election of the Reagan administration. The basic divisions are not new and are consistent with the differences in other policy areas.

Controversies in Environmental Policy

Steven Cohen

Matthew Alan Cahn

Strategic Planning in Environmental Regulation introduces an approach toenvironmental regulatory planning founded on a creative, interactive relationship between businessand government. The authors argue that regulation -- often too narrowly defined as direct,command-and-control standard setting and enforcement -- should include the full range of activitiesintended to influence private behavior to conform to public goals. The concept of strategicregulatory planning that the book introduces provides a model for designing more effectiveenvironmental regulation. Strategic planning requires careful consideration of the regulatoryobjectives, the target audiences for regulation, and the characteristics of the regulatoryagency.The two important case studies in the book -- one on the use of the gasoline additive MTBEand the other on the cleanup of underground storage tanks (USTs) -- apply the model, compare theapproaches and results, and illustrate the advantages of a strategic approach.The case of MTBE -- inwhich an additive intended to produce cleaner-burning gasoline was found to contribute to both airand groundwater pollution -- shows the drawbacks of top-down regulation by fragmented regulatoryagencies. The success of the UST cleanup, in contrast, highlights a unique, strategic, andresults-oriented approach to policy implementation. These two cases demonstrate why regulation worksbetter in some cases than others, and the alternative approaches to regulation described in the bookpromise to promote the achievement of environmental quality goals.

A Policy Approach that Works

Strategic Planning in Environmental Regulation

Michael Kraft

Prior to the Nixon administration, environmental policy in the United States was rudimentary at best. Since then, it has evolved into one of the primary concerns of governmental policy from the federal to the local level. As scientific expertise on the environment rapidly developed, Americans became more aware of the growing environmental crisis that surrounded them. Practical solutions for mitigating various aspects of the crisis - air pollution, water pollution, chemical waste dumping, strip mining, and later global warming - became politically popular, and the government responded by gradually erecting a vast regulatory apparatus to address the issue. Today, politicians regard environmental policy as one of the most pressing issues they face. The Obama administration has identified the renewable energy sector as a key driver of economic growth, and Congress is in the process of passing a bill to reduce global warming that will be one of the most important environmental policy acts in decades. The Oxford Handbook of U.S. Environmental Policy will be a state-of-the-art work on all aspects of environmental policy in America. Over the past half century, America has been the world's leading emitter of global warming gases. However, environmental policy is not simply a national issue. It is a global issue, and the explosive growth of Asian countries like China and India mean that policy will have to be coordinated at the international level. The book will therefore focus not only on the U.S., but on the increasing importance of global policies and issues on American regulatory efforts. This is a topic that will only grow in importance in the coming years, and this will serve as an authoritative guide to any scholar interested in the issue.

The Oxford Handbook of U.S. Environmental Policy

The environmental movement is having a marked impact on national and international politics. This book examines the dominant ethics, attitudes, and moral values behind the international environmental movement and analyzes how it has influenced national policies around the world. In addition, it assesses the effectiveness of international law and international organizations in improving natural resource conservation.

Sheldon Kamieniecki

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