Environmental Policy, Law, and Planning

1. Environmental Policy, Law, and Planning Chapter 10 Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

2. Outline: • Environmental Policy Cycle • NEPA • Environmental Law • Statutory • Case • Administrative • Regulatory Agencies • International Treaties and Conventions • Dispute Resolution and Planning Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

3. 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. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

4. Environmental Policy • 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. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

5. Environmental Policy Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

6. 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. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

7. The Policy Cycle Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

8. NEPA • 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. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

9. ENVIRONMENTAL LAW • Environmental Law - Body of rules, decisions, and actions concerning environmental quality, natural resources, and ecological sustainability. • Statute Law - Formal documents enacted by legislative branch declaring, commanding, or prohibiting something. • Case Law - Derived from court decisions in both civil and criminal cases. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

10. Environmental Law • Administrative Law - Rises from executive orders, administrative rules and regulations, and enforcement decisions in which statues passed by the legislature are interpreted in specific applications and individual cases. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

11. Statutory Law: The Legislative Branch • Federal laws (statutes) are enacted by Congress and must be signed by the President. • After introduction, each bill is referred to a committee or sub-committee with jurisdiction over the issue for hearings and debate. • Language is modified, multiple bills may be combined, and then the overall bill is passed on to the full committee. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

12. 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. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

13. Legislative Riders • Legislators who cannot gain enough votes to pass projects through regular channels, will often try to add authorizing amendments (riders) into un-related funding bills. • Ideally, riders are added onto strongly-supported legislation. • President now has line-item veto. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

14. Case law: The Judicial Branch • Establishes environmental law by ruling on constitutionality of statutes and interpreting their meaning. • Court System • US divided into 96 federal court districts. • Over these are circuit court of appeals. • US Supreme Court. • First judge to hear a case arising from a particular situation has the greatest latitude to interpret the law and set a precedent. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

15. 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. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

16. The Judicial Branch • Civil Law - Defined by a body of laws regulating relations between individuals or corporations. • Common Law - Customs and previous court decisions establish precedent. • Tort Law - Civil action seeking damage compensation. • Purpose of civil suit may be an injunction from the actions of an individual or corporation. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

17. 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. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

18. 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. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

19. The Executive Branch Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

20. 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 Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

21. 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. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

22. Administrative Courts • Hear challenges to agency rules and regulations. • Administrative judge can consider both the validity and the rule, and its application to a specific case. • Parties can appeal to district court. • Also hear enforcement cases. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

23. 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 Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

24. DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND PLANNING • 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. • Adaptive Management - A solutions approach designed to test clearly formulated hypotheses about the actions being taken. • “Learning by Doing” Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

25. Environmental Decision Making Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

26. Resilience in Ecosystems and Institutions • Most important characteristic of natural systems is their resilience, or ability to recover from disturbance. • Ability to reorganize in creative and constructive ways. • Researchers found trying to manage ecological variables one factor at a time leads to less resilient ecosystems. • Focused on solving single problem. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

27. Arbitration • 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. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

28. 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. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

29. Collaborative Approaches to Planning • Collaborative Approaches - Working with local communities to gain traditional knowledge and gain local acceptance of management plans. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

30. Summary: • Environmental Policy Cycle • NEPA • Environmental Law • Statutory • Case • Administrative • Regulatory Agencies • International Treaties and Conventions • Dispute Resolution and Planning Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

31. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.