Environmental Policy

							                          Student’s Name 1




Environmental Policy
    [Student’s name]

   Mr. Frieze, period 7

      May 18, 2006
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       Government policies in America are shaped by American politics: members of Congress

vote and argue for their constituents, interest groups lobby officials and harass the courts, and the

president has an entire legislative agenda of his own. The constant pushing and pulling always

produces policies that create both winners and losers—and usually both at once. Political

scientists have categorized different kinds of policies according to how many people win…and

how many lose. The categories are classified as entrepreneurial, majoritarian, interest-group, and

client politics, as defined in the table below:

                                    many benefit                    few benefit

               many pay         majoritarian politics          interest-group politics

                 few pay       entrepreneurial politics            client politics

       In addition to the political classifications of policies, a system of categorization that is

more familiar to most Americans is the idea of policy areas. Each of these distinct groups

defines a function of our government: military, economic, social, foreign, and environmental.

Every policy area has been brought to the forefront of American politics in turn along with the

necessity of dealing with correlating issues. For example, the U.S. Department of Homeland

Security was created soon after the September 11th attacks because the public was concerned

about terrorism. The need called for action.

Historical Development: The Environmental Movement

       The most recent policy area to fully develop is environmental policy. As Americans

witnessed the effects and rise of pollution from factories and automobiles across the country,

they grew more concerned about the effect of such human activities on the environment. With

the necessity of regulation came the establishment of interest groups and organizations to
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support, initiate, and execute effective policies. Thus began what is termed the environmental

movement.

       Environmental policy is fueled by public opinion. During the 1960’s there began a

tremendous growth in public consciousness of environmental problems, especially the amount of

pollution in cities. However, people were unorganized—they were individuals spread across the

country without an incident or company on which to pin the blame for the dirty air and water.

This changed, though, on January 28, 1969. The great trigger of the movement was a huge oil

spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California. The event received tons of media coverage and

gathered masses of people of every political opinion to help out in cleanup efforts and to begin

fighting for a new cause. The Santa Barbara oil spill provided the people the nation-wide unity

that had been lacking.

       The first Earth Day celebration, occurring little over a year later on April 22, 1970, saw

the official beginning of the modern environmental movement. In July of the same year, the

executive and legislative branches of the national government together formed the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in order to have some means of dealing with harms to

the environment through governmental legislation and regulation. The EPA has played a huge

part in the execution of environmental laws passed by Congress. Along with this agency, many

interest-group organizations were formed or brought into the open, such as the Sierra Club,

Audubon Society, and Friends of the Earth. Today there are hundreds of groups out there, all

playing a part in stirring up public opinion and lobbying Congress to pass legislation protecting

the environment.

       It is important to note that, though public opinion concerning the environment was fairly

widespread and unorganized up until around 1970, certain interest groups and micro-movements
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had their place in American culture. For example, many of our national parks have been legally

protected since long before the late twentieth century. Yellowstone Park in Wyoming, the

country’s first national park, was made such by an act of Congress in the year 1872. Also,

President Theodore Roosevelt is well-known for encouraging the preservation of Grand Canyon

National Park, which became such in 1919. However, these two laws were passed without the

EPA to enforce and without the complexity that many environmental laws have today.

Current Policies: Environmental Acts in Effect

       As we emerge from the major political activity in environmental law during the 1970’s

and 1980’s, today we see that many activities are regulated under numerous environmental

statutes. Several important federal laws cover areas like air and water quality, wilderness beauty

preservation, protection of endangered species, and forest conservation.

       The law that probably has the most widespread effects is the Clean Air Act. Originally

passed in 1963, the law setting national standards for air quality has been amended three times:

in 1970, 1977, and 1990. The most recent version of the bill includes new regulations and

deadlines for pollution sources like vehicles and factories, and it also outlines a number of

provisions and programs to be used in helping these sources meet the standards and deadlines.

       The Clean Air Act has obvious benefits for all Americans—cleaner air. However, the

costs are both widespread and concentrated. The businesses and factories that emit lots of

pollutants are affected by entrepreneurial politics; they must pay more heavily in reducing

emissions. People in general are affected by majoritarian politics: every person who drives a

vehicle is paying the price for smog-free air. But since the benefits are not immediately linked to

the cost, it is more difficult to induce individuals to comply and cooperate. Extra benefits like

tax breaks on low-emission vehicles are seen as necessary, and all across the country there is
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evidence of efforts to slow people from using pollutant-emitting transportation. In many places

carpool lanes and good mass transit systems encourage people to share rides, and skyrocketing

gas prices are meant to discourage people from using their cars too often.

       Many of these programs are results of state implementation plans (SIPs). These plans,

required by the Clean Air Act, are created by individual states to decide how they will meet the

nation-wide pollution limit. The EPA is given the power to approve SIPs and enforce all

provisions of the Clean Air Act. In addition to enforcement powers, the EPA is responsible for

helping out in the programs by providing useful research and technological designs.

       Although many people share the cost in the example of automobile emissions, the

majority of environmental policy is carried out through entrepreneurial politics. The targets for

regulations are usually businesses and single-sources, and everyone benefits—whether they

realize it or not—by a better environment. The Clean Water Act is an act passed in 1972 and

amended in 1977 that mainly pinpoints certain businesses that release toxins into public

waterways. The law is similar to the Clean Air Act in its format of standards, deadlines, and

plans. And again like the Clean Air Act, regulations and programs are made in connection with

the all-important EPA.

       One of the largest pieces of legislature concerning environmental law has been

commonly dubbed Superfund. Passed in response to the Love Canal catastrophe of 1980, the

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) was put

into effect after December 11, 1980. This law outlines a plan for the funding of efforts directed

at protecting human health and the environment by cleaning up toxic waste; it includes a tax on

hazardous chemicals, such as petroleum, as well as a set of response and removal programs. The

EPA is assigned the task of designating which businesses will be held responsible for which
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specific toxic messes, as well as how much funding each will receive for cleanup. The nickname

of the CERCLA bill seems to imply that there is plenty of money to go around, but such is not

generally the case. In fact, funding makes up the bulk of debate over most bills, whether in

Congress or in the media and political circles.

Issues-at-Debate: What’s Going on Now?

       The most important place of discussion over a bill occurs within certain committees of

Congress. Of the committees that compose the Senate, two address environmental issues: the

Committee on Environmnet and Public Works and the Committee on Energy and Natural

Resources. In the House, the Committee on Resources and the Committee on Science have most

to do with the environmental side of legislation. Within these committees, congressmen bounce

around ideas about exactly what federal law can and should do about such and such a problem,

how much money should be supplied, and where that money should come from. Before a debate

even gets to a committee, though, the public’s voice has been heard. Environmental issues are

very much constituent issues, being fueled by public outrage and desire to see changes. The

people see a problem near at hand, and they appeal to the legislative body to fix it.

       We see this principle at work in the recent debate and action on natural disaster

preparation and cleanup. After the faulted response to Hurricane Katrina in September 2005,

many groups and individuals have expressed their discontent with what the government did not

do, and many are calling for a higher level of awareness and response tactics for next time. This

year the president has named the third week of May “National Hurricane Preparedness Week,”

which will encourage and educate Americans on how to be prepared in the case of a hurricane.

The response of the people to the events of last fall have begun a national movement, and more
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importantly, a national debate on how to go about morphing the government into an institution

well able to deal with major natural disasters.

       Another pressing national and ongoing issue that affects nearly all Americans is the

skyrocketing gasoline prices. Although it has been previously mentioned in connection with an

attempt at reducing pollution, this nation- and world-wide problem is also due to the supply-and-

demand phenomenon. Oil supplies are becoming less accessible to American gas companies,

presenting a problem that can be fixed one of two ways: by increasing gas prices or by finding a

new and more accessible supply of oil.

       When it was suggested that we tap into an oilfield in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

located in Northeast Alaska around the time of the energy crisis of 1979, this latter option was

immediately met with fireworks of controversy. Today, supporters are the Bush administration,

residents of California suffering from blackouts, and Mr. Jones complaining about paying three

dollars a gallon to tank up his SUV. On the other hand are environmentalists and environmental

groups galore, plus the few residents of Northeast Alaska, opposing the project with vim and

vigor. Opponents argue that we need to preserve the environmental integrity of the Alaska

wilderness—the costs would far outweigh the benefits. Supporters are looking for a quick and

easy way to satisfy American’s craving for energy and believe it is in harvesting oil from a

virtually unpopulated corner of the United States. The real conflict is perhaps deeper than the

current issue at debate—this matter is only a part of a bigger problem.

Global Warming—The Bigger Problem

       As America and the world in general has come to rely more on energy created by the

burning of oil and other fossil fuels, many global aspects are being affected—environmentally as

well as economically. Pollution in the air has risen in the past century, mostly due to the increase
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in automobiles on the road. (Common philosophy seems to be that since the gasoline and

vehicles are available, people are free to use as much as they want.) Emissions from vehicles,

especially old ones, allow large amounts of carbon dioxide and other harmful gases into the

atmosphere. And in addition to creating the unsightly and unsavory pollution noticed by many

Americans, these harmful gases are also having a huge effect on the overall climate of the earth.

The general result has been christened Global Warming.

       The cause and solution of global warming is one of the most controversial issues in

America—and has been for decades. Much

of the debate has persisted because of large

gaps in scientific knowledge. This scientific

uncertainty is a common characteristic of any

environmental debate. But the facts are there:

as the pollution level and number of cars on

the roads has risen in the past century, so has

the average global temperature.

       Even though conclusive scientific data on the subject is quite rare, a number of studies

have pointed to human activity as being the main cause of the major increase in global

temperatures during the twentieth century. Assessment reports issued by the Intergovernmental

Plan on Climate Change (IPCC) have declared there is strong evidence suggesting that this

measurable global warming is “attributable to human activities” (Global Warming).

       Many of these “human activities” result in the increase of carbon dioxide in the

atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is one of the several chemicals dubbed greenhouse gases, which

lead to the greenhouse effect, or increase in average temperature, on the planet. This increase of
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carbon dioxide is most directly related to the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil.

Therefore, coal-burning power plants and oil-powered automobiles are two of the biggest villains

in the environmental world. This is why emission standards set by the government are so

important. Such standards make an effort not only to reduce smog and acid rain, but also to

lessen the extent of global warming.

       And this is why it is so important to decrease demand on oil rather than to increase the

supply. High gas prices have a double role. They are not only based on the economic principle

of supply and demand—they also serve as a direct effort to decrease the amount of Americans

buying gas and adding more pollution and carbon dioxide to the air.

       Global warming is a problem that may never be completely fixed. But the government,

working together with different organizations and—most importantly—the people, has the

ability to make small changes that might help out with certain aspects of the big picture. For

example, there are currently many investigations—government funded and otherwise—whose

purpose is to create technology that uses efficient (and non-polluting) sources of energy to power

machines both mobile and stationary. Research on hydrogen fuel cells is under way, and many

models of gasoline-electric hybrids are already on the market, as well as solar- and wind-energy

plants. The important thing is that someone is making some effort. The only way to solve a big

problem is going to be to tackle the little problems one by one.
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                                             Bibliography

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“Hurricanes.” Natural Events. 15 May 2006. United States Environmental Protection Agency.

       May 2006. <www.epu.gov>.

“Image: Instrumental Temperature Record.png.” Wikipedia. May 2006.

       <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Instrumental_Temperature_Record.png>.

“Love Canal.” Wikipedia. May 2006. <www.wikipedia.org>.

“Plain English Guide to the Clean Air Act.” Air Quality and Planning Standards. 1 March 2006.

       United States Environmental Protection Agency. May 2006. <www.epu.gov>.

“Superfund.” Wikipedia. May 2006. <www.wikipedia.org>.

Wilson, James Q., and John J. DiIulio, Jr. American Government: Institutions and Policies, Sixth

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Yellowstone. 2006. National Park Service. May 2006. <http://www.nps.gov/yell>.