environmental policy Flashcards
What is the uncertainty in environmental policy?
Scientists do not know how large the greenhouse gas effect is or how to combat it
How is environmental policy a sacrifice?
No one likes restrictions even if they advocate for the environment
Why does environmental policy suffer from disordered priorities?
Entrepreneurial politics
Occur when many people hope to benefit from rules that impose costs on a few firms
Entrepreneurial politics
Created the environmental movement
Entrepreneurial politics
Gases produced by people when they burn fossil fuels get trapped in the atmosphere and cause the earth’s temperatures to rise
Global warming
Environmental policy making in the US is more _________ than it is in most European nations
Adversarial
2 things which reinforce adversarial politics
Federalism and the separation of powers
What new part was required to be put on new cars from 1970 onward?
Catalytic converter
What did the Clean Air Act of 1970 set in place?
The foundation for restrictions on the amount of pollutants that could be released from a vehicle.
A report required by federal law that assessed that possible effect of a project on the environment if the project is subsidized by federal funds
Environmental Impact Statement
Rain, snow, or dust particles that fall and are acidic
Acid rain
Complicated and very expensive devices that take nitrous fumes out of the gas before it comes out of a smokestack
Scrubbers
Notable environmental policies that contained a large number of compromises by President H. W. Bush.
Clean Air Act of 1990
What group escaped or resisted efforts to restrict pesticides
Organized farmers
What pesticide was banned by Congress in 1972?
DDT
The goals which seek to prevent environmental damage from occurring
Environmental goals
The goals which seek to promote social equity and equal treatment under the law
Social goals
Forbids buying or selling any animal that the government regards as endangered.
Endangered Species Act
What pollutants are limited by the Clean Air Act?
Hydrocarbons and nitrous oxide
Converters on exhaust pipes that transform pollutants into less damaging gasses
Catalytic converters
Areas that had difficulty meeting the standards of The Clean Air Act
LA and Denver
When was the last time the Clean Air Act was revised?
1990
Projects where environmentalists used Environmental Impact Statements to change the plans.
The Alaska pipeline, canals in Florida, and countless dams
Source of acid rain
Burning fuel that contains a lot of sulfur
Where is acid rain most common?
The Steel Belt, the Midwest, and The Great Lakes
2 disadvantages to the use of scrubbers
They create toxic sludge and they don’t always work
Why did it take so long for anything to be done about the acid rain in the Midwest?
Political stalemate between manufacturers and environmentalists
Why is it difficult to change existing environmental policies?
Increased involvement of highly organized interest groups
Best known environmental interest group
Environmental Defense Fund
An example of client politics in environmental policy
Agricultural pesticides
Book which brought about the banning of DDT
Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring”
What is the farmers’ argument for pesticides?
They cannot achieve adequate production of crop without them
How have farming interest groups kept pesticides off the political agenda?
Keeping the EPA’s budget for reviewing pesticides small
What is the greatest political setback for environmental policy?
The uncertainty about the environment itself
2 examples of environmental uncertainty
Exact nature of global climate change and the toxicity of certain pollutants
How can environmental goals be met?
Policies must have an active effect on the environment
Why are social and economic goals an issue in environmental policy?
Policies must not put the socially disadvantaged at risk. Nor can they discourage economic growth
A strategy which believes that environmental damage can be prevented by setting detailed standards and punishing corporations who exceed them and rewarding those who do well
Command and control
Strategy by which the government gives emissions permits to companies that equal their projected emissions. When a company emits less than is standard, they are allowed to sell these permits to other companies.
Cap and trade
Companies that wish to build new plants must offset their emissions in that area by buying a smaller company and shutting them down. Essentially cap, but no trade.
Offsets
The government sets a certain bubble standard on how much air pollution can be emitted. The company is then free to decide how to fall under that bubble.
Bubble standards
What has the creation of the EPA led to?
More environmental policy being implemented.
Cap and trade
Strategy by which the government gives emissions permits to companies that equal their projected emissions. When a company emits less than is standard, they are allowed to sell these permits to other companies.
Offsets
Companies that wish to build new plants must offset their emissions in that area by buying a smaller company and shutting them down. Essentially cap, but no trade.
The government sets a certain bubble standard on how much air pollution can be emitted. The company is then free to decide how to fall under that bubble.
Bubble standards
What is the main argument against command-and-control?
It places the burden on tax payers rather than the sources of pollution
When the organized group benefits and the unorganized public pays.
Client politics
