Exam Flashcards
In practice, it is difficult to achieve the socially efficient outcome through standards because ________.
the informational requirements about marginal abatement costs and marginal damages are difficult to meet1`
A polluter with MAC = 650 – 5E will abate ________ when faced with an emissions tax of $80 per unit of emissions
16 units
Which of the following statements about abatement subsidies is true?
Abatement subsidies create perverse incentives for firms to increase emissions when their base levels are being set.
When ranking environmental policies from most centralized to least centralized, the correct list is ________.
*Standards; taxes and permits; liability laws and property rights
An emission permit scheme ________.
results in the same level of abatement as an emission tax
The two areas over which the Constitution grants the Canadian federal government powers to set environmental regulations include ________.
*Peace, Order and Good Government; and ocean and inland fisheries, navigation and shipping
________waterborne pollutants undergo a variety of biological, chemical, and physical processes that change their characteristics after emission until they are assimilated by the water body into which they are released.
Degradable
The federal government has the jurisdiction to ban or severely limit the release of toxic substances such as dioxans and furans into any waterways under the authority of the ________
Fisheries Act of 1868
The Ozone Annex to the 1991 Canada-US Air Quality Agreement addresses the problem of ________.
transboundary smog
Section 91 of the ________ gives the ________ powers to enact environmental legislation.
*Constitution Act; federal government
The fact that neither producers nor consumers factor the costs of disposal into the costs of goods is ________
all of the above
The passage of environmental legislation that reduces the value of property in private use is known as ________.
an environmental taking
When transferrable emission allowances are distributed to firms for free according to some allocation rule determined by the regulator this is known as ________.
A. auctioning
grandfathering
Which of the following international treaties is widely viewed as a success at achieving its objectives
The Montreal Protocol.
Which of the following international treaties is widely viewed as a success at achieving its objectives
The Montreal Protocol.
Suppose there are two firms in an industry with marginal abatement cost curves:
MACA = 400 ˗ 0.25EA
MACB = 200 ˗ EB
If the government regulator has chosen a target level of total emissions to be 800 units per year, ________ permits will need to be issued and they will trade for ________ per permit.
800; $200
When marginal damages for a pollutant vary by region a(n) ________ will not be socially efficient but ________that are set up such that each region’s MAC curve is equal to each MDC curve are socially efficient
*Uniform standard; individual standards
A polluter will ________ its emissions and sell its excess permits on the market if the market price is ________ or equal to its MAC at its chosen emission level.
Reduce; greater than
The following equations describe the marginal abatement costs of air pollution from industrial sources (I) and vehicles (V). Before abatement industrial sources emitted 6,000 tonnes and vehicles emitted 2,000 tonnes, what is the industry TAC if each source of emissions is required to abate 25% of initial emissions under a uniform standard?
MACI = 1,200 – 0.2EI MACV = 800 – 0.4EV
$275,000
Constraints and difficulties facing environmental policymaking under the Canadian parliamentary system of government include all of the following except _____
frequent conflicts arise between the legislative and executive branches of government.
In Ontario, the phasing in of technology-based standards to cover agricultural practices, focusing particularly on storage of waste and the use of manure on fields is a response to ________.
E. coli contamination of the water supply in Walkerton
________waterborne pollutants undergo a variety of biological, chemical, and physical processes that change their characteristics after emission until they are assimilated by the water body into which they are released.
Degradable
Because dioxans and furans ________ the impact of banning these substances on improving environmental quality is ________.
bioaccumulate; uncertain
The argument that the marginal abatement costs of existing plants are higher than those of new plants used as a justification for less restrictive emission standards for the former than for the latter is known as ________.
New-source bias
According to the textbook, ________ make(s) up the largest percentage of all materials, by weight, recycled in Canada at close to 29%
Organics
Employing a global CO2 price to contain mean projected warming to a specific target at least cost is an example of ________.
a climate stabilization goal
The Canadian province with the highest greenhouse gas emissions is ________.
Alberta
Environment Canada’s quota system to phase out ozone depleting chemicals did not restrict the supply of specific CFCs or halons; rather it was set in terms of ________ allowing for flexibility in meeting the target.
ozone-depleting potential
All of the following are limitations of our analysis of environmental problems discussed in the online notes except ________.
the assumption of increasing returns to scale in production and abatement
Canadian federal policies implemented after the Paris Accord to combat global warming include ________.
all of the choices are correct
When people can negotiate with each other to come up with mutually satisfactory ways to deal with environmental externalities with little or no involvement of the government this is referred to as ________
a decentralized approach
Moral objections to the use of effluent subsidies to help firms reduce their emissions arise from the idea that ________.
the polluter should pay
A polluter with MAC = 1,200 ˗ 5E will emit ________ when faced with an emissions tax of $75 per unit of emissions.
225 units
The socially efficient equilibrium emission standard sets the maximum rate of emissions equal to ________.
the level of emissions that equates MAC and MDC
When both the provinces and the federal government have laws over the same area this is known as ________ and the doctrine of ________ describes the situation where federal law takes precedence over provincial law when the laws are in conflict.
concurrency; paramountcy
Ontario’s command-and-control program to deal with all types of water pollution is known by the acronym ________.
MISA
________ is an example of a non-point source pollutant
Urban stormwater runoff
Which of the following is NOT one of the “Big Five” criteria air contaminants?
carbon dioxide
Uniform national standards for air quality will not be efficient unless ________.
marginal abatement costs happen to be the same in all regions
In the decision of whether or not to regulate a chemical, the question of which party has the responsibility of providing information to decide a chemical’s safety level is called the _______.
burden of proof
Because the burden of proof is on ________, CEPA regulations tend to be ________ in nature.
the government to prove a substance is toxic; reactive
Which of the following is NOT a policy option for incorporating ecological values into land use?
policies to promote the conversion of wetlands to meet agricultural needs
