Environmental Policy Exam 3

State Implementation Plans (SIPs)

Dealt with existing sources of air pollution. Detailed how it would meet EPA standards. States have primary responsibility for implementation. 1970 edition: all areas of the nation in compliance with national air standards.

WQC

Define max concentrations of pollutants in surface waters

Administrative challenges under NEPA

EISs fall short of expectations, we have limited knowledge and cannot accurately forecast. Court cases have continued and numbered.

American Reinvestment and Recovery Act

Economic stimulus bill. Tax incentives and loan guarantees promoted efficiency. Biggest energy bill in US history. Provided money for research. Loans to modernize the US power grid. Tried to move towards energy dependence with drilling on public lands.

Who sets environmental policy goals and objectives?

Elected public officials, especially Congress

Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA)

Ended the policy of disposing of the public domain. Amended the Taylor Grazing Act. Established the Bureau of Land Management as an agency and gave it authority to inventory and manage public lands. Helped the BLM establish authority of public lands. COMPROMISE: established a land use planning process that required public participation. Outlined the mission statement of BLM. Promoted the fair use of lands.

Why new controversy?

Environmental movement and public support, rapid population growth in the West, surging interest in recreation.

Command and control regulation steps

Establish environmental goals --> determine environmental quality criteria --> set environmental quality standards and emissions standards --> enforce standards and other requirements.

White house oversight during Bush and Reagan

Executive orders by Bush and Reagan that guided the white house regulatory review process: Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA): no action to be taken unless the potential benefits to society outweigh the costs. Authorized an Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to review documents and enforce policy. GH Bush: White House Council on Competitiveness- "back door" for people displeased with agency regulators. Industry gained short-term relief. Centralized oversight of regulation and helped legitimize the use of economic analysis by agencies. GW Bush:

Who governs wildlife refuges

FWS (Fish and Wildlife Services)

Implementing the ESA

FWS made slow progress in designating critical habitats. Sought a more cooperative approach to conserving habitats. Does not want land preservation to prevent economic development.

Key Provisions and Features of the Superfund Act/ CERCLA

Federal government can respond to hazardous waste emergencies and cleans up chemical dump sites through money funded by taxes on the chemical and petroleum industries. Deals with abandoned and uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. Sites are identified and ranked according to priority of cleanup. Identification is a complex process that can take up to 15 years.

Problem with ESA

Focused on individual species rather than ecosystems that they are a part of.

Emissions standards

Follow from the environmental quality standards. Regulate what individual sources are allowed to emit. Decisions made by state agencies using federal standards and guidelines.

National Forest Management Act

Forest Service began implementing the NFMA during Reagan. It required the forest service to prepare long term comprehensive plans for the lands under its jurisdiction and to involve the public. Made tradeoffs between protecting the forests and allowing commercial development. Controversies over the extent of logging.

How much land area do forests take up?

Forests are about a third of the US land area.

Types of Classes

From he 1977 CAA. Class I: air quality protected from deterioration; class II: specified the amount of additional pollution permitted; class III: air pollution allowed to continue until it reached level set by national standards.

Goals are usually... Exception?

General rather than specific, highly ambitious. Exception: 1980s- Congress grew impatient with the EPA and set specific goals and objectives with the "hammer" clause (RCRA revisions).

White house oversight during Clinton

Got rid of the Council on Competitiveness. New executive order on planning and review. Sought balance of goals. Avoided a narrow focus on economic costs.

Council on Environmental Quality

Has tried to help with organizational adaption. Responsible under NEPA for supervising the EIS process. Work to define NEPA responsibilities.

Complaints with SDWA

High marginal costs of further improvements, people wanted to reduce burden on the states by using less effective technologies and less strict standards.

Environmental Quality Criteria

In the scientific realm. Spell out the adverse health effects associated with pollutants. Draw from experimental studies and set environmental criteria.

Who has the advantage?

Industry groups over enviromentalists

Who opposes the EPA?

Industry, state and local governments concerned with the cost, conservative groups opposed to government regulation.

Wilderness areas and national parks receive permanent protection from development but wildlife refuges DO NOT. Open to hunting, grazing, and mining.

Know this

Bureau of land management

Leaned even more heavily than the Forest Service toward the resource use end of the spectrum. Governs lots of federal lands. Has gotten professional staff in previous years but it still needs work and is not as good as the Forest Service.

Clean Air Act 1990 Amendment

Limit acid rain emitted by coal power plants, phase out CFCs, regulate major sources of toxic and hazardous pollutants. A new emissions trading program enforced for reducing sulfur dioxide emissions. Also called for further reductions in automobile tailpipe emissions, cleaner fuels. Tried to bring all urban areas into compliance with national air quality standards within 3 to 20 years (depending on severity). Congress departed from the 1970 Act because it was unhappy with EPA's progress. Required the agency to set emission limits for all major industrial sources. Specified toxic chemicals to be regulated. New permit program to facilitate enforcement of the act. Stationary sources need EPA permits. Shift from Congress to EPA rulemaking and state implementation.

Multiple Use Sustainable Yield Act

Made at the instigation of the Forest Service. Defined multiple use as including outdoor recreation, fish, and wildlife.

Forest Service

Manage public lands. Excessive devotion to timber industries and interests. Approval of clear-cutting forests. Supervises grazing.

NEPA

National Environmental Policy Act. Mandated environmental impact statements that made clear the environmental consequences of energy extraction. Requires the preparation of Environmental Impact Statements (EISs). Public a part of environmental decision making (altered dynamics of resource policy).

The National Park Service

National Park System is the most visible of the nation's public lands. The National Park Service deals with maintenance. Lands closed to most economic uses. Criticized for insufficient training of employees and inadequate capabilities for scientific research.

Conservation movement organizations (federal)

National park service, Forest Service, Bureau of Land Reclamation.

Changes in the US Forest Service

New expectations for sustainable resource management. Clinton suggested that ecological sustainability become the principal goal in managing the national forests and grasslands. 1990s: permanent protection of more lands under Clinton. Response to a decline in timber cutting. Bush was much less supportive --> public participation dropped and "healthy forests restoration Act": NOT actually healthy. Used by Bush as a guise. Obama reinforced Clinton.

Who created the EPA?

Nixon

White house oversight during Obama

OIRA (review documents and enforce policy--requires the EPA to develop annual regulatory agendas for submission and to indicate how their programs are consistent with the president's agenda) review process continued. Review process slowed down --> criticism.

Endangered Species Act

One of the strongest federal environment laws. Symbolizes the nation's commitment to resource conservation goals. Implemented by the FWS. Wanted to recover all species threatened with extinction.

NSR

Part of the CAA. Forced industry to install new emissions controls in old facilities when they undergo renovation. Loophole: "only maintenance".

What is the biggest issue with making these statues

Policymakers and interest groups fight over how environmental and health benefits should be weighed against the cost of compliance and other social and economic values.

Key Provisions and Features of the Toxic Substances Control Act

Premarket testing of chemical substances and allows EPA to ban the manufacture of chemicals that pose unreasonable risk to health or the environment. Tried to acquire data on the effect of chemical substances on health and the environment and to regulate those chemicals that pose an "unreasonable risk" without overly burdening the industry. EPA had authority to screen new chemicals.

White house oversight during GW Bush

Proposed agency rules more skeptically. Tipped toward regulatory business community. Weakened environmental standards.

Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1964

Provided federal grants to the states for planning and developing land and water areas for recreation. Provided money to buy property for national parks and refuges managed by the federal government.

Science at the EPA

Quality of science often criticized, but still has a reputation for expertise. Research and development (R and D) work annually reviewed. Scientific work inefficient. Lack a strategy for long-term environmental research.

CHAPTER SIX

REVIEW UP TO 194

The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996

Replaced the Delaney Clause. Agency required to review all tolerances within 10 years. EPA takes extreme risks to protect children (10-fold margin of safety). Amended FIFRA in that the EPA's role in registration in that it now has broader power. Tries to speed up EPA review of what is considered to be a pesticide.

Key Provisions and Features of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodentcide Act (FIFRA)

Requires registration of all pesticides in US, allows EPA to cancel registration when needed to protect public health. Riddled with loopholes. Established max concentrations of pesticides in or on agricultural products enforced by the FDA.

Key provisions and features of the Clean Air Act

Requires the EPA to set national air quality standards and emission limits. States have to develop implementation plans (SIPs). Regulates motor vehicle emissions and fuels.

Response to TSCA

Resistance from industry, slow progress, only a handful of chemicals actually banned, calls to modernize the act.

Process of not following the law:

Self-compliance and negotiation: Notices of violation --> administrative order (stipulates action) --> criminal prosecution.

Health Risk Assessment

Set the stage for regulatory action --> dispute. Normally involve identifying a hazard and determining how exposure to it can cause negative health effects. Data gathering is complex. Example: dioxin-took three years to complete and took lots of debate

Key Provisions and Features of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

Sets federal regulations for hazardous waste treatment, storage, transportation, and disposal; "cradle to grave". Concern was shifting to hazardous waste in the 1970s (amendment to SWDA). Required the EPA to develop criteria for the safe disposal os solid waste. Task of identifying regulated to the EPA. Congress grew distrustful of the EPA because it was acting slowly and rewrote it in 1984.

Key provisions and features of the Clean Water Act

Sets national water quality goals, pollution discharge permits. The major policy regarding surface water quality. Gives funding to assist local communities to build modern municipal wastewater treatment facilities.

Safe Drinking Water Act

Sets standards to safeguard the quality of public drinking water supplies, regulates state programs for protecting groundwater. Provides loans and grants. Specifies minimum public health standards.

BLM Lands and sagebrush rebellion

Since FLPMA the BLM has been moving toward sustainable resource management. Sagebush rebellion of 1970s: frustration of Western ranchers who were angry about the BLM's implementation of the law. Reagan accommodated the Sagebrush demands.

State and local energy initiatives

State and local policymakers can more easily create consensus. Example: Sacramento, California SMUD. Home construction: California's energy-efficient building and appliance codes save the state lots of money.

Who has the primary responsibility of enforcement under the Safe Drinking Water Act?

States

EPA working with the states

States have program requirements that often exceed the minimum federal standards. Often operate their own programs. EPA offices keep in close contact with state officials. Citizen activists and environmental watchdog groups monitor key implementation. Federal government offers voluntary programs to the states by making funds available to deal with particular environmental problems (Indoor Radon Abatement Act).

Obama and Energy

Substantially altered energy policy. Tax incentives and loan guarantees promoted efficiency. American reinvestment and recovery Act.

Six criteria pollutants

Sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, lead, ozone, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter.

Debate in the 1990s over FIFRA

The Delaney Clause

Resources and staff of the EPA

The EPA staff and responsibilities have grown much larger over time. Now the largest federal regulatory agency. Diversity of professional training and problem-solving orientations that can breed conflict over implementation strategies. Mostly scientists and engineers assisted by lawyers and economists.

Who is responsible for natural resource policies?

The Interior Department and Agriculture Department.

Who controls administration of public lands?

The bureau of land management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service (Interior Department). Also, the Forest Service in the Department of agriculture.

Controversies with Superfund

The degree of cleanup. Large cost. Chemical and oil industries think that the taxes are unfair. Industry says that turning a site back to its pristine state is unnecessarily burdensome. Business groups oppose to cleaning up if it poses little measurable health risk. EPA in the 1990s agreed to reduce the burden on small businesses and tried to assure that funds went to cleanup rather than litigation.

Who has main implementation responsibility with the CWA? What do they do?

The states- issue permits under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). They also establish Water Quality Criteria (WQC)

TMDL

Total maximum daily load provided a framework for cooperation with the states. Part of the CWA. States regulate water pollution by focusing on the quality of a body of water as well as the actions of individual dischargers.

What has been difficult to regulate under the CWA?

Toxic chemicals because they accumulate in toxic hot spots and also non-point sources because it is difficult to find the person or entity responsible.

Federal Administrative Procedure Act

Tries to make administrative discretion apparent and accountable to the public.

National Wildlife Refuge System

Under Clinton, intended to strengthen and improve system. Provides for wildlife-dependent recreation. Established management guidelines for the FWS.

Common Sense Initiative

Under Clinton; tried to promote policy integration in the EPA. Intended to work with industries through a consensus approach that engaged various stakeholders. Tried to reduce the cost of compliance.

Problem with NPDES

Underreporting and weak enforcement

Problems with the 1972 Water Quality Amendments

Unrealistic, industry opposed and sued the EPA, technology costly, inadequately funded, non-point sources hard to control.

Problems with enforcement

Violation of permits and weak incentives creates low compliance with the law. Variation in enforcement activity. People complain that regulation is costly and inflexible. Want greater use of cooperation, negotiation, and financial incentives.

Resolving conflicts with the ESA

Want to give greater rights to property owners, provide additional incentives for cooperation,

Environmentalists and land preservation

Want to preserve wilderness areas.

Original Clean Water Act

Water Pollution Control Act (1948): emphasized research and investigations, no federal authority to establish federal water quality standards. 1965 Water Quality Act: required states to establish water quality standards and implementation plans. Problems: politically unworkable and ineffective.

The Delaney Clause

When Clinton tried to enforce a law which said that no more than one additional case of cancer for ever one million people could be posed to the public. Replaced by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996.

Gains in resource protection

Wilderness Act of 1964. Land and Water Conservation Fund Act.

1990s

Wise use movement

Wildlife refuges

Within the National Forest system and BLM. Permanent protection against development. Governed by the FWS.

Adopting and enforcing regulation

You can't just set standards, agency officials have to interpret and develop means of achieving these goals.

Organizational structure of the EPA

10 offices that oversee environmental issues. Operate independently. Consolidated programs from agencies scattered across the federal government.

Clean Air Act Original

1963; provided federal support for air pollution research and assistance to states to develop their own pollution control agencies. 1967 Air Quality Act provided funds to the states for air pollution control and required them to establish control regions.

Amendments of Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodentcide Act

1964; 1972; 1978; 1996: Reasonable risk approach for raw and processed foods, requires EPA to adopt 10-fold margin of safety to protect children.

Amendments to the Clean Air Act (only years for now)

1970, 1977, 1990

Clean Air Act 1970 Amendment

1970: incremental adjustments in federal policy, especially for emissions standards for new motor vehicles. In response to sharply increased public concern about the environment and because there was little progress under the 1967 Air Quality Act, created National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), expected new technologies to be created if the deadlines could not be met, set national emissions standards for mobile sources of air pollution, set tough emissions standards for stationary sources (refineries, chemical companies, etc.), new sources of pollution held to new performance standards;

Clean Water Act Amendments

1972: intended to correct the deficiencies of the Water Quality Act of 1965, set a national policy for water pollution control, established deadlines, encouraged technological innovation, unrealistic; 1987: state fund to build wastewater treatment plants, urged states to develop non-point source pollution management

RCRA Amendments

1984: A rewrite of RCRA, called Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA) Prohibited land disposal of certain hazardous liquid wastes, mandated state consideration of recycling programs. Forced agency compliance with the law. Sought to phase out the disposal of hazardous waste in landfills by expanding control of sources and establishing demanding standards. Tried to drive up the cost of hazardous waste disposal. Lots of environmental gridlock.

TSCA Amendments

1986: Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act: required to EPA to inspect schools and control the risk. Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act: tried to reduce public exposure to lead from paint.

Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments

1986: Congress frustrated by pace of implementation and insufficient action by state and local governments. Required the EPA to determine max contaminate levels for 83 chemicals. 1996: Congress agreed to renew SDWA. EPA has to publish a list of contaminants every 5 years. Requires local water systems to distribute annual reports on drinking water safety (right-to-know). Federal support through loans and grants to states.

Amendments to Superfund Act

1986: SARA- added the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know-Act, which created the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)

The Clean Air Act (CAA) by administration

1990 amendments approved by Congress with GH Bush's support, yet his council tried to weaken it. Clinton tightened air pollution standards for Ozone and fine particulates. George W Bush gave greater weight to the economic effects of clean air policy.

New Performance Standards

According to the 1970 edition of the CAA, new sources of pollution were held to new standards set by industry and enforced by the states. Standards based on BAT with some recognition of economic cost. Existing sources were held to lower standards.

What effects the effectiveness of the EPA?

Administrative and leadership skills of agency officials, changing economic conditions, resources, political judgements, and staff recruitment.

User groups

Adopt a utilitarian approach. Talk about threats posed to the Western way of life.

Setting Quality Standards

After risk assessment, the EPA determines a tolerable level (environmental quality standards). Involved risk assessment and evaluation.

Process of rulemaking

Agencies determine a rule is needed --> notice of proposed rule in the Federal Register --> assemble scientific and economic data --> create a draft and publish that in the FR --> public comment --> submit draft rule to OMB (Office of Management and Budget) for review.

Similarities between the seven policies

All focus on environmental or pollution control and seek to protect public health even when ecological objectives are included. Rely on national environmental quality standards and regulatory mechanisms. Implemented by the EPA with cooperation by the states.

What must the EPA do?

Balance statutory goals and costs. Estimates not easy to make. Annual reports from the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).

California's comprehensive plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions (What was it, who was it big under, issues, successes, why was it important?)

Bush constantly denied California's waiver request under the Clean Air Act that would allow the state to set strict automobile and efficiency standards; however, Obama directed the EPA to move ahead on the application. Automakers fought the policy change in courts because they would have to make much more fuel efficient vehicles for California than the rest of the United States. The President eventually announced new national fuel efficiency standards rather than just California. The auto companies were accepting of this because it would not have to concern itself with variance across the states. Expensive litigation would end. Consumers indicated a preference for more fuel-efficient vehicles anyways. Auto execs came together with environmental groups and state officials after four decades of disagreement. The largest step taken by the federal government to address climate change.

What are the seven major environmental control statutes?

Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Toxic Substances Control Act, Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodentcide Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Superfund Act

Bush proposed reforms to air quality

Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR): set new standards for conventional air pollution and dealt with mercury emissions from power plants. Raised current standards, but not high enough. Overturned but then later reinstated by Obama; also, wanted to east New Source Review (NSR)

Who tried to help deal with non-point source regulation?

Clinton with his new water plan.

Natural Resource Inventory

Compiled by the Natural Resources Conservation Service every 5 years.

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

Concern was shifting to hazardous wasted

Clean Air Act 1977 Amendment

Congress backtracked from its earlier position, such as when compliance had to take place. Strengthened requirements for non attainment areas, congress established three classes, called for the use of scrubbers to remove sulfur dioxide, acid rain an issue

Regulatory reform

Congress would further restrain the EPA's regulatory process by requiring additional economic and other studies; requested by critics. Caused Clinton to initiate regulatory intervention programs to foster a consensus-building approach. Various stakeholders come together and work cooperatively to negotiate. Sometimes adds new sources of conflict.

Who has often supported the EPA?

Congress- may grant or withhold administrative discretion. Can be critical of the EPA when distrust runs high.

International efforts to protect species

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) protected species.Operated through a system of permits and certificates.

SARA

Created because Congress was unhappy with the slow cleanup of superfund sites under the Reagan administration. Gave additional funds and mandated strict standards. Created the Right-to Know-Act, which provided for the public release of information about chemicals and put in the TRI.

Multiple use doctrines

Created by Congress and intended to protect and exploit resources simultaneously. Applies to areas Congress sets aside to protect them from development. Recreation and development.

National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)

Created by the 1970 CAA. New mandated standards for air set by the EPA, uniform across the country, enforced by both federal and state governments. Dealt with the concentration of chemicals in the air. Primarily aimed at protecting human health, but also to protect buildings and forests. Dealt with the six criteria pollutants. Little regard to the cost of attainment.

Wilderness Act of 1964

Created the National Wilderness Preservation System to set aside undeveloped areas of federal land where the earth is untouched.