Environmental Policy Commons^™

Adapting To A Changing Climate: Local Drivers For Policy Response, Andrew J. Bilich

Honors Scholar Theses

Responding to the present and looming effects of global climate change presents a challenging task for policymakers at all levels of governance. The outcomes of climate change do present serious adaptation problems for global policy makers, but the implications of climate change are more immediately experienced by local communities and policy makers. Historical policymaking models suggest that economic well-being is an influential driver in local policy adoption. This particular analysis explores the relationship between economic variables and the development of climate adaptation policies by Connecticut municipalities. To test the degree of interaction present, adaptation policy data in the form of …

Urban/Rural Spatial Identity And Legislative Behavior In Nebraska, The Impact Differences On Economic Development And Environmental Legislation, Melissa L. Trueblood

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

The urban/rural divide is pervasive in policy-making in Nebraska. In this nonpartisan state, coalitions based on spatial identity or whether the legislator is urban or rural seem to have greater weight than party especially in the creation of economic development policy. Often, economic development policies include locational considerations which give areas such as rural areas and economically distressed areas greater weight when distributing program funds. In my study, I investigate whether constituency or party has a greater impact on the legislative behavior of Nebraska state legislators when voting on economic development and environmental legislation. I expect that constituency would have …

Earth, Air, Water, Oil: Regulating Fracking In The Monterey Shale With Health And Environment In Mind, Gideon J. Salzman-Gubbay

Pomona Senior Theses

“Earth, Air, Water, Oil: Regulating Fracking in the Monterey Shale with Health and Environment in Mind,” explores how hydraulic fracturing regulation in California’s oil-rich Monterey Shale will impact regional public health, including groundwater and air quality. This is achieved through a combination of case study and policy analysis on both the state and national level.

Climate Change And The Co-Production Of Knowledge And Policy In Rural Us Communities, George C. Homsy, Mildred Warner

Public Administration Faculty Scholarship

Climate change requires action at multiple levels of government. We focus on the potential for climate change policy creation among small rural governments in the US. We argue that co-production of scientific knowledge and policy is a communicative approach that encompasses local knowledge flowing up from rural governments as well as expertise and power (to coordinate and ensure compliance) flowing down from higher level authority. Using environmental examples related to land use policy, natural gas hydro-fracturing, and watershed protection, we demonstrate the importance of knowledge flows, power, and coordination in policy creation. Co-production of knowledge and policy requires respect for …

Land Management, U.S. Bureau Of, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides a historical overview and current assessment of the role played by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management in its ownership of federal lands in western states and its efforts to balance economic development of natural resources and conservation of these resources on these lands.

Center For Rebuilding Sustainable Communities After Disasters: Partnerships In Teaching And Research, Adenrele Awotona, Center For Rebuilding Sustainable Communities After Disasters, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

CRSCAD assists local, national, and international agencies as well as the victims of disasters to develop practical, sustainable, and long-term solutions to the social, economic, and environmental consequences of disasters.

We also host international conferences and workshops at UMass Boston to provide a space for partners to network, exchange ideas, and share best practices.

We Have Never Been "Post-Political", James Mccarthy

Geography

The Progressive Era attempt to 'depoliticize' environmental governance was of course an utter failure for a host of reasons: powerful economic and political interests found or made entry points into supposedly sealed-off arenas, eventually culminating in the phenomenon of agency capture. Scientists and technocrats carried their own politics into their work, consciously or unconsciously; the people affected by new property relations and management regimes resisted and reconfigured the newly emergent socionatures in their areas in a variety of ways, producing a reality more complicated than, and often at odds with, the superficially clear official policy; and so on. It is …

Unbundling The Regime Complex: The Effects Of Private Authority, Graeme Auld, Jessica F. Green

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

There is a commonly held view that forms of private regulation and governance arise when intergovernmental cooperation fails. While we do not dispute that this is sometimes the case, this paper focuses on the longer-term effects of private authority—namely, the ways that public and private authority interact over time. We argue that a more complete understanding of regime complexity must include private authority, which we define as situations in which non-state actors make rules or set standards that other actors in world politics adopt, and its interactions with public authority. Interactions among public and private actors occur in two ways—one …

Brief 3: Clustering Assessment: Enhancing Synergies Among Multilateral Environmental Agreements, Judith Wehrli

Governance and Sustainability Issue Brief Series

Against the background of a widely fragmented and diluted international environmental governance architecture, different reform options are currently being discussed. This issue brief considers whether streamlining international environmental regimes by grouping or ‘clustering’ international agreements could improve effectiveness and efficiency. It outlines the general idea of the clustering approach, draws lessons from the chemicals and waste cluster and examines the implications and potentials of clustering multilateral environmental agreements.

Explaining Success And Failure In Climate Policies: Developing Theory Through German Case Studies, Roger Karapin

Publications and Research

Theories of environmental outcomes have been developed mostly through large-N cross-national studies, which have a structuralist bias and do not include the mechanisms through which inferred causes operate. Structured, focused case studies can help overcome those limits by incorporating political processes and identifying causal mechanisms. Here, comparisons of climate policy outcomes within Germany are used to test and develop theory, by explaining the differences among nine cases with the help of process tracing. The findings suggest that environmental-outcome theories should be modified to include: external events and advocacy-coalition formation as key processes; multiple causal paths through which green parties improve …

Climate Policy Outcomes In Germany: Environmental Performance And Environmental Damage In Eleven Policy Areas, Roger Karapin

Publications and Research

Germany has reduced its emissions of greenhouse gases more than almost any other industrialized democracy and is exceeding its ambitious Kyoto commitment of a 21% reduction since 1990. Hence, it is commonly portrayed as a climate-policy success story, but the situation is much more complex. Generalizing Germany's per-capita emissions to all countries or its emissions reductions to all industrialized democracies would still very likely produce more than a two-degree rise in global temperature. Moreover, analyzing the German country-case into eleven subcases shows that it is a mixture of relative successes and failures.

This illustrates several major problems with the literature …

The Role Of Environmental Ngos In Chinese Public Policy, Andrew I.E. Ewoh, Melissa Rollins

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

The emergence of environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in China is increasingly drawing attention from observers interested in Chinese environmental politics. In the 1980s, the Chinese government started introducing environmental laws as well as seeking assistance from international NGOs, and bilateral and multilateral aid organizations. The 1990s witnessed a shift in government's focus on command and control regulation to more progressive citizen participation and market incentive laws. In fact, many ambitious environmental and energy efficiency targets were included in both the 10th and the 11th five-year plans. This analysis examines the role played by the environmental NGOs in Chinese public policy …

Summary Report: Workshop On International Environmental Governance: Grounding Policy Reform In Rigorous Analysis, Center For Governance And Sustainability At Umass Boston

Center for Governance and Sustainability Publications

From June 27 to 28, 2011, the Federal Office for the Environment of Switzerland, the Global Environmental Governance Project of the Center for Governance and Sustainability at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and the World Trade Institute at the University of Bern hosted a workshop on International Environmental Governance: Grounding Policy Reform in Rigorous Analysis. The workshop started a dialogue between academics and researchers on one hand and policymakers on the other in order to provide analytical input to the political negotiations on institutional reform in the run-up to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012.

The workshop focused …

Cellulosic Biofuels: Expert Views On Prospects For Advancement, Erin D. Baker, Jeffrey M. Keisler

Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series

In this paper we structure, obtain and analyze results of an expert elicitation on the relationship between U. S. government Research & Development funding and the likelihood of achieving advances in cellulosic biofuel technologies. While there was disagreement among the experts on each of the technologies, the patterns of disagreement suggest several distinct strategies. Selective Thermal Processing appears to be the most promising path, with the main question being how much funding is required to achieve success. Thus, a staged investment in this path looks promising. With respect to gasification, there remains fundamental disagreement over whether success is possible even …

Battery Technology For Electric And Hybrid Vehicles: Expert Views On Prospects For Advancement, Erin D. Baker, Haewon Chon, Jeffrey M. Keisler

Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series

In this paper we present the results of an expert elicitation on the prospects for advances in battery technology for electric and hybrid vehicles. We find disagreement among the experts on a wide range of topics, including the need for government funding, the probability of getting batteries with lithium metal anodes to work, and the probability of building safe Lithium-ion batteries. Averaging across experts we find that U.S. government expenditures of $150M/yr lead to a 66% chance of achieving a battery that costs less than $200/kWh, and a 20% chance for a cost of $90/kWh or less. Reducing the cost …

Slides: Land Use Planning, Ann Morgan

The Past, Present, and Future of Our Public Lands: Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Public Land Law Review Commission’s Report, One Third of the Nation’s Land (Martz Summer Conference, June 2-4)

Presenter: Ann Morgan, Vice President, The Wilderness Society (Denver, CO)

4 slides

Policy Suggestions For Emissions Trading In The U.S.A., Nathaniel Wallshein

Honors Scholar Theses

This honors thesis will examine current and theoretical "cap and trade" emissions trading schemes in an attempt to make recommendations on how to improve this regulated commodity market. The various control mechanisms available to regulators will be discussed: including allocation methodology, benchmarking, banking, variation in design frameworks, etc. To aid and support the proposed policy recommendations, this paper will investigate the design framework of the SOx emission trading scheme in the US, the Kyoto Protocol, and the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The political, social, and economic context of these schemes will be taken into account when considering the …

Public Choice And Environmental Policy: A Review Of The Literature, Christopher H. Schroeder

Faculty Scholarship

This paper is a draft of a chapter for a forthcoming book, Research Handbook in Public Law and Public Choice, edited by Daniel Farber and Anne Joseph O'Connell, to be published by Elgar. It reviews the public choice literature on environmental policy making, first generally and then with respect to four fundamental environmental policy questions: (1) whether or not government action is warranted; (2) if it is, the scope and stringency of the government action, including the manner in which a bureaucracy will implement and enforce any statutory standards; (3) the level of government that assumes responsibility; and (4) the …

Carbon Capture And Storage: Combining Economic Analysis With Expert Elicitations To Inform Climate Policy, Erin D. Baker, Haewon Chon, Jeffrey M. Keisler

Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series

The relationship between R&D investments and technical change is inherently uncertain. In this paper we combine economics and decision analysis to incorporate the uncertainty of technical change into climate change policy analysis. We present the results of an expert elicitation on the prospects for technical change in carbon capture and storage. We find a significant amount of disagreement between experts, even over the most mature technology; and this disagreement is most pronounced in regards to cost estimates. We then use the results of the expert elicitations as inputs to the MiniCAM integrated assessment model, to derive probabilistic information about the …

Institutional Resilience Amid Political Change: The Case Of Biodiversity Conservation, Paul F. Steinberg

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

There is a substantial literature documenting the spatial mismatch between the geographic location of biological resources and the spatial jurisdiction of the institutions responsible for their management. But little attention has been paid to the disjuncture in temporal scales between the long-term requirements of biodiversity conservation and the short time horizons governing public and private decisions affecting the survival of species and ecosystems. How can we create socially agreed-upon rules governing the long-term use and conservation of biodiversity when ongoing change is one of the defining characteristics of modern society? This article describes a new approach to biodiversity conservation—conservation systems—that …

Sustainability Action Plan Booklet, Paul Andricopulos, Ned Thomas

Publications (SD)

Learn about our commitment to maintaining a high quality of life while pursuing a progressive approach to environmental issues. Also, read about our guiding principles with information provided in the new Sustainability Action Plan booklet.

Judicial Iron Triangles: The Roadless Rule To Nowhere—And What Can Be Done To Free The Forest Service's Rulemaking Process, Christopher Cumings

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Legislating To Address Climate Change: Some Lessons From The Field, Christopher H. Schroeder

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Uncertainty, Technical Change, And Policy Models, Erin Baker, Leon Clarke, Jeffrey Keisler, Ekundayo Shittu

College of Management Working Papers and Reports

Both climate change and technical change are uncertain. In this paper we show the importance of including both uncertainties when modeling for policy analysis. We then develop an approach for incorporating uncertainty of technical change into climate change policy analysis. We define and demonstrate a protocol for bottom-up expert assessments about prospects for technologies. We then describe a method for using such assessments to derive a probability distribution over future abatement curves, and to estimate random return functions for technological investment in different areas. Finally, we show how these analytic results could be used in a variety of energy-economic models …

Sustainable Las Vegas 2007, City Of Las Vegas, Nevada

Publications (SD)

This publication is dedicated to the citizens of Las Vegas, to the 3,000 men and women who serve them at the city of Las Vegas and to future generations who will make Las Vegas their home. Together we are working to create a world-class city of today, as well as continuing to maintain that lofty status well into the future. It is this essence of promoting our greatness into the years ahead that is at the heart of a concept known as sustainability. Throughout this publication we have listed what the city is doing to make sure all will be …

Environmental Governance Literature Review Report, Christopher Paci

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

No abstract provided.

Public Opinion, The Media, And Environmental Policy: Agenda-Setting, Framing, And Maintaining The Status Quo, Jonela Rae Estes

Dissertations and Theses

Contributing to the research on the topic of the media, public opinion, and public policy, this research investigated the question: Given the environment's relatively bipartisan backing and the public's support for a stronger environmental protection agenda, how can an environmental policy direction apparently incongruent with public opinion be maintained?

The method of answering this larger question was to examine the dynamic among public opinion, the media, and environmental policy, focusing specifically on the media's agenda-setting and framing functions. This dynamic was explored through a three part methodology: by looking at the amounts of environmental policy media coverage over the last …

The Effectiveness Of The Endangered Species Act: A Quantitative Analysis, Martin F.J. Taylor, Kieran F. Suckling, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Population trends for 1095 species listed as threatened and endangered under the Endangered Species Act were correlated with the length of time the species were listed and the presence or absence of critical habitat and recovery plans. Species with critical habitat for two or more years were more than twice as likely to have an improving population trend in the late 1990s, and less than half as likely to be declining in the early 1990s, as species without. Species with dedicated recovery plans for two or more years were significantly more likely to be improving and less likely to be …

Design, Trading, And Innovation, David M. Driesen

College of Law - Faculty Scholarship

This book chapter questions the conventional theory purporting to establish that environmental benefit trading encourages innovation better than comparable traditional regulation. It argues that the induced innovation hypothesis, that high costs encourage innovation, suggests that trading would lessen incentives for innovation by lowering the cost of complying with conventional approaches. The conventional theory relies upon the incentive emissions trading creates for polluters to make additional reductions in order to sell credits. But emissions trading also creates incentives for half of the pollution sources (the credit buyers) to make less reductions than they would under a traditional regulation. By focusing analysis …

Conservation Element Of The Las Vegas 2020 Master Plan, City Of Las Vegas, Nevada

Publications (SD)

There is a dual purpose to the Las Vegas 2020 Master Plan Conservation Element. The first purpose is to address the requirements of state law, as provided in the Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) 278.150(4). This section of the NRS requires that governing bodies in Nevada counties with a population of 400,000 or more ensure that their master plans address a stipulated list of subjects, including a conservation plan.