Chapter 11: Environmental and Energy Policy
Study
Chapter
11 opens with a review of issues related to global climate change and actions
taken by the second Bush administration. The text summarizes major federal
policies that deal with environmental protection (largely pollution control and
health-related issues), natural resources, and energy; how these policies came
about; leading criticisms; and suggested reforms.
Environmental
policy has changed dramatically since its modern development in the 1960s with
the passage of such landmark legislation as the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.
This chapter reviews the developments that led to the adoption of the first
generation of environmental policy and the movement from consensus over policy
goals and the means used to achieve them (so-called command-and-control
regulation) to today’s partisan conflicts. Each of the major policies--and the
agency responsible for its implementation--is summarized, as is the nature of
the current disputes. Also provided is a roadmap on which students can trace
the arguments and studies on each side of this debate, from government agencies
to environmental and corporate interest groups. Similarly, major natural
resource and energy policies are discussed, as are the prevailing critiques of
these programs and a variety of suggestions for policy change.
The focused discussion deals with what is arguably the premier environmental challenge of the twenty-first century: climate change and its relationship to energy policy. This analysis of its risks and the corresponding consideration of policy options to deal with the problem demonstrate how science, analysis, ethical considerations, and politics intersect to shape policy decisions.