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In 1970, the United States Congress and President Richard Nixon created a federal regulatory regime to meet public demands for improved environmental quality. As it happened, the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the enactment of the first national environmental standards coincided with the disruption of the postwar prosperity that had helped fuel the environmental movement. Valuing the Air provides the first sustained historical study of policy making at EPA during the formative period between 1970 and 1990, when the embattled agency preserved its original mission to protect Americans’ right to clean air. To justify strong regulations in an era of rising inflation and unemployment, EPA officials turned to the new field of environmental economics, funding pioneering research that concluded that the benefits of environmental protection outweighed the costs. Such pecuniary evidence allowed EPA to shield its regulatory interventions from business lobbying and to rebut rhetorical campaigns in which corporate executives threatened communities across the country with the loss of industrial jobs if they supported strong environmental health regulations. While this dollars and cents valuation proved persuasive to policy makers, it ran contrary to environmentalist notions of priceless nature and environmental advocates fought doggedly to prevent EPA from fully adopting a cost/benefit approach to policymaking. As environmentalists recognized, EPA’s embrace of economic measurement elevated the stature of economists at the agency, raising the possibility that recently established natural rights to clean air and water might be undercut by a dehumanized pricing of externalities. Regulatory reforms enacted by the Carter administration, such as emissions trading and the bubble policy, signaled a new willingness among liberals to use economic incentives and markets approaches in place of direct regulations – a development that environmentalists regarded warily. In 1981, the Reagan administration upset a bipartisan consensus for market based reforms with the announcement of drastic budget and staffing cuts at EPA. Reagan’s attack on EPA marked the ascent of a new conservative ideology that held unrestrained free enterprise to be the greatest social good, irrespective of the actual economics of regulatory interventions. Finding environmental economics to be a powerful, if imperfect, ally against such assaults, many environmental organizations softened their critiques of economic valuation and began to borrow the language and logic of economics to make their case. With this growing support from environmental organizations, EPA ushered in the commodification of pollution rights in the era of cap and trade. The inflection of contemporary environmental advocacy with economic measurement and value demonstrates the political utility of economics while also underscoring the foreclosure of an earlier environmentalism’s more radical questioning of the desirability of an unbounded market economy. At the same time, EPA continues to resist economists’ efforts to derive public preferences from market exchange, insisting that fundamental choices about underlying environmental value be made through the democratic process.

Sue-and-settle is the name applied to a federal agency’s use of litigation to create policy outside of the normal regulatory process. This paper discusses the impact that the sue-and-settle policy has had on Congress, the judiciary, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Specifically, this paper will discuss the issues caused by the perception of collusion within the sue-and-settle policy. First, this paper examines whether a relationship occurs between the litigants. The paper then discusses whether the relationship between the litigants in sue-and-settle cases tends to be collusive or not. The second part of the paper examines how Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the judiciary are viewed because of the continued perception of collusion in the agency’s settlements. Overall, this paper finds that, the impacts of the sue-and-settle policy, and the perception of collusion, has affected Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the judiciary by increasing regulation, distorting the purpose of the courts, and resulting in a lost value for the regulatory process.

Introduction: A mercury fact sheet that contains essential information and can be clearly understood by majority of adults is needed. In Fiscal Year 2009, EPA responded to more releases related to mercury than any other release. Since 2003, EPA has responded to more than 200 mercury releases. The American Association of Poison Control Centers estimate more than 50,000 people have been exposed to mercury vapors from 2003 to 2008, and 19,000 mercury cleanups have occurred from 2006 to 2008. Purpose: To determine what information needs to be included in a mercury fact sheet and how it should be created to inform adults who may be important in preventing and limiting exposure during accidental mercury release in the United States. Methods: The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Formula Data and the Suitability Assessment of Materials (SAM) tool were used to determine readability and appropriateness of twelve fact sheets related to elemental mercury. Length of fact sheets and illustration coverage percentage were also assessed. In addition, surveys were performed with four people who were involved in response to mercury releases in 2007 to 2009. The information they provided was also summarized to determine important elements that should be included in the fact sheets. Results: Information in a fact sheet should include the background of mercury, procedures in the event of a release, and ways to prevent releases. Based on the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, the literacy levels required to comprehend the 12 facts sheets was 11.4 on average. The majority of adults cannot comprehend the twelve fact sheets evaluated. Based on the evaluation of the material using SAM, none of the fact sheets scored higher than adequate with SAM. Only two fact sheets were written on one page and none of the fact sheets used relevant, simple illustrations with captions. Discussion: An effective mercury fact sheet needs to be about one page long and focuses on background, procedures, and prevention of exposure during a mercury release. Information obtained from interviews found that people focused the majority of their attention on the first page only. The fact sheet needs to be written at a sixth grade reading and to be able to receive a superior rating when assessed with SAM. This will ensure that the fact sheet is readable and comprehendible by the majority of adults and include the necessary information that the public must know regarding mercury. A new fact sheet was developed and assessed using both Flesch-Kincaid level and SAM and was found to have a 6.6 reading grade level and received a superior score under SAM. This fact sheet will be used by EPA along with the existing more comprehensive fact sheets at state agencies, and poison control centers for future releases and will be given to schools to educate and prevent future releases.

Dissertation (D.P.H.)--University of Michigan.

Dissertation (D.P.H.)--University of Michigan.

No description available.

During the last four decades, acidifications has been seen as a great environmental hazard. To combat the effects of the acidification, the Swedish government is funding liming of affected areas. This practice has been questioned in northern Sweden, since there is no general agreement about the origin of the acidity there. This thesis aims to explain the administrative handling of the scientific disputes, and thereby the relation between the responsible authority, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and the research exrecised on the matter. Research findings are therefore compared with the content of interviews, performed by civil servants at SEPA. It is concluded that the liming in northern Sweden is a very complicated issue, involving many groups and individuals - so much so that it might not just be an issue of acidification science.

This chapter defines and describes hazardous wastes and their adverse health effects. Historical evolution of the management and public understanding of waste issues is traced. Other parts of the chapter describe hazardous waste management, including disposal landfills, land farming, incineration, and toxics use reduction. Various regulatory measures are described as well as nonregulatory measures for prevention and control of adverse health effects from hazardous wastes. Approaches to evaluating human health effects at hazardous waste sites are described, emphasizing special challenges and opportunities in environmental epidemiology. Social aspects of community involvement are noted. Steps of the Superfund clean-up process are delineated. Governmental contingency plans for coordination in emergency response situations are reviewed. In addition, a section describes pollution prevention and toxics use reduction.

No description available.