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Outline:. Environmental Policy Cycle NEPA Environmental Law Statutory Case Administrative Regulatory Agencies International Treaties and Conventions Dispute Resolution and Planning. ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY.
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Outline: • Environmental Policy Cycle • NEPA • Environmental Law • Statutory • Case • Administrative • Regulatory Agencies • International Treaties and Conventions • Dispute Resolution and Planning
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY • Environmental Policy - Official rules and regulations concerning the environment that are adopted, implemented, and enforced by a governmental agency. • Also encompasses public opinion.
Environmental Policy • Politics as Power • Politics is a struggle among competing interest groups as they strive to shape public policy to suit their own agendas. • Rational Choice • In choosing between policy alternatives, preference should be given to those with the greatest cumulative welfare and the least negative impacts.
Arguments Against Rational Choice • Conflicting views are not comparable. • Few agreed-upon broad social goals. • Policymakers not motivated by societal goals. • Large investments create path dependence. • Uncertainty drives policy makers toward past. • Costs and benefits difficult to calculate. • Segmented nature of large bureaucracies.
NEPA • National Environmental Policy Act (1970) • Authorizes Council on Environmental Quality as the oversight board. • Directs federal agencies to take environmental consequences into account during decision making. • Requires an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for every federal project having significant environmental impact.
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW • Environmental Law - Body of rules, decisions, and actions concerning environmental quality, natural resources, and ecological sustainability. • Statute Law - Formal documents enacted by legislative branch declaring, commanding, or prohibiting something. • Case Law - Derived from court decisions in both civil and criminal cases.
Environmental Law • Administrative Law - Rises from executive orders, administrative rules and regulations, and enforcement decisions in which statues passed by the legislature are interpreted in specific applications and individual cases.