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Regulation in Practice

Regulation in Practice. Objectives: Discuss main U.S. environmental legislation and regulatory agencies. Analyze effectiveness of regulation as a ‘solution’ to environmental issues. Legislation. Air Clean Air Act Enacted 1963, amended 1970, 1977, 1990

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Regulation in Practice

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  1. Regulation in Practice Objectives: Discuss main U.S. environmental legislation and regulatory agencies. Analyze effectiveness of regulation as a ‘solution’ to environmental issues.

  2. Legislation • Air • Clean Air Act • Enacted 1963, amended 1970, 1977, 1990 • Created National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ‘criteria’ pollutants • Stationary sources • Technology-based • Trading programs • Mobile sources • Inspections • Clean fuels and low-emission vehicles (LEVs) • Hazardous Pollutants • Emissions standards (MACT) • Safety standard

  3. Legislation II • Air, cont’d • “Clear Skies” • Weakens targets for SO2 and NO2 • Cap and trade program for Mercury • Polluters get extra decade to clean up their acts • Efficiency standard • Water • Federal Water Pollution Control Act (1972) • Goal: Fishable and swimmable waters by 1983 • Beyond Safety standard: zero discharge of pollutants • Clean Water Act (1977) • Focus on stationary sources • Non-point water pollution (Farming and sewage) not covered.

  4. Legislation III • Land • Two biggies: • Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA, 1976) • Hazardous waste disposable • Firms must prove safety • Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (Superfund, 1980) • Abandoned dump sites • Love Canal, NY: residential neighborhood built on toxic waste dump • “Superfund” site: abandoned dump with money for cleanup

  5. Legislation IV • Substances • Three: • Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA, 1947) • Toxic Substances Control Act (ToSCA, 1976) • Both based on Efficiency standard • Bhopal disaster leads to Emergency Planning and Right-to-Know Act (1986): • Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)

  6. Legislation V • Critters • Endangered Species Act (1973) • Lists animals and plants as endangered or threatened • Protected habitat • Standard: Ecological sustainability

  7. Agencies • Broad Spectrum: • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) • Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) • Specific Industries • Federal Power Commission (FPC): electric power • Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC): transport, oil pipelines, highways • Federal Communications Commission (FCC): telephones, TV transmission • Federal Aviation Administration (FAA): airlines • Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC): nuclear power

  8. Progress • Some issues • How to assess progress: • Glass half-empty or half-full? • Compared to what? • Easiest targets first • High marginal benefits, low marginal cost • Point-source pollution • Moving targets • New chemicals • Genetically modified organisms • Piecemeal: stop a leak here and it pops up somewhere else

  9. Effectiveness • Command and Control • Emissions standards • Critiques: • Need varies from place to place • Costs vary from firm to firm • Mandated Technology • Critiques • Need varies from place to place • Vagueness of definition • Incentives

  10. Effectiveness II • Right-to-know • Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) • Requires companies to disclose releases of approx 450 toxics. • Penalties not for releases, but for covering up/falsifying info. • Information is a form of power. • Recall PWSDR: • Information can raise the perceived MC of pollution and/or lower the perceived MB of not controlling pollution • Imperfect information: • burden of proof. “Innocent until proven guilty” is widely seen as a sound principle in criminal law.

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