Section I. Short Essay Questions- I will select 4, you answer 3.
1. Why did the nation “tackle” pollution in the early 1970s?
2. Compare the issue framing of Sierra Club’s “False Advertising” with Patrick
J. Michaels’ “Losing It” using Stone’s analytical framework. How do the authors
frame the issue and why do they adopt that frame? Which is more effective and
why?
3. What are the three key lessons environmental policy entrepreneurs (EPEs) learn from the
4. What are the causes and consequences of gridlock in Congress
5. What are the scientific and political implications
of requiring a clean fuel to have a minimum oxygen level (2.1% vs 3.7%)?
6. What do Davies and Mazurek believe are the 3 biggest
problems with the EPA?
7. Does Rosenbaum believe the EPA can be fixed?
Section II. Longer Essay Questions Answer BOTH
1. President Obama wants your advice on the how they can most effectively
achieve his environmental policy goals. Be very specific in identifying the key
dos and don’ts from previous presidents.
2. What does the recent Supreme Court decision in the
-----------------------------
Some advice for essay questions
1. I don't like reading poorly structured and argued essays. I give you the
questions in advance so that you can prepare a coherent and detailed argument
in response to each question. Outline your answers in advance.
2. Use the readings and authors’ names in your answer. (e.g. Dayne argues
that presidents are ….; Issues can be framed in 4 ways according to Stone
because …)
3. Use specific examples to support your arguments. The ID terms are a very
good place to start. They are the building blocks for the essays.
4. You will be hard pressed to sufficiently answer all the questions during
the allotted time period. Your answers should be concise and avoid unnecessary
words and fluff. You may also abbreviate.
You essay answers will be evaluated based upon
1. the clarity of your argument
2. the use of the readings and lectures
3. the creative use of examples from lectures and readings to make your arguments
4. the clarity of concept definitions.
Below are a list of important concepts and questions drawn from the readings
and lectures. They are useful in culling the important ideas from the readings
and lecture notes for the Midterm.
The Policy Cycle
The Rosenbaum chapter focuses on general characteristics of environmental
policy making, whereas the Layzer case study is an
assessment of the passage and implementation of the Clean Air and Clean Water
legislation specifically. The early 1970s represents, arguably, the
1. Why did the nation “tackle” pollution in the early
1970s?
2. What are the two or three most important influences on the final forms of
the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act of the early 1970s? Why did they have the
provisions they did?
3. Why does implementation of these laws seem not to measure up the original
intent of the legislation?
4. What are the different stages of the policy cycle? At which stages did
environmentalists “win” and “lose” according to Layzer’s
account and why?
Rosenbaum Ids
Policy cycle
Agenda setting
Formulation and legitimation
Implementation
Incrementalism
Interest group liberalism
Role of Business, special relationship
Political feasibility
Political seasons
Changing party majorities
Shifting public moods
Economic conditions
regulatory federalism
Layzer Ids
focusing event
salience
redefinition of the pollution problem
Nixon’s motivations
Muskie's motivations
The science and economic analysis behind the clean air
and clean water act
Agency capture
Policy window
Scope of conflict
Conditions versus problems
Political entrepreneur
Framing of Issues
Types of Causal Stories or Policy Narratives
Consequences and Actions; Intended or Unintended
MECHANICAL CAUSE
ACCIDENTAL CAUSE
INTENTIONAL CAUSE
INADVERTENT CAUSE
-what are the key causal strategies for defining a problem?
What are some of the limits on Environmentalists' ability to frame issues in
ways favorable to their cause (think discussion of Sierra Club framing of miles
per gallon)?
Punctuated Equilibrium Theories and Policy Change
Why did
Path Dependence
High Exit Costs
Policy Image
Institutionalization
Professionalization
Benefits and Risk Spreading
New policy image or frames
New management practices
Venue shifting
Skilled implementation
Positive feedbacks for change
Role of Networks
Adept policy design
Gestation periods and Cascades
Environmental Water Account
Adaptive Management
Bruce Babbitt; CALFED
Presidency Questions
Did Bill Clinton live up to his pre election hype as “the Great Green Hope”
(Daynes p 259)?
Why or why not? Where was he most and least successful in protecting the
environment?
How does George W. Bush’s environmental strategy compare with Reagan? Is it
more or less successful in achieving his environmental policy goals?
What are the lessons of the Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush presidencies
about how presidents should go about achieving their environmental policy
goals?
What should Presidents expect from Congress as they tries to advance their
environmental policies?
Bush Presidency- New Source Review, Healthy Forests, "rewriting the
rules"
Congress Questions
Fragmentation
Electoral cycle
Localism
Geographic responsibility
Causes and Consequences of Gridlock
What are the scientific and political implications of requiring a clean fuel
to have a minimum oxygen level (2.1% vs 3.7%)?
Why does Congress choose to promote “clean fuel” for the Clean Air Act?
What were the environmental and political advantages and disadvantages of each
of the three main clean fuel alternatives (methanol, ethanol, reformulated
gasoline)?
What solution does Congress choose and why? What role does science, interest
groups, and institutions play in the choice?
Were there better policy alternatives than “clean fuels” for reducing air
pollution? Why were they not selected?
Based on the clean fuel legislation, what is the ability of Congress to pass
environmental legislation?
Does the electoral incentive help or hinder the ability of Congress to pass
legislation to address environmental issues?
Courts Questions
Standing and the Citizen Suits
FOE vs Laidlaw Environmental Services
Ripeness and Standard of Review
Standard of Review
Endangered Species Act definition of takings
Regulatory takings -- Lucas versus South Carolina Coastal
Rapanos v.
How do Courts shape environmental policy?
Should environmentalists continue to look to the courts to defend their
policies? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this strategy?
Davies and Mazurek
Does the US System of Regulation Pollution work?
What is their view of the quality of federal environmental legislation?
What is their view of the use of economics or science in EPA decision-making?
Does the EPA target the most important problem? What evidence do they assess?
Does the EPA choose the optimal solutions for the problems? How do they define
optimal?
Does the EPA do a good job of giving the public a voice in decisions that
affect them?
Does the EPA do a good job anticipating and dealing with future problem?
What has the EPA done right? What has it done poorly?
How would you summarize their recommendations for improving the US System of
Regulation Pollution?
What is Rosenbaum’s assessment of Congress as an
environmental policy maker? What do they do wrong and right? (Ocean dumping
legislation, sanctions, subgovernments, sources of
improvement)
What is Rosenbaum’s assessment of the EPA as an environmental policy maker?
What do they do wrong and right?
How does Rosenbaum’s view of bureaucratic pluralism and competition compare
with Davies and Mazurek’s call for greater
integration among the agencies?
Thought Exercise
Try to imagine the next significant environmental legislation. Even
without knowing what the “problem” is, how will it get on the agenda, how will
congress respond, what will the legislation look like, how will the EPA
respond, how will the states respond, and will it solve the “problem”?
1. The reelection of George W. Bush and a Republican dominated Congress has
led environmentalists to look to the Courts and the States to increase their
influence in making environmental policy. Are environmentalists’ hopes for
these two institutions likely to be fulfilled or dashed?
2. What does the EPA do right and wrong as an environmental policy making
institution? Can it be improved?
3. Try to imagine the next significant environmental legislation. Even
without knowing what the “problem” is, how will it get on the agenda, how will
congress respond, what will the legislation look like, how will the EPA
respond, how will the states respond, and will it solve the “problem”?
4. It is 2008 and former Virginia Governor Mark Warner (D) has just been
elected president and has made “saving the environment” one of his key campaign
promises. He has asked you to write a memorandum that summarizes:
a. the lessons of the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton presidencies about how he can
best achieve his environmental policy goals;
b. what he should expect from Congress as he tries to advance his environmental
policies.
5. Is the Constitution is bad for the environment? That is, how do the
fundamental government arrangements explicitly created by the constitution or
implicit in its philosophy enhance or hamper our ability to make sound
environmental policy?
6. Earth Day was over 30 years ago. Why haven’t we “saved the earth” or
cleaned up the environment yet? Why have the implementation
of our many environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act or Clean Water Act
failed to achieve the original intent of the legislation? What are the major
political, institutional, and scientific challenges for improving environmental
policy making in the 21st century?
Environmental Policy In Transition
Emergence of new issues
Difficulties of implementation
Increasing cost of environmental clean up
Changing political environment
Environmental movement
Environmental policy in Transition
1. Based on your reading of Rosenbaum and Vig and
Kraft assessments of the status of environmental policy, what are the major
political, institutional, and scientific challenges for improving environmental
policy making in the 21st century?
2. Earth Day was over 30 years ago. Why haven’t we “saved the earth” or cleaned
up the environment yet? Why have the implementation of
our many environmental laws failed to achieve the original intent of the
legislation?
3. Why is the story of saving the ozone control by reducing CFC emissions is
symptomatic of the new era of environmental policy?