Ecologia applicata – Cunningham, Cunningham, Saigo Copyright © 2004 – The McGraw-Hill Companies, srl

Outline:

• Environmental Policy Cycle NEPA

• Environmental Law Statutory Case Administrative

• Regulatory Agencies• International Treaties and Conventions• Dispute Resolution and Planning

Ecologia applicata – Cunningham, Cunningham, Saigo Copyright © 2004 – The McGraw-Hill Companies, srl

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.

Ecologia applicata – Cunningham, Cunningham, Saigo Copyright © 2004 – The McGraw-Hill Companies, srl

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.

Ecologia applicata – Cunningham, Cunningham, Saigo Copyright © 2004 – The McGraw-Hill Companies, srl

Environmental Policy

Ecologia applicata – Cunningham, Cunningham, Saigo Copyright © 2004 – The McGraw-Hill Companies, srl

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.

Ecologia applicata – Cunningham, Cunningham, Saigo Copyright © 2004 – The McGraw-Hill Companies, srl

The Policy Cycle

Ecologia applicata – Cunningham, Cunningham, Saigo Copyright © 2004 – The McGraw-Hill Companies, srl

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.

Ecologia applicata – Cunningham, Cunningham, Saigo Copyright © 2004 – The McGraw-Hill Companies, srl

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.

Ecologia applicata – Cunningham, Cunningham, Saigo Copyright © 2004 – The McGraw-Hill Companies, srl

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.

Ecologia applicata – Cunningham, Cunningham, Saigo Copyright © 2004 – The McGraw-Hill Companies, srl