Discussion and Assignment Environmental and Energy Policy

Discussion and Assignment Environmental and Energy Policy

Module 12
Objectives

Identify current and historical policies used to protect the environment.
Identify relationship between environmental and energy policy
Understand foundations for policies that could be adopted to reduce pollution.
Understand the concept of sustainable development and application to public policy.

Readings
Kraft & Furlong Chapter 11
Newspaper articles titled ” A New American Oil Bonanza” & “US to be World’s Top Oil Producer in 5 Years Report Says”
Power point slide-“Components of Sustainability”
Concept of Sustainable Development

The positive progress of society can be largely correlated with broad based economic growth. But economic growth may have undesirable outcomes such as pollution, climate change, and, may lead to large income disparities between segments of society. A political tension is how we as a country balance economic growth with other equally important values, and quality of life factors. To find this balance government is increasingly using the concept of sustainability as a tool to balance the political tensions inherent in public policy. Sustainability considers three factors, economic, environmental, and social, to evaluate policy alternatives.

Order Custom Essay: Discussion and Assignment Environmental and Energy Policy

The most common definition of a sustainable society was developed by the United Nations in 1992 and is used by most policy makers as a broad definition for the foundation for all public policy. That definition is “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Called by the International Association of City/County Managers as the issue of our age, sustainability uses economic, environmental, and social as the three major categories that should be evaluated when policy is analyzed. As you will read see by the following youtube clips, not everyone accepts the concept of sustainability as a societal goal. In general, this concept calls for public policy to be established by finding a convergence between economic growth, environmental protection, and the social aspects of society such as education, equality etc. See the power point slide in this module. You may find additional information about sustainability in Chapter 11 pages 407-408, and on pages 157-158 of your text by Kraft & Furlong

Assignment: By 6 p.m. on November 17

Your text outlines the concept of sustainable development and the following link to the International Institute for Sustainable Devleopment provides further explanation of the concept and how it applies to environmental and energy policy. Link (Links to an external site.) At this site read the section on What Is Sustainable Development. I also encourage you to view some of the videos and look at the publications.

Order Custom Essay: Discussion and Assignment Environmental and Energy Policy

Also review reducing greenhouse gases through a cap and trade system at http://www.epa.gov/captrade/ (Links to an external site.) Be sure you click on the acid rain program to learn how an actual cap and trade system has functioned. An alternative to cap and trade is the historical method by which pollution has been reduced. This is a command and control system. Another system is called a performance based system. What is involved in a command and control system is found at http://yosemite.epa.gov/ee/epa/eed.nsf/fa6512c6e51c4a208525766200639df2/9b6ed59f910a89ea85257746000aff58!OpenDocument (Links to an external site.)

Answer the following questions:

First the authors of your text state that environmental policies have been effective in cleaning the nations air and water.
Briefly list two policies or programs enacted by the federal government and explain how these have been effective in either reducing air or water pollution.
State whether they were command and control systems or market based systems.
Go to the second link below and using the embedded link titles Enforcement & Compliance History go to the city where you went to high school and type it in the search statistics. Report on the following:
# current violations
# facilities with formal enforcement actions last year.

Answer one of the following two questions

Analyze the concept of sustainability.
should sustainability be the foundation for environmental and energy policy?
If yes describe how you would balance job creation with environmental policy. List one social factor that should be considered.
If no, explain why the United States should place priority on a market based system emphasizing jobs with a lower or possibly no priority on government regulated environmental controls and social factors.
should future environmental programs use a command and control system or a market based system such as cap and trade? Explain your position by stating two advantages of the system you choose.
Or

The article from the NY Times indicates that the United States could be reaching energy independence. Using the principles of sustainability evaluate the facts outlined in this article and discuss
viewing energy policy through the lens of sustainability what are two non-monetary costs that policy makers should consider when moving to energy independence?
should environment concerns be balanced with energy independence?
If yes explain how.
If no explain what how you analyze environmental sustainability with energy independence.

By admin in Essays on November 20, 2015