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In this article, the author discusses the working U.S. President Donald Trump's administration regarding making changes on environmental law and policy. It mentions the working of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the U.S. Congress for the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). It also mentions the working of non-governmental organization (NGO) and environmental advocates against the administration.

Absence of scientific independence can be associated with a lack of impartiality and therefore with a lack of credibility. Yet scientific credibility is essential for effective participation in sociopolitical processes-processes that necessarily involve politics and often result in decisions about land management, conservation, and public policy. All scientists are aware of these processes, many wish to participate, and some wish to advocate for their personal policy preferences. However, scientists who lack impartiality often create the perception of bias, and they can suffer a concomitant loss of credibility. Some policy-makers also have personal preferences for certain policies, and the term normative policies can be used here even though all policies can be viewed as normative in the sense that they involve multiple inputs. Hence, the idea that scientists must provide unbiased information for unbiased application by policy-makers is sometimes wrong. For scientists to be effective participants in sociopolitical processes that lead to conservation policies or related actions, they should inform the public about issues while avoiding direct involvement in policy development and the political considerations this necessarily entails. Scientists should only participate in the decision-making process with impartial information and in their proper role as objective scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the decades since the terms ‘vulnerability’, ‘capacity’ and ‘resilience’ became popular in both the disaster and development literatures, through natural and social science discourses, the terms have been applied to many development- and disaster-related policies and have been the subject of much debate and interpretation amongst various schools of thought. An illustrative review of the use of these terms is given followed by a critique of the main discourses, especially regarding the development and disaster policy advantages and disadvantages. Recommendations are given at different scales for closing some of the gaps identified, especially regarding the policy usefulness of certain theoretical approaches. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How genuine is the Conservative party's rediscovery of the environment? Would a Conservative government led by David Cameron implement a wide-ranging and progressive environmental policy? This article explores why Cameron has embraced the environment so enthusiastically when Conservative governments have had a poor record of environmental protection and the Conservative party has traditionally shown little interest in the issue. It assesses the impact of Cameron's strategy both on his own party and on the wider world of environmental politics and it evaluates the continuing commitment of the Conservatives to the issue by assessing what kind of policies a future Conservative government might implement. Although Cameron remains committed to the issue and he has already had a positive impact on Labour government policy, he has not yet convinced his party or its supporters, so a future Conservative government would probably represent continuity rather than significant change in environmental policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computational models support environmental regulatory activities by providing the regulator an ability to evaluate available knowledge, assess alternative regulations, and provide a framework to assess compliance. But all models face inherent uncertainties because human and natural systems are always more complex and heterogeneous than can be captured in a model. Here, we provide a summary discussion of the activities, findings, and recommendations of the National Research Council's Committee on Regulatory Environmental Models, a committee funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to provide guidance on the use of computational models in the regulatory process. Modeling is a difficult enterprise even outside the potentially adversarial regulatory environment. The demands grow when the regulatory requirements for accountability, transparency, public accessibility, and technical rigor are added to the challenges. Moreover, models cannot be validated (declared true) but instead should be evaluated with regard to their suitability as tools to address a specific question. The committee concluded that these characteristics make evaluation of a regulatory model more complex than simply comparing measurement data with model results. The evaluation also must balance the need for a model to be accurate with the need for a model to be reproducible, transparent, and useful for the regulatory decision at hand. Meeting these needs requires model evaluation to be applied over the “life cycle” of a regulatory model with an approach that includes different forms of peer review, uncertainty analysis, and extrapolation methods than those for nonregulatory models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the regulation of carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. It states that new coal-fired electric generation development efforts are higher-risk investments subject to vigorous opposition through regulatory and legal jurisdictional venues. The long-running debate over carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has continued to be a major impediment for issuers seeking air quality permits. It also claims that development efforts are likely to be impacted in some form by a recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) ruling associated with Deseret Power Electric Cooperative's air quality permit application. Related issues are further discussed.

The paper defines and uses the concepts environmental policy cycle and innovation cycle and explores the links between the two in search for an environmental policy that creates incentives for innovation in environmental technology. We conclude that key factors are shortening the period the bureaucracy takes for preparing new environmental requirements, transparency and consistency of bureaucratic and political decision-making and fast and strict implementation with environmental policy instruments that give pollution sources freedom in their choice of suitable technology. Economic instruments provide strong incentives for innovation because they speed up implementation. Large R&D subsidies may be needed to make technology development profitable under the conventional policy of direct regulation by emission standards and regulation by way of covenants. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Directive 2002/95/EC, the Restriction of Hazardous Substances or ‘RoHS’ Directive, restricts the use of environmentally hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment distributed and sold in the EU from 1 July 2006. The Directive's objectives are to harmonize EU Member States’ national legislation and protect human health and the environment. This article reveals differences in the implementation of the RoHS Directive at the time it took effect. Differences were revealed in the analysis of results obtained from telephone interviews conducted with all but four of the 25 EU Member State RoHS enforcement officials. Differences in implementation created barriers to the achievement of the RoHS Directive's objectives and caused problems for producers of electrical and electronic equipment. The article attributes the principal cause of differences in implementation to insufficiently detailed text in the RoHS Directive. The article also considers how barriers and problems could have been prevented and makes proposals to solve them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article augments the empirical literature on environmental reporting through an analysis of the impact the introduction of mandatory reporting guidelines had on the environmental disclosures of seventy-one Australian companies. Specifically it documents three implications from the enactment in 1998 of s. 299(1)(f) of Australia's Corporations Law that requires companies to report on their environmental performance with respect to any ‘particular and significant environmental regulation’. First, from a review of annual reports for two reporting periods prior to and two periods post the operative date of the provision, there was found to be a significant increase in the number of companies reporting and the level of information provided on environmental performance. Second, considerable variation was identified in the approaches adopted for reporting, hence confirming concerns expressed as to the practical application of the provision. Finally, there was an increase in the level of total environmental disclosure, most significantly for those companies that reported breaches of regulations and that do not issue a stand-alone environmental report. The analysis directly links increases in reporting and the introduction of s. 299(1)(f), therefore highlighting the limitations of continual reliance upon voluntary reporting to provide consistent substantive information on environmental performance. In addition, the analysis provides evidence that the introduction of additional reporting media influences the level of disclosure of environmental information within the annual report. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reflects on the environmental policy in Canada. The author argues that the Canadian environmental and resource policy failed to use economic instruments that would be important to the development of the policy. The policy focuses on air quality regulation, water quality regulation, water pricing and energy conservation.

The article talks about a strategy developed for efficient implementation of a pollution prevention (P2) program using the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. It aims to show how a federal facility's NEPA planning process can be used in the efficient implementation of a P2 program. As part of the process, specific categories of actions have been reviewed and determined to have no significant effects on the human environment. More information on the subject matter is given in the article.

In Denmark, the first law on green accounts was passed in July 1995. The law instructed a selected sample of Danish companies to prepare a green account. In 2002 the government strengthened the law, as the official evaluation showed that expectations for the delivered green accounts concerning content, form and reach were not met. One of the new initiatives was that the companies should describe their environmental policy, goals and results – if any. In this paper the potentials of the revised law will be discussed in relation to experiences with the first law and best practice in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). This discussion is pursued in a broader European context to elaborate on the perspectives of mandatory environmental reporting and leads to some amendments for a future revision of the Danish law on green accounts. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the degree to which recent trends in UK policy-making amount to a paradigm shift towards the prescriptions of ecological modernization (EM) theory. First, in keeping with EM's ‘win–win’ philosophy, recent political speeches and policy documents on the environment have expressed the idea that there is no conflict between environmental protection and economic growth. Second, policies have attempted to encourage the invention and diffusion of clean technologies. Third, policy-makers have explored innovative market-based policy approaches to tackle environmental problems. These three trends suggest UK policy-makers' predilection towards EM as a policy strategy. However, there has arguably been less success in terms of a fourth key characteristic of ‘ecologically modernized’ states, that of environmental policy integration. The paper concludes that New Labour's failure at ‘greening government’, combined with its economistic and technocratic policy focus, places the UK at the weak end of Christoff's (1996) weak–strong continuum of ecological modernization. As such, environmental imperatives continue to remain ideologically and politically peripheral to conventional economic goals. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we address two main questions. First, we ask whether the alleged shift in the Commission's environmental ‘policy style’ from a traditional regulatory style towards a new style based on less impositional, more market-based and co-operative instruments has actually occurred in practice. We seek to answer this question (a) by employing content analysis to assess the policy instruments propagated by the Commission in both the Fourth and Fifth Environmental Action Programmes (EAP); and (b) by analysing legislative proposals introduced by the Commission in designated environmental policy fields (atmospheric pollution, waste, water). On the basis of the findings we argue that there is a discrepancy between what the Commission declares in the EAPs and what it proposes in practice. Moreover, in a second step, we highlight the factors which might make any major shift in the Commission's policy style difficult to achieve in order to account for this discrepancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Despite the rich discussions about the role of information disclosure programs in environmental policy, our theoretical understanding of how and why information disclosure programs work lacks a clear framework. This article begins to fill that void by laying out some fundamental theories and concepts that underlie the empirical work on the subject. Methods. Basic theories arising from our knowledge of economics, psychology, and politics are compared. Previous research is analyzed with these theories in mind. Results. Research results confirm the plausibility of each of these theories, though the most compelling evidence so far suggests that shock and shame are key motivating factors for improved environmental performance by industry. Conclusions. The argument is made that our theoretical foundations must be understood better if we are to make sense of the empirical work on the subject. Policy implications are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European political integration has added a new and exciting dimension to the study of national political and administrative systems. However, comparatively little is know about the precise role of national ministries of state in either facilitating or retarding the shift towards joint rule making at the European level. Taking as an example the UK Department of the Environment's (DoE) involvement in the cumulative development of EU environmental policy since 1970, this paper examines the extent to which national environmental departments manage the process of integration or whether they are dragged along by it. It concentrates on the DoE's role in negotiating the 1987 Single European Act. It suggests that integration in the environmental sector since the Act has proceeded significantly further and faster than British negotiators originally expected, though through little conscious effort by the DoE. In fact, the DoE strongly opposed the introduction of majority voting, but was overruled by the core executive. These findings are examined against two theoretical approaches to European integration in order to reach a fuller understanding of what motivates (parts of) the British state to limit national autonomy in the process of developing European environmental rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of the principle of subsidiarity in the early 1990s succeeded in raising the question of what level of government should do what in an enlarged Europe. This paper briefly summarizes the origins of the subsidiarity principle and considers the way in which it has been interpreted by the main EU institutions since the Maastricht Treaty moved it into the mainstream of European politics. Then it explores the implications of the subsidiarity debate in the context of the three main challenges facing EU environmental policy in the new millennium, namely improving implementation, encouraging environmental policy integration and preparing for enlargement. While the legal meaning of subsidiarity was greatly clarified by the 1999 Amsterdam Treaty, its substantive, long term impact upon the continuing process of European political integration is still open to question. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the process of European integration gathered pace, subsidiarity was introduced as a concept that could curb the centralist tendencies of the European Union. For new legislation the EU needed to satisfy two criteria. What justification was there for European action in the first place (subsidiarity) and was the intensity of the action appropriate (proportionality)? Many references were thus made to the fact that new European legislation complied with these two principles albeit in a general and imprecise manner. This paper attempts to understand what the two concepts mean in relation to two pieces of environmental legislation. The paper begins by discussing, in general terms, the origins of the principles and their meaning in European Community law. It then examines the actual arguments made in support of or to counteract Commission proposals in the field of environmental policy. Three considerations must be satisfied. What legal competence does the Commission have to propose legislation, and does it comply with the subsidiarity and proportionality principles? We conclude by suggesting that a series of decision rules can be developed to evaluate the legitimacy of Community action. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the problem-making tendencies in environmental policymaking has been an incremental approach to regulation and control. Either because the full dimensions of an environmental problem are not perceived or because political resistance compels step-by-step action, environmental controls tend to be applied progressively, beginning with nominal, largely ineffectual, retroactive declarations. Failing to meet objectives, laws are toughened and extended year by year until the severity of sanctions begins to defeat their intended effects. The fractionized state of environmental law, focusing on specific problems of pollution and subject to changes in interpretation, makes observance and enforcement difficult. The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 could have facilitated the unification of environmental policy; unfortunately presidents and congresses have not chosen to use it for this purpose. Meanwhile, because environmental protection per se is relatively new to public law and policy and has few roots in the common law, private citizens aggrieved by political obstruction of their expectations have appealed to the courts for relief and compensation. Conservative courts have granted this relief under the "taking" clause of the Constitution. Extraordinary measures in constitutional law may be necessary to resolve an impasse in public policy resulting from conflict between public interests and private rights as interpreted by the judiciary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the unforeseen problems of the new industrial age has been the disposal of increasing quantities of wastes many hazardous and toxic. Industrial chemistry has produced numerous products that, while useful, are alien to nature and resistant to biodegradation or detoxification. Growing public awareness of the possible hazards and risks involved in disposal of the residuals of industrial activities is arousing a popular demand for environmental protection. But this popular awareness depends upon public information and a degree of scientific literacy--conditions which vary widely among nations. Initial consequences are environmental regulations and restrictions respecting waste disposal in scientifically developed countries, and vulnerability among less developed countries to the export of hazardous wastes from the countries of their origin. A secondary consequence is the emergence of international waste trade as a national and international multidimensional policy problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The politics of the environment may not be unique, but they present some distinctive characteristics. In undertaking policy analyses and administrative strategies an appreciation of concepts, assumptions and circumstances, and underlying environmental policy issues is needed. To ignore these fundamentals is to risk superficiality in analysis, and error in findings and conclusions. Yet getting down to basics is often rejected as diversion from the goal of analysis. It deviates from a "straight to the point" approach, adds cost and time to investigation, and seldom interests practical-minded analysts. Even so, this paper will be prefaced by a concise reminder of some basic factors that make environmental policy problematic. Among these are: (1) incompatible concepts of man-nature relationships notably conflict between perceived facts and values, (2) inadequate comprehension of the complexities of nature, (3) sectoral subdivisions of knowledge, (4) assumptions, situations and motivations in environmental politics, (5) fractionated structure of laws and administration, and (6) short-range perception of time. In addition to these conceptual factors the widely varied subject-matter of environmental politics narrows the scope of generalization for policy purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the case of the Federal Republic of Germany beneath the surface of seemingly clear and authoritative regulatory standards the actual practice of implementation involves a substantial amount of bargaining over the terms of regulatory actions between enforcement agencies and their clientele. As a consequence of this situation, it appears that the stringency of the legal norms contained in the formal control programs is weakened in the course of their implementation.

This theoretical analysis focuses on the properties of conservative, liberal, and radical paradigms in social science and their application to the growth/no-growth debate in environmental policy literature. We find conservatives working with an evolutionary model of society which suggests that environmental problems are imperfections to be remedied by science, technology, and the free market. Liberals recognize the benefits and costs of growth, and they articulate ways to minimize the costs through state regulation and planning. Radicals argue for state ownership of the means of production and new cultural values about growth as the only effective environmental policies. This analysis closes with a discussion of the future of the growth debate in terms of these paradigms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes how the emissions trading programs work in offering opportunities for tremendous cost savings and operating liabilities and the financial and tax accounting problems they raise. Consideration of the acid rain emissions allowance trading system authorized by Title IV of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, as the primary economic incentive programs (EIP); Commencement of the operation of an automated allowance tracking system (ATS) in ensuring the accountability of EIP; Number of allowances allocated annually by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Focuses on developments in environmental regulations and environmental pressures. Where the environmental policy has emerged from; Insight on the mandates of the toxic release inventory (TRI); Details on emission fees.

This article reports that Representative John D. Dingell, chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and two other House Democrats, urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to push for superfunding in a letter sent on September 12, 2007. They questioned the agency's progress on Superfund cleanups at National Priorities List sites. The letter also notes the alarming downward spiral in the past six years in achieving construction completion and the lack of progress to a serious funding shortfall.