Environmental Regulatory System Research Articles

Landowner Participation in the Regulation of Outdoor Recreation: Some Problems in Snowmobiling Regulation

This paper focuses on some important choices that have to be made in the design of an environmental regulation system of a recreational activity that is exercised on private property and causes external effect on outsiders. Many types of tourist and recreational uses of private property exhibit these features, such as sport fishing; mountain biking; hiking; motorized and non-motorized boating, road or off-road driving; camping; caravans and mobile-homes parking; etc. Under a licence regulation of snowmobile driving that has been proposed in Sweden, a limited number of zonal licences would be sold at predetermined prices. We develop a ‘classic-style’ regulation model and show that a socially efficient solution can be obtained in a licence system where landowners are allowed to sell licences but not to collect penalty charges.

The benefits of harmonizing our environmental regulatory system

The benefits of harmonizing our environmental regulatory system

Latest report finds EPA reforms fall short

In a National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) report released Sept. 10, Congress and the Environmental Agency are blamed for their inability to reform an ineffective environmental regulatory system. The report adds to a chorus of critics who are urging EPA to institute a performance- based, integrated, decentralized environmental protection system (C&EN, April 21, page 12). However, NAPA panel members releasing the report also say Congress must share blame with EPA for creating conditions under which statutory reforms, such as those endorsed by the report, are very difficult to achieve. The report, according to NAPA panel member William D. Ruckelshaus, chairman of Browning-Ferris Industries and twice EPA administrator, offers an easier path for reform, a series of stepping stones to begin harmonizing different, multimedia environmental laws. Resolving the Paradox of Environmental Protection comes two years after a similar NAPA investigation of EPA proved to be a touchstone in the de...

FRONTIERS OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION-ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS: A REGULATOR'S PERSPECTIVE

Leading edge companies throughout the world have embraced management systems to achieve optimal sustainable performance in the ever changing business environment of the 1990s.Given that the natural environment and environmental performance have become one of the major issues affecting organisations, the need for integrating environmental management with all the other components of an organisation's overall management approach is now widely recognised.Systems interface best with systems. For environmental management to interface effectively with an organisation's other management systems, a systems approach to environmental management would seem the best. The release in November last year of the draft international standards (ISO 14000 series) on environmental management systems (EMS) has provided organisations with an internationally recognised means for this to occur and provided an additional benchmarking tool.It follows that environmental regulatory systems are required to enable regulators to effectively interface with company EMSs. Regulatory theory suggests that outcomes-based approaches are preferable to prescriptive approaches. Those parts of EMS standards which detail the requirements for particular system elements could provide the nexus for the company, regulator and community in future co-regulatory frameworks.These EMS standards refer to both regulators and the community as 'Interested Parties' being either 'concerned with or affected by the environmental performance of an organisation'.The Interim EMS specifications standard, released in Australia and New Zealand as AS/NZS ISO 14001(Int):1995 refers to 'Interested Parties' in only two EMS elements, 'Objectives and Targets' and 'Communication'. It is here that there are potential benefits and opportunities for companies, regulators and the community to cooperate in the emerging climate of these new international standards.

Reaganism, pluralism, and the politics of pesticide regulation

A key priority of the ‘Reagan Revolution’ was an attack on the system of health, safety, and environmental regulation that arose in the 1970s. This article evaluates Reagan's regulatory reforms through the lens of one particularly important case study, the regulation of pesticides. This case will be used to explore two issues: (1) an empirical question about the magnitude of policy change achieved by the Reagan administration in the area of environmental regulation; and (2) a conceptual and theoretical question about the dynamics of ‘subgovernments’ or ‘issue networks,’ and their relationship to policy change. The analysis reveals that while the Reagan administration has produced important changes in both policy style and substance, in comparison to the changes that occurred around 1970, they have been relatively modest. Reagan's reform efforts failed largely because the President only controls a subset of the relevant components of the policy ‘regime’. Environmental interests were strongly entrenched in regime elements beyond Reagan's immediate control - in particular Congress, the courts, and the ruling public philosophy - and were thus able to thwart many of Reagan's initiatives.

Regulation for environmental protection: The Nanticoke industrial complex, Ontario, Canada

This assessment of the environmental protection regulatory system for the $2.2 billion iron and steel plant, oil refinery, and thermal generating station composing the core of the greenfield Nanticoke industrial complex is based upon: the use of governmental and industrial research in project management; technology and institutional arrangements for environmental protection; evidence of environmental changes to date; analysis of government and industrial approval files; and interviews with government, industry, and interest group representatives. Planning, regulation, and management have been reasonably efficient and effective to the beginning of the operational stage for all three major industries as of spring 1980. Of major future concern, however, is management of the cumulative and synergistic impacts of the industries and associated development on air quality as well as the lands, waters, and sensitive ecosystems of the nearby Lake Erie coast. Continuous monitoring, more comprehensive research, and better overall coordination of government, industrial, and public interests are required if Nanticoke benefits are to be achieved without undue cost to pre-project resource users within and outside the Haldimand-Norfolk region.