Barry G. Rabe

Risks and Risk Governance in Unconventional Shale Gas Development

A broad assessment is provided of the current state of knowledge regarding the risks associated with shale gas development and their governance. For the principal domains of risk, we identify observed and potential hazards and promising mitigation options to address them, characterizing current knowledge and research needs. Important unresolved research questions are identified for each area of risk; however, certain domains exhibit especially acute deficits of knowledge and attention, including integrated studies of public health, ecosystems, air quality, socioeconomic impacts on communities, and climate change. For these, current research and analysis are insufficient to either confirm or preclude important impacts. The rapidly evolving landscape of shale gas governance in the U.S. is also assessed, noting challenges and opportunities associated with the current decentralized (state-focused) system of regulation. We briefly review emerging approaches to shale gas governance in other nations, and consider new governance initiatives and options in the U.S. involving voluntary industry certification, comprehensive development plans, financial instruments, and possible future federal roles. In order to encompass the multiple relevant disciplines, address the complexities of the evolving shale gas system and reduce the many key uncertainties needed for improved management, a coordinated multiagency federal research effort will need to be implemented.

Shale play politics: the intergovernmental Odyssey of American shale governance.

Intergovernmental responsibility for policy development for shale gas is concentrated primarily at the state level, given multiple statutory and political constraints on potential federal engagement. This opens the question of how a large subset of American states might craft shale policies, amid competing scholarly views on the commitment of states to environmental protection when energy development opportunities arise in the absence of applicable federal authority. The article examines recent trends in state political economy that may shape policy development and capacity, considers the heterogeneous pattern of policy emerging thus far, and draws preliminary lessons from the very small set of states that have enacted far-reaching new state legislation. It also offers early discussion of cross-border issues that may trigger multistate, regional, or ultimately federal engagement as well as growing signs of volatility in policy development in some states.

When Siting Works, Canada-Style

Hazardous waste management poses increasing problems for Canadian provinces and American states, given the vast quantities and types of wastes generated and the virtual inability to open new storage, treatment, or disposal facilities. The Canadian experience is very similar to the American one in many respects, except for the fact that three provinces (Alberta, Manitoba, and Quebec) have devised alternative approaches to siting that appear successful in moving beyond the political gridlock so common on this issue. In each of these cases, traditional, top-down approaches to siting have been eschewed in favor of a more comprehensive approach that includes extensive public participation, economic and social compensation packages, formal partnerships between public and private organizations, and direct links between siting proposals and other aspects of waste management, including waste reduction, recycling, and export/import control.

Weather or Not? Examining the Impact of Meteorological Conditions on Public Opinion regarding Global Warming

AbstractPublic opinion surveys in the United States have shown a substantial shift in American public views on global warming between 2008 and 2012. During the period between 2008 and 2010, surveys tracked a significant decline in the number of Americans that believed there was evidence that global warming was occurring. Then, during 2011 and 2012, surveys began to show a rebound in belief among Americans that global warming was indeed happening. This study serves to further establish the significant role that weather played in the short-term fluctuations in public opinion regarding global warming that has been observed since 2008. First, the study shows that individuals regularly refer to weather-related factors when explaining how they arrived at their conclusion that the planet is either warming or not warming and that these explanations correspond with broad weather patterns observed over the 2008–12 time frame. The study also finds that actual weather conditions, and specifically seasonal snowfall, s...

Legislative incapacity: The congressional role in environmental policy-making and the case of superfund

Congress plays a central role in national environmental policy formation but appears ill equipped to set policy priorities and devise integrative legislation. Fragmentation of authority among a multiplicity of committees and subcommittees, especially in the House, contributes to these problems. This pattern is evident in the evolution of Superfund, the national program to clean up abandoned hazardous waste sites. The prolonged process of reauthorization in the 1980s contributed to serious program delay and failed to resolve a number of fundamental questions concerning the national cleanup effort. Institutional reforms could contribute to a more effective congressional role in future environmental policy deliberations.

Political impediments to a tobacco endgame

Any serious consideration of exploring a tobacco endgame in the USA must build upon the enviable track record of reducing tobacco use through a mixture of federal and state policies. This foundation may pose particular challenges in approaching an endgame, including questions of national political feasibility, public support, limitations of sub-federal experimentation and recruitment of future political champions. Advocates must demonstrate a compelling need for a dramatic expansion beyond existing efforts, amid competition from alternative issues and little apparent public appetite for such an initiative.

The Refederalization of American Health Care

*Assistant Professor, Health Politics, Department of Public Health Policy and Administration, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. The endurance of a significant federal government role in health care into the late 1980s is remarkable, given the factors which seemed so likely to herald a new era of reduced central government involvement in health and countless other areas of domestic policy. Quite aside from the prospects for realignment and the overwhelming political success of a president with an abiding personal commitment to just such a &dquo;defederalization&dquo; strategy, spiraling health care costs and federal budget deficits seemed to augur not only a reduced role for the public sector in health care but, in particular, a reduced role for the central government. Health care was not a dominant issue in either the 1980 or 1984 election

The eclipse of health departments and local governments in american environmental regulation

Less than a quarter-century ago, state and local health departments and local governments were dominant governmental forces in American environmental policy. But that influence has steadily eroded, as national and state legislatures and comprehensive environmental agencies have assumed ever-increasing importance politically, institutionally, and fiscally. As a result, health departments and local governments have suffered from an increasingly cloudy mission in environmental policy despite their continuing involvement in many areas of environmental management. Given the increasingly apparent shortcomings of American environmental policy—including single-medium fragmentation, an emphasis on waste management rather than waste reduction, and rampant political adversarialism—it may be possible and desirable for health departments and local governments to assume specific new responsibilities in moving the nation toward a more mature and effective approach to environmental management.

State energy policy in the Trump Era: insights from public opinion

In light of President Trump’s decision to withdraw the USA from the Paris Accord and reverse a number of federal climate policies, many states and localities have pledged to increase their activities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This article discusses the policies that they are likely to consider, and uses national survey data to ascertain whether policymakers are likely to find support for each of these policy approaches among the general public.

INDIVIDUAL DISCOUNT RATES AND CLIMATE CHANGE: IS DISCOUNT RATE ASSOCIATED WITH SUPPORT FOR A CARBON TAX?

The issue of climate change is often framed as one in which contemporary actions, often with affixed costs, are necessary in order to prevent even greater costs being paid during a period in the future. Under such a framework it is thus necessary to calculate the rate in which future benefits are discounted to reflect current values. In this paper we examine how individual level discount rates affect their support for a policy tool that incurs contemporary costs in an effort to prevent future environmental damages. We find that individuals with higher discount rates are significantly less likely to support the imposition of a carbon tax in comparison with individuals that have lower discount rates. Even when controlling for other individual level attributes such as party affiliation a person’s rate for discounting the future is shown to be a strong predictor of their support for a carbon tax.