John Hoornbeek

Policy-making institutions and water policy outputs in the European Union and the United States: a comparative analysis

In multi-level political systems such as the European Union (EU) and the United States (US), central governing institutions balance the influence of territorially and functionally based interests in the policy-making process. This article argues that EU institutional structures provide relatively strong opportunities for policy influence by territorially based interests, while policy-making institutions in the US tend to allow for the exercise of greater levels of influence by functionally based interests. It further argues that these institutional differences have implications for water policy outputs in the two political jurisdictions. Specifically, it suggests that the EU’s territorially oriented institutional structures enable a relatively high level of horizontal integration across policy sectors during the formulation stage of the policy process. In the US, by contrast, relatively high levels of institutional receptiveness to functionally oriented interests contribute to more vertically integrated structures for drinking water and surface water policy implementation.

Implementing Water Pollution Policy in the United States: Total Maximum Daily Loads and Collaborative Watershed Management

This article builds on a growing literature about collaborative environmental policymaking and assesses its use in relation to a major element of American water pollution policy—the total maximum daily load (TMDL) program. It extends current literature by tying collaborative policymaking to a key element of the federal Clean Water Act and by compiling information on the implementation of actions recommended in TMDL reports. We find that recommendations contained in TMDL reports are being implemented in many—but not all—of the TMDL-limited watersheds in Ohio and West Virginia. In addition, we find that the presence of a collaborative watershed group is positively associated with perceived progress in TMDL implementation. However, we also find that current efforts are far from sufficient, and we suggest that future efforts to understand collaborative watershed management should take account of TMDL processes and the federal policy structures in which they are embedded.

Information and Environmental Policy: A Tale of Two Agencies

In recent years, scholars and practitioners have focused increasing attention on the role of information in achieving environmental policy goals. This article develops a framework for understanding how information is used in making environmental policy, and compares the kinds of information development and communication efforts undertaken by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the European Environment Agency (EEA). The analysis suggests that institutional factors such as organizational structure and the mix of policy instruments used by the agency affect the kinds of information efforts undertaken. It also suggests possible areas of focus for environmental information efforts within the EPA and the EEA. These suggestions and the framework provided may also be of use to other environmental agencies.

Understanding policy problems: a refinement of past work

Abstract To better connect the concept of policy problems to policy solutions, this article builds on Guy Peters’ framework for identifying and applying ‘attributes’ of policy problems. It does so by applying the seven attributes of policy problems identified in Peters’ past work to a range of policy problems in the United States. The problems investigated include access to healthcare, the organization of public health services, and water pollution. By applying Peters’ attributes to these policy problems, we assess the range of the framework’s application to different types of policy problems. We also identify insights that can be used to enable improvements to the framework over time, which may enhance our ability to characterize policy problems in ways that guide policy design.

The Impacts of Local Health Department Consolidation on Public Health Expenditures: Evidence From Ohio

We examined the effects of local health department (LHD) consolidations on the total and administrative expenditures of LHDs in Ohio from 2001 to 2011. We obtained data from annual records maintained by the state of Ohio and through interviews conducted with senior local health officials and identified 20 consolidations of LHDs occurring in Ohio in this time period. We found that consolidating LHDs experienced a reduction in total expenditures of approximately 16% (P = .017), although we found no statistically significant change in administrative expenses. County health officials who were interviewed concurred that their consolidations yielded financial benefits, and they also asserted that their consolidations yielded public health service improvements.

FOSTERING LOCAL GOVERNMENT COLLABORATION: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF CASE STUDIES IN OHIO

ABSTRACT: While the literature on collaborative governance is voluminous and growing, empirical studies that test differing explanations for the success of local government to local government collaborations across policy sectors are not common. This kind of study is important, however, because local government-to-local government collaborations may very well have distinctive dynamics, and they are likely to expand in the future as local officials work to develop broad collaborative strategies that extend across policy areas. In this article, we investigate the development and extent of goal achievement in eight cases of this type of collaboration in northeast Ohio. Our investigations illustrate the dynamics of progress for interlocal collaborations, while yielding evidence of goal achievements within four years in six of our eight cases. We also evaluate theoretically derived variables using a Boolean algebraic comparative case study approach, and find that external incentives provided by grants and mandates are consistently associated with at least some level of goal attainment. We also find that the combination of external incentives and past interactions leading to trust consistently predicts success among the cases in our sample. While our findings are preliminary and limited to northeast Ohio, they suggest that promising inter-governmental collaborations can yield benefits within reasonable periods of time.

Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) in the United States

Integrated water resource management (IWRM) has become a focal point of discussion about water management. While there are differences in viewpoint regarding IWRM’s use and effectiveness, two key elements that are discussed in relation to the concept of IWRM are 1) developing more holistic perspectives, and 2) engaging stakeholders in water management processes. We investigate the relationship between these two key elements of IWRM and water management practices associated with Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLS) in the United States (US). Drawing data from all 63 TMDL reports approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) between 1998 and 2006 for the states of Ohio and West Virginia, we assess whether these key elements of IWRM are incorporated into TMDL practices. We also conduct preliminary tests to assess the relationship between these key elements of IWRM and watershed restoration progress as perceived by state environmental officials. The data we collect suggest that Ohio and West Virginia are creating holistic information on watershed management as they develop TMDL reports and that they are engaging stakeholders in TMDL processes in a number of cases. We also find positive associations between the incorporation of key elements of IWRM and perceived progress in watershed restoration. The data we present also suggest that steps are being taken to implement TMDLs in Ohio and West Virginia, but they indicate that the progress being achieved is modest compared to the ambitious goals of the American Clean Water Act. Our data and analyses are limited in several key respects. However, they do suggest that broad-based watershed planning and stakeholder engagement— practices consistent with IWRM—may contribute positively to TMDL implementation and watershed restoration progress. They also suggest that TMDL processes could play a positive role in supporting more aggressive IWRM efforts in the future. Keywords: water pollution, water policy, Clean Water Act (CWA), Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs), Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), holistic water management, stakeholder engagement, collaborative watershed management.