Page 188 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

industry officials, yet only once with environmental advo- are making proper use of the tremendous scientific assets we
cates, and never publicly revealed its proceedings. Many have at our disposal.
policies friendly to fossil fuel industries followed, including
language inserted into the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that
exempted hydrofracking from the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Defenders of the revolving door assert that corporate exec- U.S. Environmental Law
utives who take government jobs regulating their own industry and Policy
bring with them an intimate knowledge of the industry that
makes them highly qualified and likely to benefit society with The United States provides a good focus for understanding
well-informed policy. Critics contend that taking a job regulat- environmental policy in constitutional democracies world-
ing your former employer is a clear conflict of interest that wide, for several reasons. First, the United States has pio-
undermines the effectiveness of the regulatory process. neered innovative environmental policy. Second, U.S. policies
have served as models—of both success and failure—for
Science informs policy but is sometimes many other nations and international government bodies.
Third, the United States exerts a great deal of influence on the
disregarded affairs of other nations. Finally, understanding U.S. environ-

mental policy at the federal level helps us to understand it at
Economic interests, ethical values, and political ideology all
influence the policy process, but environmental policy that local, state, and international levels.
is effective is generally informed by scientific research. For
instance, when deciding whether and how to regulate a sub- Federal policy arises from the three
stance that may pose a public health risk, regulatory agen- branches of government
cies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
comb the scientific literature for information and may com- Federal policy in the United States results from actions of the
mission new studies to research unresolved questions. When three branches of government—legislative, executive, and
trying to pass a bill to reduce pollution, a legislator may use judicial—established under the U.S. Constitution. Statutory
data from scientific studies to quantify the cost of the pol- law, or legislation, is created by Congress, which consists of
lution or the predicted benefits of its reduction. The more the Senate and the House of Representatives. For instance, to
information a policymaker can glean from science, the bet- deal with water pollution across the United States, Congress
ter policy he or she will be able to craft. In today’s world, passed the Federal Water Pollution Control Acts of 1965 and
a nation’s strength depends on its commitment to science. 1972, and then in 1977 passed the Clean Water Act. These
This is why governments devote a portion of our taxes to laws regulated the discharge of wastes, especially from indus-
fund scientific research. try, into rivers and streams, and thereby improved water qual-
Unfortunately, sometimes policymakers allow ideology ity markedly across the nation.
to determine policy on scientific matters. In 2004, the nonpar- Bills introduced by legislators may be shepherded from
tisan Union of Concerned Scientists released a statement that subcommittee through committee and on to passage by the
faulted the U.S. presidential administration of George W. Bush Congress (Figure 7.4). If a bill passes through all of these steps,
for ignoring scientific advice; manipulating scientific infor- it may become law with the president’s signature. Legislation is
mation for political ends; censoring, suppressing, and editing enacted (approved) or vetoed (rejected) by the president, whose
reports from government scientists; placing people who were veto may in turn be overridden by a two-thirds vote of Congress.
unqualified or had clear conflicts of interest in positions of A bill can die in countless fashions along the way, how- CHAPTER 7 • Envi R onm E n TA l Poli C y : mA king D EC i si ons A n D s olving P R obl E m s
power; and misleading the public by misrepresenting scien- ever, and only a small proportion of bills ever become law.
tific knowledge. More than 12,000 American scientists signed For instance, legislators from New York, Pennsylvania, and
on to this statement. Many government scientists working on Colorado in 2009 and each year since have introduced a bill
politically sensitive issues such as climate change or endan- to restore Safe Drinking Water Act regulations on hydrau-
gered species protection said they had found their work sup- lic fracturing and to require the gas industry to disclose the
pressed or discredited and their jobs threatened. Many chose chemicals it uses in hydrofracking (chemicals said by leading
self-censorship. scientists and the EPA to number over 1000). Amid opposi-
Of course, either political party can politicize science, and tion from the industry, this bill for the so-called FRAC Act
the Union of Concerned Scientists has faulted the administra- (Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness to Chemicals Act)
tion of Barack Obama and the administrations of other U.S. has so far been unable to secure enough votes to make it out
presidents when they have allowed politics to trump science. of committee.
Whenever taxpayer-funded science is suppressed or dis- Once a law is enacted, its implementation and enforcement
torted for political ends we all lose. Abuses of power generally is assigned to an administrative agency within the executive
come to light only when conscientious government scientists branch. Administrative agencies (TABle 7.1) may be established
risk their careers to alert the public and when journalists work by Congress or by presidential order, and they are sometimes
hard to uncover and publicize these issues. We cannot take nicknamed the “fourth branch” of government. They create a
for granted that science will play a role in policy. As scien- great deal of policy in the form of regulations, specific rules
tifically literate citizens of a democracy, we all need to stay or requirements intended to help achieve the objectives of the
vigilant and help ensure that our government representatives more broadly written statutory law. Besides issuing regulations, 187

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