ES 232

 

 

Rebecca P. Judge, Ph.D.

Holland Hall 409

http://www.stolaf.edu/people/judge

 

Applying the Reading:  Essay Questions

 

INSTRUCTIONS:  Please answer one of the following three questions.  You will be evaluated on (1) how well your essay reflects an understanding of the article (as needed to address the question); and (2) how well you can apply the major points of the article to the policy question at hand.

 

1.  David Schoenbrod (“Putting the ‘Law’ Back into Environmental Law”) argues that “legislation...should be restricted to enacting rules of conduct rather than such abstract ideals as ‘protect health.’  In other words, legislatures should not delegate the power to make law to administrative agencies.”  

 

a.       Using the Clean Air Act as an example, describe how this particular legislation embodies an “abstract ideal.”  Describe further how, in the Clean Air Act, the Congress delegated “power to make law” to an administrative agency.  Evaluate the merits of Schoenbrod’s argument in light of your knowledge of the air pollution, its causes and its remedies.

 

b.      Based on the arguments made in his article, what other changes might Schoenbrod suggest to the Clean Air Act?

 

2. Northfield, MN, offers weekly pick-up of household garbage for a set fee per month.  Regardless of the amount of waste generated, if you can squeeze it into the large bin provided by the hauler, you pay the same monthly fee.  Middlebury, VT, offers weekly pick-up too, but there is no set fee.  Rather, each bag of garbage hauled in Middlebury needs to be marked with a special tag, purchased in advance from the trash hauler.  The more bags one puts out, the more tags one needs to buy.

 

a.       Use information and ideas from Robert Solow’s article, “An Economist’s Approach to Pollution and Its Control,” to critique the two systems.  Which one more closely reflects an application of Solow’s model for pollution control? Which one is likely to generate more waste reduction and why?

b.      Suggest a way policy makers might apply this model to create incentives for individuals to reduce their automobile exhaust.

 

3. Distinguish between a right and a privilege.  Give an example that illustrates this difference.  Which domain (that of rights or that of privilege) characterizes the present relationship between humankind and the environment?  For which domain does Laurence Tribe (“Ways Not to Think About Plastic Trees”) advocate?  Explain.

 

Policy Analysis: Short Answer

 

INSTRUCTIONS: Please answer three of the following five questions.  Your answers should be brief  (3 to 5 sentences), and focused.

 

4.      While the Clean Air Act has been effective in reducing our exposure to criteria pollutants, it has been largely ineffective in reducing our exposure to hazardous air pollutants (HAPs).  Describe and explain how the language of the law itself creates this problem.  What can be done about it?

 

5. How might scientific advances in epidemiology create court challenges for the NAAQS? That is, why might we expect to see increased court challenges to the National Ambient Air Quality standards as our science progresses to allow for measurement of a dose/response relationship at ever-more minute levels of exposure?

 

6. What is the constitutional basis for the fact that we have national standards for air quality, yet state standards for water quality?  Based on your answer, can you predict which party, the state or the federal government, sets clean-up standards for Superfund sites?

 

7. Compare the Clean Air Act’s NAAQS with the standards set by the Safe Drinking Water Act (Maximum Contaminant Levels or MCLs).  In what important ways are these standards similar?  In what critical ways do they differ?

 

8. How has the management objective of the national forests changed since they were first created in 1891?  Cite specific laws, with approximate dates, that reflect the change in emphasis.