Midterm

Question 1

policy

Answer 1

prudence or wisdom in the management of affairs; management or procedure based primarily on material interest; a definite course or method of action selected from among alternatives and in light of given conditions to guide and determine present and future decisions; a high-level overall plan embracing the general goals and acceptable procedures especially of a governmental body

Question 2

public policy

Answer 2

a course of government action or inaction in response to social problems; is expressed in goals articulated by political leaders in formal statutes, rules, and regulations and in the practices of administrative agencies and courts

Question 3

wicked problems

Answer 3

a social or cultural problem that is difficult or impossible to solve for as many as four reasons: 1) incomplete or contradictory knowledge 2) the number of people or opinions involved 3) the large economic burden 4) the interconnected nature of these problems with other problems

Question 4

environmental policy of a state

Answer 4

consist of a government’s course of action (or inaction) regarding regulating the manner in which we interact with the environment

Question 5

federalism

Answer 5

a system of government in which powers are divided and shared by a central government and its sub-divisional governments

Question 6

policy as problem solving

Answer 6

policy is a tool for decision making and problem solving that makes use of information from science and values from ethics and economics

Question 7

public policy tools

Answer 7

laws, rules, regulations, compliance; specify the end result, specify what each source is to do, specify the end result for each source but allow facilities to trade, charge a fee for pollutant emissions, hold sources liable, or some combination of those choices

Question 8

command and control regulations

Answer 8

impose mandatory requirements and standards upon parties in their activities relating to the environment

Question 9

incentive regulations

Answer 9

market-oriented and seek to provide incentives to encourage certain behavior through making the conduct costly (cap and trade)

Question 10

policy approaches

Answer 10

prescriptive regulation, property rights, penalties, payments, persuasion

Question 11

prescriptive regulations

Answer 11

mandate what parties can and cannot do

Question 12

property rights

Answer 12

privatize the resource to solve tragedy of the commons

Question 13

permits

Answer 13

combination of prescriptive regulations and property rights through the use of tradable permits in the environmental markets

Question 14

penalties

Answer 14

make an activity more expensive through charges, taxes, or liability (ex: carbon taxes)

Question 15

payments

Answer 15

use of subsidies by the government to encourage beneficial activities

Question 16

persuasion

Answer 16

laws requiring information production and dissemination

Question 17

presidential powers

Answer 17

commander in chief, make treaties, nominations, executive orders, pardons, convene Congress, veto, SOTU, execute and enforce the laws

Question 18

presidential influence on environmental policy

Answer 18

agenda, appointments, budgets, legislative initiatives/vetoes, executive orders, international environmental agreements

Question 19

presidential actions

Answer 19

executive order, memorandum, proclamation, recess appointment, signing statement, veto

Question 20

executive orders

Answer 20

directs government officials and agencies to change a policy or carry out a specific task and has the force of law, but can be negated by Congress

Question 21

proclamation

Answer 21

the president’s official announcement that the president is taking a particular action

Question 22

executive action

Answer 22

informal proposals or moves by the president

Question 23

presidential memoranda

Answer 23

no established process for issuance or publication; less prestigious than executive orders; three types: presidential determination or finding, memorandum of disapproval, and hortatory memorandum

Question 24

signing statement

Answer 24

written comment by the president at the time of signing legislation

Question 25

Council on Environmental Quality

Answer 25

within the executive office of the president in NEPA; coordinates federal environmental efforts and works closely with agencies and other White House offices in the development of environmental policies and initiatives

Question 26

National Environmental Policy Act

Answer 26

a procedural law that requires all executive branch departments and agencies to conduct a thorough analysis of environmental impacts early in the planning process

Question 27

William D. Ruckelshaus

Answer 27

the first EPA administrator

Question 28

Environmental Protection Agency

Answer 28

to set and enforce standards for air and water quality and for individual pollutants

Question 29

rider

Answer 29

an additional provision added to a bill or other measure under consideration by a legislature, having little connections with the subject matter of the bill

Question 30

Congressional Record

Answer 30

official record of the proceedings and debates of the Congress

Question 31

Congressional Committees

Answer 31

Senate Environment and Public Works, Senate Energy and Natural Resources, House Natural Resources, House Energy and Commerce

Question 32

types of legislation

Answer 32

bills, joint resolutions, concurrent resolutions, and simple resolutions

Question 33

iron triangle

Answer 33

Congress -> Bureaucracy -> Interest Group -> Congress