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The Environmental Case
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The Environmental Case
Translating Values Into Policy

Sixth Edition


September 2023 | 560 pages | CQ Press
Answers to environmental issues are not black and white. Debates around policy are often among those with fundamentally different values, and the way that problems and solutions are defined plays a central role in shaping how those values are translated into policy. The Environmental Case captures the real-world complexity of creating environmental policy, and this much-anticipated Sixth Edition contains 14 carefully constructed cases, including a new study of the Salton Sea crisis. Through her analysis, Sara Rinfret continues the work of Judith Layzer and explores the background, players, contributing factors, and outcomes of each case, and gives readers insight into some of the most interesting and controversial issues in U.S. environmental policymaking. 
 
Chapter 1 • A Policymaking Framework: Defining Problems and Portraying Solutions in U.S. Environmental Politics
Two Critical Features of U.S. Environmental Policymaking

 
Major Actors in Environmental Policymaking

 
The Environmental Policymaking Process

 
Case Selection

 
Getting the Most Out of the Cases

 
 
Part I • Regulating Polluters
 
Chapter 2 • The Nation Tackles Air and Water Pollution: The Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts
Background

 
The Case

 
Outcomes

 
Conclusion

 
Challenge Questions

 
 
Chapter 3 • Love Canal: Hazardous Waste and the Politics of Fear
Background

 
The Case

 
Outcomes

 
Conclusions

 
Challenge Questions

 
 
Chapter 4 • Ecosystem-Based Management in the Chesapeake Bay
Background

 
The Case

 
Outcomes

 
Conclusions

 
Challenge Questions

 
 
Chapter 5 • Market-Based Solutions: A Forgotten Success Story
Background

 
The Case

 
Outcomes

 
Conclusions

 
Challenge Questions

 
 
Part II • History, Changing Values, and Natural Resource Management
 
Chapter 6 • Oil Versus Wilderness in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Background

 
The Case

 
Obama Legacy

 
Outcomes

 
Conclusions

 
Challenge Questions

 
 
Chapter 7 • Federal Grazing Policy: Some Things Never Change
Background

 
The Case

 
Conclusions

 
Challenge Questions

 
 
Chapter 8 • Jobs Versus the Environment: Saving the Northern Spotted Owl
Background

 
The Case

 
Outcomes

 
Conclusions

 
Challenge Questions

 
 
Chapter 9 • Playground or Paradise? Snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park
Background

 
The Case

 
Outcomes

 
Conclusions

 
Challenge Questions

 
 
Chapter 10 • Lessons from the Fish: Crisis and Recovery in New England
Background

 
The Case

 
Outcomes

 
Conclusions

 
Challenge Questions

 
 
Part III • New Issues, New Politics
 
Chapter 11 • Climate Change: The Crisis of our Time
Background

 
The Case

 
Outcomes

 
Conclusions

 
Challenge Questions

 
 
Chapter 12 • Cape Wind: If Not Here, Where? If Not Now, When?
Background

 
The Case

 
Outcomes

 
Conclusions

 
Challenge Questions

 
 
Chapter 13 • Fracking Wars: Local and State Responses to Unconventional Shale Gas Development
Background

 
The Case

 
Outcomes

 
Conclusions

 
Challenge Questions

 
 
Chapter 14 • Making Trade-Offs: Urban Sprawl and the Evolving System of Growth Management in Portland, Oregon
Background

 
The Case

 
Outcomes

 
Conclusions

 
Challenge Questions

 
 
Chapter 15 • The Salton Sea: A Desert Mirage
Background

 
The Case

 
Outcomes

 
Conclusions

 
Challenge Questions

 
 
Chapter 16 • Conclusions: Politics, Values, and Environmental Policy Change
The Strength of the Status Quo

 
Legislative Policy Change

 
Administrative Policy Change

 
Acknowledging the Role of Values

 

For instructors

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