ENVIRONMENTAL DISPUTES.   Term Paper ID:18279 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines political process of dealing with environmental problems. Roles & relationships of govt., industry, interest groups. Case studies.... More...

12 Pages / 2700 Words 25 sources, 27 Citations, APA Format $48.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Examines political process of dealing with environmental problems. Roles & relationships of govt., industry, interest groups. Case studies. Paper Introduction: The purpose of this research is to set forth a review of literature on politics within the environmental dispute-resolution process. The plan of the research will be to explore such processes between institutions such as government, industry, and environmental interest groups, and to show how such processes evolve within specific dispute situations. One aspect of environmental disputes on which most commentators agree is that the issues surrounding them are highly complex. Citing the limited information and limited understanding under which consumer, government, and industry interest groups act and react to environmental issues, Stuller explores the myriad difficulties of recycling plastic packaging and wastes versus allowing them to degrade, noting that even environmentalists do not uniformly agree on the "best" way to Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. 1 -11. Recreation planning for a small urban lake:conflict resolution of institutional and site constraints on Dow's Lake,Ottawa. In this regard,Weisskopf notes that the socioeconomic standing of members of mainstreamenvironmental groups in the modern period (white, urban, middle-class) isroughly equivalent to regulatory and corporate entities with which suchgroups come in contact and/or conflict. Russell, C. The need for practical alliances between traditional enemies-specifically environmentalists and industrialists--has been suggested byvarious commentators. 9). The dirty politics of the environment. Both superpower interests that have labs on the continent andThird World countries that may benefit from development of the region havebeen heard on the issue. More generally, Weisskopf (199 ) charts the gradualevolution of environmental interest groups, from the social activism andconfrontational politics of the 196 s, fed by such watersheds as theCuyahoga River's catching fire in Cleveland in 1962 and Rachel Carson'spublication of Silent Spring, to the more mainstream, litigious, andmediational activities of such organizations as the National ResourcesDefense Council, the Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation,Wilderness Society, and National Audubon Society. The plan of the research will be to explore such processes betweeninstitutions such as government, industry, and environmental interestgroups, and to show how such processes evolve within specific disputesituations. 41) willingness to cooperate with regard to the resourcedevelopment, investigation, and collaboration that may occur in remoteAntarctica. Doyle and Straus (1976)argue that group (win/win) decisions are fundamental to successful problemresolution, particularly superior to voting (win/lose) decisions becausethey reflect consensus rather than compromise. (199 ).Press kit, n.p. Environmental groups sail themainstream. Cahn, R., & Cahn, P. Writing in 1986,the International Institute for Environment and Development laments thegrave lack of international consensus on the human impact on theenvironment. Settling things: Six case studies inenvironmental mediation. developed todeveloping nation) assistance programs that tie environmental conditions tothe provision of foreign aid. Inother words, the decision-making authority was essentially kicked upstairs,with an oversight government body taking the responsibility for thedecision. Weisskopf, M. Dushoff, J. politics?Multinational Monitor, 41-44. Nevada pulls the short straw.Washington Post National Weekly Edition, pp. (199 ). Critics point less to Bush's hostility toward theenvironment than to what they see as his "benign neglect" (p. A green future for U.S. Column. This is not to say that there are not tremendous difficultiesassociated with conducting environmental negotiations in the public eye.In this regard, Gray (1989) cites several disadvantages to the"pluralistic" solutions to environmental disputes. Typically, problem-solving monographsemphasize the benefits of group decision-making processes. Fisher, R., & Brown, S. asSecretary of the Interior, says Peterson (1989), illustrates this: "Afterfour months in office, Lujan has forged the unenviable position of weakestlink in the Bush Cabinet, under fire from both friend and foe to set clearpolicy directions at a department that came to symbolize the ideologicalexcesses of the Reagan administration" (p. Doyle, M., & Straus, D. Further to this point,Weisskopf (1988) cites the perception among environmentalists that Bush'sdeclaration that he was an environmentalist during the election of 1988 ascynical, inasmuch as Bush's tenure as Vice President and chair of the TaskForce on Regulatory Relief was characterized by environmentalists as "afrontal attack on 2 years of institutions built up to protect ourenvironment" (p. 42). Peterson (1988)cites efforts of the Department of Energy (DOE) to persuade Nevada to hosta nuclear waste site near Las Vegas; state and some citizen oppositionensued. Key to negotiated mediated resolution in all contingent casesis the cooperation of public agencies to enforce the results ofnegotiations. Environmentalism and the future of progressivepolitics. As he puts it, "The dilution of clean-air enforcement has becomeits own form of pork barrel for politicians on Capitol Hill" (p. This has historically led less to consensus than confrontationor competition. 43). If there is an advocacy point of view taken, itis that the lines of communication and dialogue need to remain open. In numerous developing countries,effective 'react and cure' remains a distant goal" (p. (1989, April 17-23). It isworth noting that certain commentators have suggested that mediation as aform of resolution has the effect of allowing governments and corporateinterests that wish to exploit or develop natural resources to co-opt thegoals of environmentalists (Talbot, 1983), and public officials who wish toavoid being seen as taking an authoritarian or antagonistic stand towardthe aims of the environmental community have been constrained to submitdisputes to third-party mediation (Lake, 1977). There is a kind ofinternecine rivalry between interests that wish to be considered pro-environment. (1988, February 29). (199 , March 19-25). Peterson, C. A watershed decision forCalifornia. The lack of commitment to a strong environmental policy at thegovernmental level has been cited as a persistent roadblock to reachingconsensus on the conflicts between economy and environment. As the report notes, "most developing countries are byand large still in the 'react and cure' phase, while the developed nationsare beginning to address a new agenda of 'anticipate and prevent,' thoughthe earlier agenda is far from complete. (1989). (1989). The politics of packaging. Environmental impact.Washington Post National Weekly Edition, pp. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. New York: Plenum. Meanwhile, however, Interior unilaterally renewed the irrigationcontract, pending the final outcome of the decision; this was seen as apatent defeat for conservationists. Pyar, A.M. 6). (1988, October 17-23). The latter arena, in which environmentalpolicy can be tied to economic development, is where the Institute sees themost potential for positive influence on resolving the conflict betweeneconomy and environment. Conference BoardMagazine, 27, 1-2, 41-48. Where environmentally complex issues tread, economic issues are notfar behind. Jackson (1985) chroniclesa case study of planned use of a Canadian recreational lake in which amatrix dispute-resolution technique known as PATTERN was used. 11). Environmental Management, 13(5), 553-63. The environmental lobbybrought suit to limit what had been headlong development of a dam, andregional rather than national interests in resource utilization werebrought into play for the first time. New Haven: Yale U P. A review of the organization's membership materials(which includes a bibliography of a number of conflict-resolutionmonographs and journal articles) reveals its bias in favor of mediation,and it provides what it terms impartial mediators who are trained to helpconflicted parties in environmental disputes solve their difficulties. While they admit there may bevalue in private sessions aimed at compromise, they also criticize thehistory of manipulation of the back-room regulatory process and favornegotiations and administrative measures that are conducted in the "publiceye" (p. The confrontational politics of competing, territorial interestgroups was a concern of environmental commentators writing in the mid-198 s, and the results of such confrontations have borne fruit. As American as alar pie.Washington Post National Weekly Edition, pp. NewYork: Berkley. (1988). In the event, the state went tocourt to prevent location of the dump in Nevada, but the point is that theincident shows that one technique for resolving environmental conflict isto buy one's way out of it. Getting together: buildingrelationships as we negotiate. (199 , April 3 -May 6). (1984). 11). Collaboration emerges as a useful technique for solving environmentaldisputes for the reason that one of its tenets is built on acknowledgingthe standing of competing interest groups. Yet there are rays of hope. The environment is an increasingly global issue. George, the environmentalist? A host of methods of dispute resolution where the environment isconcerned has been promulgated by such organizations as PennAccord, anonprofit group specifically organized for the purpose of environmentaldispute resolution. Collaborating: finding common ground formultiparty problems. 27). Thepolitics of consensus involved in Bush's case, on this view, would pointtoward a healing of the vigorously contentious wounds inflicted on theenvironment during the Reagan years. Environment,22(1), 12-41. Yet they alsocite the preponderance of rhetoric over funding that the Bushadministration has committed to the solution of such problems, as well asthe administration's failure to seize the initiative in domestic and globalenvironmental problems. Decision making for multiple utilization ofwater resources in New Zealand. The politics of Antarctica. Jackson, R. 18 ). Stuller, J. This technique acknowledges thepsychosocial dynamics of individual/group players on the environmentalscene, and Gray cites the resolution of the National Coal Policy Project asan instance in which competing groups managed, if not to absolutely resolvedifferent opinions on the nature and usage of coal fossil fuel in theeconomy, to acknowledge that opponents (e.g., environmentalists and coalindustrialists) could find some common ground on which to initiatediscussions and policy recommendations. (1989). 6-7. With this distribution, however, comes the responsibility to grapple with risks and make hard choices about the allocation of limited resources. 1 -11. 9-1 . Peterson, C. (1984). New York: Penguin. It is not uncommon for newspaper accounts to emphasize practices inenvironmental politics that can be best described as quid pro quo, to theextent that competing but powerful entities in an environmental conflictsituation may trade one concession to obtain another. E: The Environmental Magazine, 1(1), 26-29. Washington, DC: The Conservation Foundation. In a review of Paehlke's book, Dushoff (199 ) praises Paehlke's ideasabout ways to reform and alter production and recycling processes, butcounters that large-scale future environmental efforts will meet with greatresistance from the mercantilist, conservative, political right wing: "Anyenvironmentalism that truly deals with the problems facing the earth todayis going to threaten the right, even if the right is defined solely asthose with the money" (p. Enslow, B. Wood, W.B., Demko, G.J., & Mofson, P. The purpose of this research is to set forth a review ofliterature on politics within the environmental dispute-resolution process. Specific techniques for resolving environmental disputes aresuggested by various authorities. Town Planning Review, 56(1), 9 -112. 11. How to make meetings work. Ecopolitics in theglobal greenhouse. WashingtonPost National Weekly Edition, pp. Gray, B. World Resources 1986, 183-2 1. Petulla, J.M. (1984). PennAccord specificallyrejects pejorative connotations to mediation in its statement ofprinciples, in particular distinguishing it from arbitration, whichtypically has enforcement standing. (199 ). Peterson, C. In thisconnection, Mitchell (198 ) suggests that to the degree the internationalcommunity has acknowledged the record of environmental confrontation anddespoliation in the bulk of the developed world, there has been an "almostunprecedented" (p. Bacow and Wheeler (1984) note that negotiations that involvegovernmental regulators, industries, and third parties or stakeholders whoare likely to be affected by regulation of industries is likely to produceoptimum consensus on environmental issues. Enslow (199 ) notes the creation of cooperative committeescomprising environmentalists and industrialists in such areas as recyclableversus degradable plastics; she also notes the potential for confrontationbetween the vested interests of plastics manufacturers (e.g., oilcompanies) and agribusiness manufacturers of degrading agents (e.g., corn-starch producers), as well as the states in which such competing industriesoperate. (1989). Degradable liaisons. A coalition ofsuch groups banded together to reach major media sources and to expose thewidespread use of the pesticide and to enforce resolution of the problem.One result of that controversy was to encourage government officials toenforce food-quality standards: "The three federal agencies that overseethe use of pesticides--the EPA, FDA and Department of Agriculture (USDA)--have stepped up efforts to work together more effectively, particularly ininforming the public about food safety" (p. PATTERN"charts the biases of the relevant government agencies and providescomparative views of their positions with regard to the three marinaalternatives (boating, tourism, fishing). Citing the limitedinformation and limited understanding under which consumer, government, andindustry interest groups act and react to environmental issues, Stullerexplores the myriad difficulties of recycling plastic packaging and wastesversus allowing them to degrade, noting that even environmentalists do notuniformly agree on the "best" way to recycle plastics. Getting together: building arelationship that gets to yes. (198 ). Paehlke (1989) argues that utopian, back-to-natureenvironmentalists of the 196 s have begun to realize that more involvementwith mainstream environmental concerns may reap greater benefits, and thatlarge-scale recycling and energy-conservation efforts can benefit, not harmthe economy because they will create and not destroy jobs. Whereasprior to the Clutha project the government had proceeded on environmentaluse projects without much public commentary, the debate over Clutha wassymptomatic of the widening scope of debate. The linchpinof collaboration is not that one interest group will disguise its self-interest as the interest of the common good or that one interest group, bydint of its exercise of power will achieve all of its goals, but thatcompeting interest groups will acknowledge their individual agendas andsort, together, through those agendas in order to arrive at a common notionof what constitutes the best public interest on one hand, and quite simplyshare power on the other. Environment, 26(6), 4-5. Pyar (1989) charts a similarcase for the damming of the Clutha River in New Zealand in 1984. Meanwhile, the Bush administration'spractical approach to the environment has been cited as a roadblock to-solving ecological problems. (1988). Paehlke, R. 1 -11. Accordingly, they set forthmeeting interaction methods aimed at facilitating consensus amongopponents. Despitethe fact that the farmers involved in the particular dispute had littleactual dependence on the water involved, the scarcity of water inCalifornia as a whole caused the farmers to maintain their insistence onrenewing the irrigation rights. Weisskopf, M. Fisher and Brown (1988; 1989)emphasize group and issue orientation rather than frankly antagonisticconfrontations typified by mutual characterizations of opposing factions.They believe that disagreement and dissent can be productive and explaintechniques for persuading rather than coercing. Theparadoxical good news is that enormous business opportunities exist inplastics recycling because there is a seemingly permanent supply of plasticwaste available in the world. What developed countries may see as prudent exploitation ofnatural resources, developing countries may see as superpower efforts tokeep them in a state of oppression. Fisher, R., & Brown, S. Gray's answer to these problems of pitting power against power iscollaboration, which is the name she gives to a whole range of problem-solving strategies that give groups with a stake in the outcome of aproblem an opportunity to actively work together to solve it. Opinion on the question of whether priority should be givento environmental concerns even if this means restricting economic growthtends to divide along economic lines between industrialized and Third Worldcountries, although the report cites six international conferences duringthe 198 s that pointed toward the interdependence of environment, economy,and nationhoods. With a collaborative approach, the final agreement defining the common good is not the proclamation of a ruling elite or the result of political logrolling and majority rule, but rather a consensus agreement among those chiefly involved. 192). PennAccord Center for Environmental Dispute Resolution. 1 ). On the other hand, mediation has beencited as an important way of avoiding costly and protracted litigation(Busterud, 1981). Conference Board Magazine, 27, 1-2,44. Talbot, A.R. Mitchell, B. The appointment of Manuel Lujan, Jr. Meaningfulefforts to reach consensus have come about as a result of the UN'sdrastically under-funded but occasionally effective Environment Program,the World Bank's policy of tying international loans to environmentallysound projects, and the less efficient bilateral (i.e,. (1989). Talbot (1983) cites six environmental case studies thatwere resolved via mediation, which either circumvented or preventedlitigation. 118). Membership materials. One aspect of environmental disputes on which most commentators agreeis that the issues surrounding them are highly complex. The vigorous public relations efforts of certain environmentaladvocacy groups has also been cited, notably with regard to efforts to banthe use of the pesticide Alar on apples (Russell, 199 ). RollingStone, 177-18 . Further,Paehlke says that this can lead to political as well as environmentalconsensus, while also maintaining the high scale of living typical of theUS. (1985). (1983). Thegroup, which has no legal enforcement authority, cites its principal goalas consensus, and to the degree it asserts that all participants inmediation have a vested interest in workable solutions, its goals are notinconsistent with those outlined by Gray in regard to collaboration. References Bacow, L.S., & Wheeler, M. Meanwhile, states have rushed to regulate disposal of"environmentally friendly" packaging, although most state laws deal with"only a small portion of the problems surrounding the idea ofenvironmentally friendly products and packaging" (199 , p. Thus, collaboration urges a distribution of power among those whose interests are most keen. International Institute for Environment and Development. Environmental disputeresolution. Collaboration, Gray explains, creates a process by which the stakeholders themselves must wrestle with the question: How can I satisfy my interests in the context of what is in the collective good? Meanwhile, economics and the environment seem to be perennialcompetitors for social politics. The result was a commitment toreview of the entire process by which land- and water-use decisions weremade in the country. Another is that competition among a plurality ofinterest groups can itself lead to stalemate, although Gray says thatresolution to such stalemates could come from governmental authority.This, however, leads to a third difficulty with pluralism, which isassociated with whether governmental authority would be exercised on behalfof the public interest or on behalf of sectarian or industrial interests.In this connection, Peterson (1989) cites a dispute in California betweenwater conservationists and citrus farmers over the Department of theInterior's renewal of the granting of irrigation rights to the farmers inthe area. Washington Post National Weekly Edition, pp. Petulla(1984) cites the history of bureaucratic, cost-benefit analysis obstructionof environmental reforms at federal and local government levels, as well asthe increasing political sophistication and adversarial pressure-politicstechniques of environmentalists, predicting a tortuous road towardcooperation and rationality between economic and ecological interestgroups. Even when a collaborative agreement serves as input to a traditional legislative or administrative body (and thus becomes subject to pluralistic bargaining in that arena), opposition to the collaborative consensus should be minimal if a wide enough set of stakeholders participated in its development (p. Environment, 31(7), 12-39.----------------------- 16 No cheers for Lujan. Greider, W. Conservationists, citing the destruction of wetlands from thetime of the first grant of irrigation rights, argued that renewal of suchrights required an environmental impact assessment, and the EnvironmentalProtection Agency agreed, which pitted the EPA against Interior. Accordingly, "to sweeten a bitter pill, Congress made Nevadaeligible for up to $2 million a year in direct payments if the decision ismade to locate the dump here" (p. Wood, Demko, and Mofson (1989) note thedifficulties inherent in a global policy of ecological management, citingthe "ecopolitical" tensions likely to arise as the environmental conscienceof environmental activists in long-industrialized nations encounters thedesire of developing countries to exploit resources and their ownsovereignty. An assessment of the resource base thatsupports the global economy. Thepresident's report card. To put it another way, thepolitics of confrontation and media savvy among adversarial groups haveinfluenced the politics of collaboration,and confluence among regulatorybodies, which appears to have had the effect of inuring to the benefit ofthe public, or at least to public awareness of environmental problems. (199 , March). While notnecessarily directed to the environmental community, they are suited to thegroup orientation of environmental activism. (1986).Policies and Institutions. Washington Post National Weekly Edition, p. 361). The issue was referred to the Council onEnvironmental Quality, an administration-level authority: "The council hasno authority to order environmental assessments, but its opinionhistorically has carried considerable weight with lawmakers" (p. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. In thisregard, the Cahns (199 ) note the programmatically anti-environmentpolicies of the Reagan years as against the statements of George Bush thatacknowledge the enormity of global environmental problems. One is that pluralismimplies inequality, inasmuch as some groups have more resources and carrymore weight than others. This is emphasized by Greider (1988), whonotes that at the federal level, little consensus has been found betweenlegislators with a health-and-safety agenda and those with an agenda toprotect, say, auto-manufacturing or coal-producing economics in theirregions. (1989, May 22-28). If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

Many of our Papers can be Downloaded From This Site!

PLEASE READ THIS, IT IS IMPORTANT!

Office hours are Monday through Friday, from 9 am to 5 pm (PST). You may place orders for custom research over the phone during office hours. E-mail requests can be made to our graduate and undergraduate department any time, and will be reviewed during office hours. You may also contact customer service any time through e-mail, and we will review your message during business hours. A great many papers can be downloaded right from this site, but not all of them. If you would like to know if a particular paper is downloadable, just look in the description for: "Available for Internet Download: Y" or "Available for Internet Download: N" If you wish to purchase a paper which is NOT available for immediate download, you will need to make other shipping arrangements. Also, please be aware that these orders are processed Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm (PST). If you place your order after 4:45pm on Friday, it will not be processed until the following Monday morning. We charge $8 per page for all of our pre-written reports, plus shipping (and tax for California residents). However, the highest cost of any ONE report is $136, or 17 pages. Please, take a moment. Make sure you have chosen the report you want or need BEFORE you complete your order. If you are not sure, allow us to help you. We do not offer refunds or exchanges, so it is important for you to let us answer your questions during office hours. Reports which are e-mailed or downloaded are in Microsoft Word format. We are making more reports available for e-mail delivery faster than we can update our listings. Please call to check on the status of particular reports. There are many other shipping options which are listed on the Checkout page.