Decision Making for the Environment Social and Behavioral Science Research Priorities (2005) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix E Program Evaluation of Environmental Policies: Toward Evidence-Based Decision Making--Cary Coglianese and Lori D. Snyder Bennear
Appendix E Program Evaluation of Environmental Policies: Toward Evidence-Based Decision Making--Cary Coglianese and Lori D. Snyder Bennear
Pages 246-273
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Appendix E Program Evaluation of Environmental Policies: Toward Evidence-Based Decision Making Cary Coglianese and Lori D Snyder Bennear Do environmental policies work?
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APPENDIX E 247 made at the state and federal level, as well as relative to the amount of evaluation research found in other fields, such as medicine, education, or transportation safety. A renewed and greatly expanded commitment to program evaluation of environmental policy would help move environmental decision making closer to an evidence-based practice.
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248 DECISION MAKING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT tal policy are probably closer to becoming routine practices today than they have ever been before. THE ROLE OF PROGRAM EVALUATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY Since the overarching purpose behind environmental policies is to improve environmental conditions, and often thereby to improve human health, program evaluation can identify whether specific policies are serving their purposes and are having other kinds of effects, such as reducing environmental inequities, imposing economic costs, or promoting or inhibiting technological change.
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APPENDIX E 249 Implementation of Policy FIGURE E-1 A simple model of the environmental policy process. Regulatory policies are adopted, and then implemented and enforced, in order to change the behavior of a class of businesses or individuals.
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250 DECISION MAKING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT try to identify regulatory options that will be the most efficient (Viscusi, 1996; Hahn, 1998)
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APPENDIX E 251 ning laws were associated with a roughly 30 percent decline in releases of toxic chemicals. Other regulatory policies have been evaluated retrospectively, including hazardous waste cleanup laws (Hamilton and Viscusi, 1999; Revesz and Stewart, 1995)
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252 DECISION MAKING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT Implementation of Policy FIGURE E-2 Program evaluation in the policy process. spective analyses -- such as benefit-cost analysis -- can be grounded in experience as well as theory and forecasting.
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APPENDIX E 253 ernmental initiatives that are designed to effect the environment, such as trade association self-regulatory efforts like the chemical industry's Responsible Care program or the wood and paper industry's Sustainable Forestry Initiative. For each treatment to be evaluated, the researcher must obtain reliable measures of outcomes.
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In observational studies where strict random assignment does not hold, there may be random assignment conditional on other observable variables. For example, imagine that one state's legislature passes a new regulation on hazardous waste while another state's does not.
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In our hypothetical two-state example, a researcher could estimate the causal effect of the treatment by controlling for confounders such as the size or age of the facilities in both states. The researcher would essentially be comparing the environmental performance of facilities in the two states that have the same size, age, and other characteristics related to the generation of hazardous wastes.
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256 DECISION MAKING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT would then calculate the difference in pollution levels for the Massachusetts facility and its matching facility in Connecticut. The average of these differences for all Massachusetts plants is the average effect of the regulation on pollution.
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APPENDIX E 257 two facilities do not have identical indicators of environmental performance before the program is created. In fact, let us suppose that the facilities that participate in the program have, on average, lower pollution levels even before participation.
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Thus, researchers have toxics release data available from the TRI, but only on facilities that are subject to the TRI regulations and only for the years during which these regulations have been in effect. Similarly, data are reported by regulated facilities on their air emissions, water discharges, and hazardous waste generation, but these data exist only for the facilities that are regulated under the relevant statutes and for the years in which the regulations have been in effect.
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APPENDIX E 259 close connection between data and regulation necessarily limits researchers' ability to evaluate the effects of these regulations as a treatment, since the mandated data are not available for unregulated facilities (the control group)
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260 DECISION MAKING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT tions of government programs certainly have spilled over into the field of environmental policy from time to time. Yet, compared with other types of government programs, environmental policy has generated only a paucity of systematic program evaluation research.
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Finally, increasing availability and quality of environmental performance data will make it easier for researchers to conduct systematic evaluations of environmental policies. Although the EPA has collected data on air emissions, water discharges, hazardous waste generation, and toxics releases for several decades, in the past these data were collected and maintained separately by the respective program offices within the agency.
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262 DECISION MAKING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT vided information about the facility, including production capacity and demographic characteristics of the surrounding area. Although there is much more work to be done to develop and categorize meaningful metrics (Metzenbaum, 2003)
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APPENDIX E 263 example, the EPA has recently released a strategy document on environmental management systems that gives priority to the need for careful program evaluation of initiatives in this area (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2004)
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264 DECISION MAKING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT study designs. Angrist and Krueger (1999)
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2001 Assessing the advocacy of negotiated rulemaking. New York University Environ mental Law Journal 9:386-447.
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Viscusi 1999 Calculating Risks? : The Spatial and Political Dimensions of Hazardous Waste Policy.
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Commission on Behav ioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
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Ward 2003 Enforcement and Environmental Compliance: A Statistical Analysis of the Pulp and Paper Industry. Medford, MA: Tufts University.
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APPENDIX E 269 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Air and Radiation 1997 Final Report to Congress on Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act, 1970 to 1990.
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270 that Covered facilities thresholds. sites sites Facilities of certain Types Manufacturing meet Superfund Superfund of the of including on List, on water, transferred on files includes are chemicals air, activities data and sites, information, data Priority descriptions sites.
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271 waste systems Continued and water hazardous Elimination holders. holders Permit of hazardous storage and facilities permit and drinking permit National air Generators waste treatment disposal All Discharge System Public All and large for and the System.
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272 AIRS, AIRS, Data PCS, PCS, Covered databases. databases.
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273 and and Canadian Canadian approved eight and private proprietary subscription and private proprietary subscription of by are by are by centers.
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