PS 3480, Environmental Politics, October 31, 2012

   


How Does the United States Govern its Air?

1. The Policy Inheritance

a. The Situation: Air quality in the cities

    Ambient Air quality

- Stationary and Mobile sources of air pollution

- Live! Smog in St. Louis via the St. Louis SmogCam


b. How a Local Situation becomes a Public Problem for Local and State Government

 
- Air quality in St. Louis, 1940

- State Policy Innovation: Post-World War II California
 

2. Federal Policy Development to 1977

 
- Federal Information Gathering: The Clean Air Act of 1955

- Interstate competition

- The carrot for the states: The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1963

- First steps towards Command & Control: The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1967
    - National standards for cars
    - More encouragement for the states to deal with stationary air pollution sources

- Mature Command & Control: The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970
    - The Politics of Strict Regulation: Party Competition over clean air
    - The Policy Results

- Retreat: The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977

3. The Clean Air Act of 1990

    - Getting on the Agenda

    - The Politics of Policy Design

    - The Politics of Adoption

    - The Politics of Implementation

4. The Clean Air Agenda in the Twenty-First Century

 


Climate Change