Not Here, Not There, Not Anywhere: Politics, Social Movements, and the Disposal of Low‐Level Radioactive Waste . London : Earthscan/RFF Press . 240 pages. ISBN 9781933115924, $39.95 paperback. by Daniel J. Sherman . 2011 .

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/96335/1/ropr12007.pd

Radioactive Waste Disposal at Sea: Public Ideas, Transnational Policy Entrepreneurs, and Environmental Regimes by Lasse Ringius

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/96666/1/798175.pd

Conventional Politics for Unconventional Drilling? Lessons from Pennsylvania's Early Move into Fracking Policy Development

The emergence of hydraulic fracturing techniques is generating a dramatic expansion of the development of domestic natural gas resources in the U nited S tates and abroad. Fracking also poses a series of environmental protection challenges that cut across traditional medium and program boundaries. Formal constraints on federal government engagement thus far devolve considerable latitude to individual states for policy development. This provides an important test of whether recent scholarly emphasis on highly innovative state environmental and energy policies can be extended to this burgeoning area. P ennsylvania has moved to the epicenter of the fracking revolution, reflecting its vast Marcellus Shale resource and far‐reaching 2012 legislation. This article examines the P ennsylvania case and notes that the state's emerging policy appears designed to maximize resource extraction while downplaying environmental considerations. The case analysis generates questions as to whether this experience constitutes an influential state early mover that is likely to diffuse widely or is instead an aberration in a rapidly diversifying state policy development process.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98279/1/ropr12018.pd

Carbon Taxation and Policy Labeling: Experience from American States and Canadian Provinces

A vast economics literature embraces taxation of the carbon content of fossil fuels as the superior policy approach for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, experience around the world suggests that carbon taxes face exceedingly difficult political hurdles. Federal experience in the United States and in Canada confirms this pattern. This article reviews sub‐federal policy development among American states and Canadian provinces, a great many of which have pursued climate policy development. With one major exception, explicit carbon taxation appears to remain a political nonstarter. At the same time, states and provinces have been placing indirect carbon prices on fossil fuel use through a wide range of policies. These tend to strategically alter labeling, avoiding the terms of “tax” and “carbon” in imposing costs. The article offers a framework for considering such strategies and examines common design features, including direct linkage between cost imposition and fund usage to build political support.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91109/1/j.1541-1338.2012.00564.x.pd

Taxing Fracking: The Politics of State Severance Taxes in the Shale Era

States producing gas and oil have long levied severance taxes at the point of extraction, commonly placing most revenues into general funds. These taxes have assumed new meaning in many states amid the expansion of gas and oil production accompanying the advent of hydraulic fracturing. We reviewed all major statutes and constitutional amendments related to severance taxes that were enacted at the state level during the first decade of the “shale era” (2005–14). There have been only modest adjustments in statutory tax rates and some evidence that states have attempted to reduce these rates, possibly in response to growing national production. In turn, there is also evidence that states have begun to pursue more targeted strategies for revenue use, including some expanded focus on responding to the negative externalities linked to drilling, expanded revenue sharing with localities, and increased long‐term protection of resources through state trust funds.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112282/1/ropr12127.pd

Race to the Top: The Expanding Role of U.S. State Renewable Portfolio Standards

Examines the use of portfolio standards as a policy tool to promote renewable electricity generation in all states. Provides case studies from Texas, Massachusetts, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. Explores future policy development and implementation

Alternatives to NIMBY gridlock: voluntary approaches to radioactive waste facility siting in Canada and the United States

Neither Canada nor the United States has sited a new radioactive waste management facility in more than two decades, despite the continuous generation of new waste and the paucity of reliable disposal capacity. Both nations have stirred up considerable political controversy in attempting to site such facilities, with aggressive local collective action consistently blocking proposals. Building on provincial experience in gaining public support for hazardous waste facility siting tlirough a voluntary, comprehensive process, both Ontario and Nebraska Show signs of devi˜ting from the classic Not-in-My-Back-Yard (NIMBY) response for low-level radioactive waste. Through a variation of the process used successfully in Alberta and Manitoba for hazardous waste, Ontario and Nebraska have demonstrated the potential applicability of these alternative siting principles for radioactive waste. Sommaire : Ni le Canada, ni les États-Unis n'ont construit de nouvelles installations de gestion des dÉchets radioactifs depuis plus de deux dÉcennies, malgrÉ la production continuelie de dÉchets supplÉmentaires et malgrÉ la faible capacitÉ d'Élimination fiable. Les deux nations ont dÉclenchÉ des controverses politiques considÉrables en essayant de mettre en place de telles installations, et leurs propositions ont ÉtÉ bloquÉes systÉmatiquement et agressivement par les collectivitÉs locales. Forts de certaines expÉriences provinciales pour gagner le soutien du public ewers l'emplacement d'une installation de dÉchets dangereux grÂce À un processus volontaire et extensif, l'Ontario et le Nebraska semblent dÉvier de la rÉaction classique “ pas dans ma cour ” en ce qui concerne les dÉchets faiblement radioactifs. Par l'entremise d'une variante du processus utilisÉ avec succÈs pour les dÉchets dnngereux en Alberta et au Manitoba, l'Ontario et le Nebraska ont dÉmontrÉ qu'on pourrait Éventuellement appliqucr ces principes de rechanpe pour l'emplacement des installations traitant les dÉchets radioactifs.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73397/1/j.1754-7121.1994.tb00885.x.pd

Licit and illicit drug policies: a typology

To foster comparison of policy interventions across the various categories of licit and illicit drugs, we develop a typology of policies intended to address drug abuse problems. The principal dimensions of the typology are policy type and intervention channel. While the typology has important limitations, as a mechanism to organize information and stimulate thought it holds the potential to improve understanding of commonalities and distinctions among policies applying to widely discrepant drug problems, both within and across cultures. As such, it could contribute to the development of more effective approaches to grappling with a diverse set of drug policy issues.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73129/1/j.1360-0443.1990.tb03081.x.pd

Building Strong for Tomorrow: Recommendations for the Organizational Design of the NOAA Climate Service

The U.S. Congress asked an expert panel of the National Academy of Public Administration to assist NOAA with a study and analysis of organizational options for a Climate Service within NOAA. Further, NOAA formally asked the Panel to provide an independent assessment of how NOAA should organize its climate capabilities and make recommendations for a Climate Service line office structure that would integrate NOAA's climate science and research with service delivery.Main FindingsThe Panel strongly supports the creation of a Climate Service to be established as a line office within NOAA.The Panel concluded that a NOAA Climate Service, properly configured and implemented, would be uniquely qualified to serve the public and private sectors as a lead federal agency for climate research and services, and to provide an ongoing accessible, authoritative clearinghouse for all federal science and services related to climate.The report also includes the Panel's observations and recommendations regarding the larger federal climate enterprise, key elements of support needed by the NOAA Climate Service and the importance to the new organization of a clear strategic plan and a comprehensive implementation plan. Additionally, the Panel offered observations about institutional change management in the federal sector, identified several management recommendations for implementation and addressed operational priorities and budget challenges

Beyond Environmental Regulatory Fragmentation: Signs of Integration in the Case of the Great Lakes Basin

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72007/1/j.1468-0491.1995.tb00197.x.pd