Local Environmental Policy in a Federal System: An Overview

Abstract

A number of issues arise when considering the positive and normative implications of local environmental policy making. This paper provides an overview of some of the issues and implications. These vary depending on whether local jurisdictions are charged with determining the stringency of policies or instead stringency is determined at a higher level of government and the local role focuses on implementation and the design of cost-effective measures for achieving the required goals. Key issues include both physical and economic spillovers across jurisdictions, and the extent to which stringency can be differentiated based on local conditions or preferences.

Foreword

“…government (Segerson 2020). For example, the benefits of water quality improvements from adoption of best management practice (BMP) are local, justifying subsidization of BMPs, as examined in Yehouenou et.…”

“…Segerson (2020) provides context to disparate local environmental regulations by discussing how interjurisdictional spillovers versus spatial heterogeneity give rise to arguments favoring either federal versus local control over regulations. To offer innovation as a solution, Popp (2020) provides the general lessons from energy-related innovation and applies them to local jurisdictions to promote not just diffusion or deployment of innovations but also development of new technologies.…”

“…That many local environmental policies generate purely local goods or impure public goods provides the basis for why local jurisdictions consider undertaking costly environmental measures as opposed to ceding control to the federal government (Segerson 2020). For example, the benefits of water quality improvements from adoption of best management practice (BMP) are local, justifying subsidization of BMPs, as examined in Yehouenou et.…”

“…Solutions to local environmental problems directly require an expenditure outlay to acquire land (Sharma et al 2020), subsidize BMPs (Yehouenou et al 2020; Liu and Ruebeck 2020), fund PWSs (Fu et al 2020), or invest in renewable energy technologies (Aleti and Hochman 2020). The allocation of funding or targeting for subsidies or taxes would vary spatially due to various location-specific environmental and economic factors, and it is in this area that Segerson (2020) asserts that the local jurisdictions’ power and responsibility may also lie, not just in policy design.…”

“…These lessons on market scale, demand-side approach, and coordination potentially have wide-ranging implications for innovation-based solutions to other local environmental problems. However, in cases when states compete with each other because of environmental leakages, interjurisdiction economic impacts, or truly global environmental problems such as climate change, effective and efficient solutions would require a portfolio of well-integrated policies at the national and sub-national levels (Segerson 2020).…”