Explaining the Adoption and Implementation of Local Environmental Policies in the United States

Opp, Susan M.; Osgood, Jeffery L.; Rugeley, Cynthia R.

doi:10.1111/juaf.12072

Cited by 30 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…High school is the percentage of citizens with a high school diploma or equivalent by 25. A more educated citizenry is consistently associated with adoption of policy innovations generally (Berry & Berry, ) and environmental policies specifically (Opp, Osgood, & Rugeley, ). We expect that municipalities with more educated citizens will be more likely to adopt an anti‐HVHF policy and less likely to adopt a pro‐HVHF policy, as found in all three New York studies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Networks and Policy Entrepreneurship: How Relationships Shape Municipal Decision Making about High‐Volume Hydraulic Fracturing

Arnold¹,

Long²,

Gottlieb³

2016

Policy Studies Journal

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Well-resourced and well-connected individuals, or "policy entrepreneurs," often play an important role in advocating and securing the adoption of policies. There is a striking lack of inquiry into the ways that social networks shape the ability of these actors to achieve their aims, including the ways in which network ties may channel policy conflict. To address these gaps, we analyze data from an original survey and an original database of policies to assess the success of policy entrepreneurs (PEs) active in a highly contentious arena: municipal policymaking concerning high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) in New York. We use text-mining to collect social network data from local newspaper archives, then use those data to construct municipal HVHF policy networks. Municipal anti-HVHF PEs appear more successful when they operate in less cohesive networks, act as bridges to relative newcomers to the governance network, and have a larger number of network connections. Pro-HVHF PEs appear more successful when they can forge high-value connections to key decision makers. Policy entrepreneurs on both sides of the issue are more successful when they have a greater number of sympathetic coalition partners.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Networks and Policy Entrepreneurship: How Relationships Shape Municipal Decision Making about High‐Volume Hydraulic Fracturing

Arnold¹,

Long²,

Gottlieb³

2016

Policy Studies Journal

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“…Cities with better public participation and civic capacity tend to have stronger sustainability policies (Portney and Berry 2010;Zahran et al 2008). Education also tends to be positively associated with adoption (Huang et al 2007;Opp et al 2014), and individuals with a higher-education degree in the U.S. tend to be more liberal or progressive (PEW Research Center 2016). The concentration of Ph.D.'s is also associated with a city's support for the mayor's Climate Protection Agreement and with the implementation of policies (Krause 2012a).…”

Section: Policy Adoption: Conditions Coalitions and Framesmentioning

confidence: 99%

100% renewable energy policies in U.S. cities: strategies, recommendations, and implementation challenges

Hess

Gentry

2019

Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy

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Interviews and a survey were conducted with civil society advocates and government officials in U.S. cities and counties that have made a commitment to 100% clean, renewable, community-wide electricity. Survey questions indicated that the characteristics of the cities are consistent with the broader literature on policy adoption for urban sustainability and greenhouse-gas initiatives. For example, a majority of the communities in the sample indicated local concern with air and fossil-fuel pollution and climate-related risk, and they had a liberal (left-leaning) political culture. Policy "entrepreneurs" (initiative leaders) were from environmental organizations and/or the local government, and both often worked with a broad, community-wide coalition. The leading supportive frame other than greenhouse-gas emissions was local job creation, and the leading frame for opposition or skepticism was affordability. Recommendations and political strategy for advocates are discussed, and an analysis of implementation strategy is also provided. Some implementation plans also address affordability and equity for residential customers' energy needs.

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“…The Brundtland Commission's broad definition of sustainability has yielded much scholarship on the concept [2][3][4]16]. As such, scholars have continued to examine the influence of forms of local government on local sustainability actions [17][18][19][20][21], the relationship between sustainability agendas and cities [22,23], the effect of education levels on sustainability [4,[24][25][26], and the effectiveness of sustainability [27]. For many U.S. cities, sustainability policies increasingly came to include efforts to reduce GHG emissions, but action to implement such policies have varied greatly across cities contemplating such policy action.…”

Section: Theoretical Argument: Greenhouse Gas Reduction Efforts Alongmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research also suggests that council-manager governments have a significant and positive effect on the number of sustainability tools directed at governmental operations, but less of an effect towards community-based efforts [17]. Related to this, Opp, Osgood, and Rugeley [20] noted in their examination of factors that lead to the adoption and implementation of environmental policies at the local level that council-manager governments have a positive effect on sustainability policies. Moreover, Svara [21] found that council-manager governments are more likely to have joined ICELI, acknowledging their commitment to adopting sustainability initiatives.…”

Section: Politics Policies and The Reduction Of Greenhouse Gas Emismentioning

confidence: 99%

Municipal Efforts to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Evidence from U.S. Cities on the U.S.-Mexico Border

2019

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In this study, we examine municipal efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by focusing on emissions from vehicular sources. We compare what different cities have done to address the problem of GHG emissions from vehicles by using atmospheric data to assess the impact policy efforts have had on actual GHGs. We focus on an area overlooked in the literature, U.S. cities on the U.S.-Mexico transborder region. Using GHG vehicular emissions data from the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) and an ordinary least square model, this research foundcities have reduced levels of GHGs, especially when municipal efforts are supported by state policies to reduce GHG emissions. While GHG in general are transboundary and a global issue by nature, communities in the U.S. border region are directly impacted by vehicular emissions due to cross-border trade that is not prevalent in interior communities. However, one of the main limitations in this type of study is the lack of reportable environmental data for less populated cities on the U.S.-Mexico border. Future studies need to develop alternative approaches to sustainability that could provide a more nuanced examination of some of the challenges or success in the U.S. transborder region.

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Explaining the Adoption and Implementation of Local Environmental Policies in the United States

Cited by 30 publications

References 37 publications

Social Networks and Policy Entrepreneurship: How Relationships Shape Municipal Decision Making about High‐Volume Hydraulic Fracturing

Social Networks and Policy Entrepreneurship: How Relationships Shape Municipal Decision Making about High‐Volume Hydraulic Fracturing

100% renewable energy policies in U.S. cities: strategies, recommendations, and implementation challenges

Municipal Efforts to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Evidence from U.S. Cities on the U.S.-Mexico Border

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