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Epilogue Risk, Benefit, and Uncertainty

Frederick Rowe Davis

in Banned: A History of Pesticides and the Science of Toxicology

This chapter examines neonicotinoids, synthesized compounds from nicotine and related insecticidal compounds. Agricultural usage of neonicitinoids exploded when the EPA cancelled the registrations of ... More

This chapter examines neonicotinoids, synthesized compounds from nicotine and related insecticidal compounds. Agricultural usage of neonicitinoids exploded when the EPA cancelled the registrations of many organophosphates. In 2013, neonicotinoids surpassed organophosphates as the most widely used insecticides in the world. Neonicotinoids provided agribusiness with alternatives, but ones that may contaminate ecosystems and threaten nontarget organisms, including bees and birds.Less

“Toxicology Is a Political Science”

Sara Shostak

in Exposed Science: Genes, the Environment, and the Politics of Population Health

Chapter 1 provides a map of key environmental health research and regulatory institutions, including the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the National Toxicology Program ... More

Chapter 1 provides a map of key environmental health research and regulatory institutions, including the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the National Toxicology Program (NTP), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It also considers the goals and perspectives of the chemical industry and of environmental health and justice activists.Focusing, then, on the contentious politics of the environmental health arena, it explores how the practices of environmental health scientists have been shaped by the forces and struggles in the field in which they operateLess

The Trial Crucible

William W. Buzbee

in Fighting Westway: Environmental Law, Citizen Activism, and the Regulatory War That Transformed New York City

This chapter recounts the beginnings of another trial resulting from the EPA's failure to exercise its Section 404(c) veto power as well as a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) ... More

This chapter recounts the beginnings of another trial resulting from the EPA's failure to exercise its Section 404(c) veto power as well as a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) Draft which minimized Westway's harm on the striped bass. Despite the abundant data showing substantial usage of the proposed Westway site by young striped bass, often the highest percentages of all tested sites, the Final SEIS and permit decision dismissed such risks. In addition, adding pressure for both opponents and New York government leaders, any possible trade-in for Westway had to be completed by a statutory deadline of September 30, 1985. The courts and the United States Congress were therefore at that point the opponents' focus, as was the lack of explanation for the many Draft-to-Final SEIS changes regarding the impact on striped bass.Less

Making a Molecular Regulatory Science

Sara Shostak

in Exposed Science: Genes, the Environment, and the Politics of Population Health

Chapter 5 examines scientists’ efforts to facilitate the diffusion of a specific molecular practice-toxicogenomics-from the laboratories of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the NIEHS to the ... More

Chapter 5 examines scientists’ efforts to facilitate the diffusion of a specific molecular practice-toxicogenomics-from the laboratories of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the NIEHS to the regulatory review protocols of the EPA. It demonstrates that the efforts of scientists, bioethicists, lawyers, and policymakers to anticipate and address the requirements of environmental risk assessment at the EPA have been an intrinsic part of the development of the science itself. It also describes the emergence of new initiatives, such as Tox21, a collaboration between the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection AgencyLess

The Environmental Protection Agency: 1970–2010

James K. Conant and Peter J. Balint

in The Life Cycles of the Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency: 1970 - 2035

The official birthdate of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is December 2, 1970. On that day the Senate confirmed William Ruckelshaus, President Nixon’s nominee to be the administrator ... More

The official birthdate of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is December 2, 1970. On that day the Senate confirmed William Ruckelshaus, President Nixon’s nominee to be the administrator of the new agency, and the “EPA opened for business in a tiny suite of offices at 20th and L Streets in Northwest Washington, DC.” The new agency took over programs and offices related to environmental protection previously operating in the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the Food and Drug Administration, the Atomic Energy Commission, and the Federal Radiation Council. In this chapter, we examine and attempt to explain what happened to this major regulatory agency over the forty-year period from its birth in 1970 to 2010. In doing so, we test hypotheses that follow from the four categories of theoretical agency life cycle models introduced in Chapter 3. These models differ in their predictions for the trajectories of federal agencies. The biological model predicts that agencies will grow rapidly during their early life before reaching a relatively stable maturity. Over subsequent decades agencies may carry on indefinitely with declining vigor, or be absorbed into other agencies, or die, although scholars debate both the process and probability of agency mortality. The partisan political model predicts a more turbulent life history for agencies in which changing party control of Congress and the White House will buffet government organizations more or less routinely. According to this model, federal agencies will often be caught in the middle of partisan ideological battles over the importance and value of the social functions they were created to address. The incremental model suggests that the best predictor of how agencies will fare in the near future is how they have fared in the recent past. That is, agencies tend to be insulated from external political and economic fluctuations and therefore generally experience relatively minor changes over time to their budgets and operations. The issue-attention model predicts that agencies’ fortunes are tied to the vagaries of current events. Less

11 The Trial Crucible

William W. Buzbee

in Fighting Westway: Environmental Law, Citizen Activism, and the Regulatory War That Transformed New York City

This chapter recounts the beginnings of another trial resulting from the EPA's failure to exercise its Section 404(c) veto power as well as a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) ... More

This chapter recounts the beginnings of another trial resulting from the EPA's failure to exercise its Section 404(c) veto power as well as a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) Draft which minimized Westway's harm on the striped bass. Despite the abundant data showing substantial usage of the proposed Westway site by young striped bass, often the highest percentages of all tested sites, the Final SEIS and permit decision dismissed such risks. In addition, adding pressure for both opponents and New York government leaders, any possible trade-in for Westway had to be completed by a statutory deadline of September 30, 1985. The courts and the United States Congress were therefore at that point the opponents' focus, as was the lack of explanation for the many Draft-to-Final SEIS changes regarding the impact on striped bass. Less

Government Clubs: Theory and Evidence from Voluntary Environmental Programs

Cary Coglianese and Jennifer Nash

in Voluntary Programs: A Club Theory Perspective

This chapter analyzes the operation of green clubs by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), their management of tension, attracting of new members, as well as how they are able to uphold ... More

This chapter analyzes the operation of green clubs by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), their management of tension, attracting of new members, as well as how they are able to uphold their standards. In contrast to nongovernmental green clubs, those run by the government offer not simply an enhance reputation, but also relief from regulatory requirements. The chapter digs more deeply into the EPA’s experience with one of its voluntary programs, Performance Track, at the same time placing twenty-eight under the club theory analytic lens. It then makes the conclusion that while these government-sponsored green clubs can provide firms with substantial benefits, there remains resistance due to political and legal constraints. This is the reason that government-sponsored voluntary environmental programs only offer limited membership slots.Less

: The Practice of Nature, 1978–2000

in The Fire Ant Wars: Nature, Science, and Public Policy in Twentieth-Century America

This chapter looks at the consequences of the actions made in the U.S. in respect to the red fire ants; and the results of bringing together nature, ideas about nature, and ways of interacting with ... More

This chapter looks at the consequences of the actions made in the U.S. in respect to the red fire ants; and the results of bringing together nature, ideas about nature, and ways of interacting with nature. By 1970, the eradication program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had collapsed, and while the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) succeeded in banning dangerous chemicals, its program also failed to realize its full promise. With the fall of these programs emerged new ideas about the ant and new ways of interacting with it. Insect-growth regulators came on to the market, although they never revolutionized control of the ant. As humans have grown increasingly powerful, their actions have become inextricably bound with nature, but yet they do not know nature. Thus, the fire ant wars do not tutor despair, but an acknowledgment of the limits of humans, even as we strive to overcome them.Less

Renewing the Civil Service

in The People's Agents and the Battle to Protect the American Public: Special Interests, Government, and Threats to Health, Safety, and the Environment

American government cannot possibly be strong, effective, and efficient—not least in the arena of health and safety policy—without the renewal of its battered civil service. But powerful cultural and ... More

American government cannot possibly be strong, effective, and efficient—not least in the arena of health and safety policy—without the renewal of its battered civil service. But powerful cultural and political trends pull the weight of history against such reforms. The civil service is beleaguered by excessive layers of review, constant second-guessing, scant public recognition, insufficient resources, and growing disparity between public and private sector pay scales. This chapter argues that political leaders, especially the president and senior members of Congress, must distinguish between “macropolicy” decisions best made by elected officials and “micropolicy” decisions that should be left to the professional civil service in consultation with the political appointees who lead the five agencies. It begins with a brief history of the civil service, describing the model of neutral competence that a century of arduous change was designed to produce. It explains the distinctions drawn between the exercise of neutral competence and decisions more appropriately centralized in the White House, using examples from the recent history of the CPSC, OSHA, and the EPA. It considers the most significant problems confronting efforts to revive the career civil service, including the “brain drain” that will deplete its crucial midlevel management, the disparities in pay that propel the best employees out the door, the “thickening” of supervision that depletes initiative and accountability, and the poor image of government that confounds recruitment of qualified replacements.Less

Using the Clean Air Act to Address Ocean Acidification

Margaret E. Peloso

in Climate Change Impacts on Ocean and Coastal Law: U.S. and International Perspectives

The most significant driver of ocean acidification globally is rising CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, which result in increasing concentrations of dissolved CO2 in seawater. Because this major ... More

The most significant driver of ocean acidification globally is rising CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, which result in increasing concentrations of dissolved CO2 in seawater. Because this major contributor to ocean acidification is not a conventional water pollutant that is discharged from a point source directly into a receiving water, the Clean Water Act is a limited tool to curb ocean acidification. In contrast, the Clean Air Act provides direct legal mechanisms by which greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be curtailed, potentially reducing atmospheric concentrations and thereby slowing further ocean acidification. This chapter explains EPA’s efforts to date to regulate GHGs under the Clean Air Act and explores the role of potential future regulations under the CAA as a tool to address ocean acidification.Less

The Attack on Health and Science Institutions

Sara E. Gorman and Jack M. Gorman

in Denying to the Grave: Why We Ignore the Science That Will Save Us, Revised and Updated Edition

One of our most trusted sources of accurate scientific information has always been the federal and international scientific regulatory agencies charged with protecting and improving our health and ... More

One of our most trusted sources of accurate scientific information has always been the federal and international scientific regulatory agencies charged with protecting and improving our health and safety. These include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). After being chronically underfunded for many years, these agencies have been assaulted by anti-science forces within the previous United States federal administration. Today, many people have lost what was once a very high level of confidence in these agencies. It will be a difficult, but far from impossible, task for a new federal administration to restore them to the positions of trust they once held.Less

Summary: Lessons From A Disaster

Inge F. Goldstein and Martin Goldstein

in How Much Risk?: A Guide to Understanding Environmental Health Hazards

We have told a number of stories in this book about environmental health hazards. To summarize the main messages, we will briefly tell another. There is one common pollutant, a product of human ... More

We have told a number of stories in this book about environmental health hazards. To summarize the main messages, we will briefly tell another. There is one common pollutant, a product of human activity, that is responsible for many millions of deaths each year, most of them among small children. Human feces contaminating the water supply is the means by which cholera, dysentery, typhoid fever, and a number of parasitic diseases are spread. These diseases were killing people even in Western economically advanced countries throughout most of the nineteenth century, and are still among the most serious threats to the health of the majority of the people of the world. They can be prevented, as they are in the industrialized world, by rather simple measures, but measures that are beyond the economic resources of many of the less developed countries. Recently the United Nations has been providing funds and technological help in controlling them by improving access to uncontaminated drinking water. One such program in Bangladesh involved digging tube wells to get access to deep groundwater sources, so that the people would no longer have to drink surface water from ponds and streams contaminated by human and animal wastes. Bangladesh has had more than its share of misfortune. It is a low-lying country subject to floods and other natural disasters, which has not been spared disasters of human making as well. Originally part of Pakistan when British India was partitioned, it is cut off from the rest of Pakistan by a thousand miles of Indian territory. The people of Bangladesh, although Muslim in religion, were ethnically distinct and spoke a different language from the rest of Pakistan. Their attempts to gain greater autonomy for their region led to a brutal suppression by the Pakistan army in 1971, in which over 1 million people were killed. Indian military intervention led to the defeat of Pakistan and the creation of an independent country of about 150 million people, with the highest population density in the world and one of the lowest per capita incomes, under $300 a year. Less

Brazilian Biofuels: Distilling Solutions

Kathleen M. Araújo

in Low Carbon Energy Transitions: Turning Points in National Policy and Innovation

Worldwide, transportation accounts for roughly a quarter of the total final energy demand and a similar share of energy-based carbon dioxide emissions (IEA, 2016f). The transport sector has the ... More

Worldwide, transportation accounts for roughly a quarter of the total final energy demand and a similar share of energy-based carbon dioxide emissions (IEA, 2016f). The transport sector has the most homogenous of fuel mixes, with petroleum-based products accounting for roughly 95% of the overall final share (Kahn Ribeiro et al., 2012). Biofuels and other options, like electric vehicles, have the potential to displace a notable portion of petroleum and CO2 emissions in the transport sector. Global use of ethanol, the most widely used among biofuels, has grown significantly in recent years. Between 2000 and 2010 alone, ethanol utilization increased 350% worldwide, with trade increasing by a factor of 5 and usage equaling 74 billion liters in 2010 (Valdes, 2011). This chapter examines the underlying roots of the biofuels transition in Brazil. Two micro-shifts–one that is government- led and a second that is industry-led–are evaluated, demonstrating how a new, energy market and industry can develop at a national scale through the retooling of existing industries and infrastructure. Insights on policy inflections, market longevity, and dual-use technology are also covered. Brazil is the historical leader in biofuels and the only country to substantially alter its automotive fuel mix with ethanol, shifting from 1% in 1970 to 34% in 2014 (see the section entitled “Modern Transition” later in this chapter). Ranked sixth globally for its population of roughly 206 million people and eighth for its economy of $3.1 trillion in mid-2016 (CIA, n.d.), Brazil has been a leading pioneer in the production and export of ethanol, its principal biofuel. In 2015, Brazilian ethanol equaled 28% of the global supply (Renewable Fuel Association [RFA], 2016). The country is known for having the lowest production costs of ethanol (Goldemberg, 2008; Shapouri, and Salassi, 2006; Valor International, 2014). Brazil also has a unique distribution network of more than 35,000 fuel stations supplying the renewable fuel (Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis, 2008). Less

Comparing the Paths of the Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency and Assessing the Life Cycle Models

James K. Conant and Peter J. Balint

in The Life Cycles of the Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency: 1970 - 2035

In Chapters 4 and 5, we used four organizational life cycle models to develop predictions for the trajectories of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Environmental Protection Agency ... More

In Chapters 4 and 5, we used four organizational life cycle models to develop predictions for the trajectories of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s appropriations over the forty-year period from their births in 1970 through 2010. In this chapter, we review findings from our studies of the CEQ and EPA, and we offer a general assessment of the power of the theoretical agency life cycle models. We also employ a framework we developed for comparing the models and for classifying the key variables in those models. This framework provides a means to move beyond the constraints of the existing literature, in which life cycle models are placed in either the “internalist” or “externalist” camps. We framed our study of the CEQ and EPA with two general views of what happens to public organizations during the process of implementing public law. One view is that the life of the executive branch organization will be relatively stable and untroubled as its leaders and professional staff pursue the organization’s statutorily assigned mission. The underlying presumption here is that all of the important political questions related to the tasks assigned to the agency have been addressed in the public law itself. Consequently, the work of the agencies will be largely technical and uncontroversial. The alternative view is that the political struggle over the passage of the laws the agencies are supposed to implement continues during the implementation stage of the policymaking process. The supporters of the law, inside and outside government, support the agency and its efforts. The opponents of the law, however, not only oppose the agency but also attempt to derail, or at least delay implementation of, the law. Thus, an agency’s trajectory over time, in the form of its resources for and vigor in support of its assigned implementation tasks, will depend in large part on the balance of power, inside and outside government, between those who support and oppose the agency. Less

What Comes Naturally and Not So Naturally

Michael H. Fox

in Why We Need Nuclear Power: The Environmental Case

"How many of you who moved to Colorado from Texas or Florida took into account that you were nearly tripling your annual dose of natural radiation by studying here?” That is the first question I ... More

"How many of you who moved to Colorado from Texas or Florida took into account that you were nearly tripling your annual dose of natural radiation by studying here?” That is the first question I ask students in my radiation biology class at Colorado State University, and of course none of the students considered that they were increasing their exposure to radiation by a large factor simply by moving here to live. And none of them would have used that as a reason to not study here. In contrast, if they were moving near a nuclear power plant in their state, they might have had second thoughts, even though they would be exposed to far less radiation than by coming to Fort Collins, Colorado. There is no place on earth where you are not exposed to radiation. As I said in the previous chapter, life evolved in a radiation environment. But where does the radiation come from, and why is it higher in Colorado than elsewhere in the United States? Are there other areas in the world where it is even higher? Do we get a lot more cancer in Colorado than in other lower radiation states because we are exposed to more radiation? These are important questions–they help us to understand the risk from a particular dose of radiation and put into perspective the exposure to radiation from the nuclear fuel cycle. We are exposed to radiation that comes from the skies, from the earth, and from our food. These are all natural sources, and there is not much we can do about it except decide where we want to live. But our decisions as to where we want to live almost certainly do not take into account the exposure to background levels of radiation from natural sources. The other main not-so-natural source of radiation exposure comes from medical procedures, a source that is increasing rapidly. Less

The Path Forward

Heather B. Patisaul and Scott M. Belcher

in Endocrine Disruptors, Brain, and Behavior

This chapter focuses on the contemporary approaches of research being used to understand the actions of EDCs and emerging high-throughput screening approaches to examine new and existing chemicals ... More

This chapter focuses on the contemporary approaches of research being used to understand the actions of EDCs and emerging high-throughput screening approaches to examine new and existing chemicals for endocrine-disrupting activities. Concepts arising from the 2007 NRC report “Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: A Vision and a Strategy” are delineated and the ongoing development of predictive computational toxicology approaches are addressed. The screening strategies being developed under the Tox21 and Toxicity Forecaster (ToxCast) programs are described, with a review of advantages, challenges, and progress to date. There is a brief overview of the EPA’s Interactive Chemical Safety for Sustainability (iCSS) Dashboard as a portal for accessing the ToxCast data through ToxCastDB, and the EPA’s Aggregated Computational Toxicology data warehouse (ACToR), which contains all publicly available EPA chemical toxicity data. Additional challenges related to the inability of current screening approaches to address complex physiology involved in neuroendocrine disruption are addressed.Less

Resigning Without Leaving

Harold Hongju Koh

in The Trump Administration and International Law

With respect to international agreements, President Donald Trump’s basic strategy has become resigning without leaving: This chapter illustrates this pattern with respect to the Paris Climate Change ... More

With respect to international agreements, President Donald Trump’s basic strategy has become resigning without leaving: This chapter illustrates this pattern with respect to the Paris Climate Change Agreement, trade diplomacy, and the Iran Nuclear Deal. In each area, Trump has expressed overt hostility toward the international agreement in question and threatened to abandon it, but in practice, he has generally stayed in the existing international agreements, but underperformed, forcing other transnational players to take up the slack to compensate for his unwillingness fully to execute America’s international obligations. This approach at least has the virtue that in time, a successor administration may correct that underperformance and restore the United States to full participation in the international arrangement.Less

The 1980s to the Present

Gregory A. Barton

in The Global History of Organic Farming

While a few positive stories on organic farming appeared in the 1970s most mainstream press coverage mocked or dismissed organic farmers and consumers. Nevertheless, the growing army of consumer ... More

While a few positive stories on organic farming appeared in the 1970s most mainstream press coverage mocked or dismissed organic farmers and consumers. Nevertheless, the growing army of consumer shoppers at health food stores in the United States made the movement impossible to ignore. The Washington Post and other newspapers shifted from negative caricatures of organic farming to a supportive position, particularly after the USDA launched an organic certification scheme in the United States under the leadership of Robert Bergland. Certification schemes in Europe and other major markets followed, leading to initiatives by the United Nations for the harmonization of organic certification through multilateral agencies. As organic standards proliferated in the 1990s the United Nations stepped in to resolve the regulatory fragmentation creating a global market for organic goods.Less

Acid Earth

David Rickard

in Pyrite: A Natural History of Fool's Gold

The atmosphere and much of the rivers, lakes, and oceans of the Earth are oxygenated. Any pyrite that comes into contact with these environments becomes unstable and breaks down. The process is ... More

The atmosphere and much of the rivers, lakes, and oceans of the Earth are oxygenated. Any pyrite that comes into contact with these environments becomes unstable and breaks down. The process is called oxidation. It is an exothermic process and, as described in Chapter 5, this process was thought to heat the Earth. It is the opposite of reduction, which we discussed with regard to the microbial formation of sulfide from sulfate in Chapter 6. The counterintuitive concept important here is that oxidation is a chemical process that does not necessarily need oxygen. This idea—that you can oxidize things in the absence of oxygen—is one that most natural scientists are aware of but that they need a couple of nudges occasionally to remind themselves about. This means that pyrite oxidizes not only in oxygenated environments—although that is what we are most familiar with—but also in oxygen-free environments. Among the products of pyrite oxidation are large quantities of acid. Although this happens naturally during rock weathering, the intervention of humankind has led to an enormous increase in the exposure of pyrite to the atmosphere. This has produced contamination of the atmosphere, groundwater, and watercourses on a regional scale. It has also increased the amount of uncontrolled coal burning in coal seams, coal mines, and coal waste tips worldwide, making whole towns uninhabitable and laying waste to large areas. In this chapter I consider in more detail what exactly the process of pyrite oxidation is and how it affects the Earth’s environment today, as well as the problems it stores up for humanity in the future. In chemical terms, oxidation does not mean just the addition of oxygen. Oxidation is a reaction that involves the removal of one or more electrons from a compound because of a chemical reaction. One of the most familiar oxidation reactions is combustion, where substances burn in air to produce heat. The way to put out such a fire is to restrict oxygen access using a chemical foam or fire blanket. Since this reaction with oxygen was the best known, the process was called originally called oxidation. Less