National Academies Press: OpenBook

The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop (2001)

Chapter: 19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades

« Previous: 18 Society Should Be Protected from the Metal Threat
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×

INFLUENCE OF AMERICAN NGOs ON ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONS AND POLICIES: EVOLUTION OVER THREE DECADES

M.E.Kraft

University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

The influence of American environmental NGOs has evolved significantly over the past three decades as the larger scientific, economic, institutional, and political contexts of environmental policy have changed. This paper places the role of environmental NGOs within these contexts. It reviews their strategies and influence as U.S. environmental policy has moved from federally-dominant regulation to concern for efficiency-based reform efforts and flexibility, and finally to a concentration on how best to pursue the goal of sustainable development through a diversity of policy tools such as market-based incentives and public-private partnerships. Particular emphasis is given to the use of technical information and scientific expertise by environmental NGOs and to a shift from adversarial to collaborative and participatory strategies at all levels of government. Specific case studies from the United States are used to highlight successful efforts over the past decade to integrate environmental, economic, and social concerns within the framework of sustainable development.

I was asked to speak on the evolution and influence of U.S. environmental NGOs. I do so in terms of some fundamental changes in U.S. environmental policy and politics over the past three decades. While I can offer only a sketch of the patterns and issues, I provide references to more extended treatments of the topic.

In a new book, Toward Sustainable Communities: Transition and Transformations in Environmental Policy, Daniel Mazmanian and I trace this policy evolution.1 We develop a framework for understanding important changes in environmental problem solving from the 1970s through the 1990s, and into the twenty-first century. We discuss these changes in terms of three overlapping epochs in environmental policy: regulating for environmental

Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×

protection (1970 to 1990), efficiency-based regulatory reform and flexibility (1980 to 1990s), and steps toward sustainable communities (1990 and onward).

Within each of these epochs we highlight the way environmental problems are defined and policy objectives set, dominant implementation philosophies, points of intervention, policy approaches and tools that are used, information and data management needs, and the predominant political and institutional context. Part of our purpose is also to understand the role of public opinion and environmental NGOs in helping to identify and define environmental problems, to bring scientific information to bear on the policy process, to press for certain kinds of policy action, and to affect the political context—primarily through mobilization of public opinion.

I use this framework here to highlight some of the most important features of U.S. environmental policy and politics over the past three decade. I will also suggest how this history, particularly recent developments, might apply to Russia. See Table 1, which is taken from Toward Sustainable Communities.

Put simply, the role of NGOs in the United States has changed significantly over the past thirty years as environmental advocacy groups moved from a posture of confrontation and adversarial relations with government and industry to one characterized by professionalism and cooperation. This shift, which occurred gradually between the early 1970s and early 1990s, bodes well for the future of environmental policy in the United States.

The new philosophies and strategies of NGOs give greater emphasis to comprehensive analysis of environmental problems, the use of scientific studies and economic analyses, and participation of key stakeholders. Taken together, the approaches appear to be far more effective in identifying and resolving the major issues. In terms of drawing lessons for Russia, it is important to ask why environmental NGOs have been able to influence environmental decisions and policies as much as they have. It is also of interest to ask what factors account for the difference between the most successful and less successful cases of collaboration and cooperation in the late 1990s and early twenty-first century. The answers may suggest what other nations might do to achieve comparable results.

ACTIONS DURING THE 1970s

Environmental issues rose to prominence on governmental agendas only in the late 1960s, but that shift in public and policymaker attention to the problems, along with rapid improvement in scientific knowledge, led to dramatic changes in U.S. environmental policies. Most of the key policies were approved within a ten-year period: 1970 to 1980. These include the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990, the Clean Water Act of 1972, the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, and significant actions in 1976 to control

Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×

toxic chemicals and hazardous wastes through the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act, among many other legislative actions. These policy actions of the 1970s set the overall character of U.S. environmental policy for the rest of the twentieth century. The emphasis was to be on federally-dominant “command-and-control” policy, with the newly created Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in charge of pollution control policy and the Interior Department given chief responsibility for natural resources management. Table 2 lists the most important of these acts.

These policies were approved overwhelmingly by the U.S. Congress and signed by the President in large part because of an abundance of new scientific data, the pressure of public opinion, and the efforts by environmental NGOs. Those NGOs tried to educate the public; mobilize citizens to action in their communities, states, and nation; and urge policymakers at all levels of government to adopt and implement strong environmental protection policies. They were quite successful in those efforts. Their actions in turn were heavily dependent on access to scientific information, such as health risk assessments, which have improved substantially over the past 30 years. Scientific information of this kind was reported prominently in the nation’s print and electronic media. The availability and credibility of such scientific knowledge played a pivotal role in persuading the public and policymakers to take action. It created a greater sense of legitimacy than would otherwise have been the case.

Environmental NGOs helped to achieve these notable impacts through a variety of strategies that are commonly used by U.S. interest groups.2 These include public education (historically through printed material and television, and increasingly through the Internet), direct lobbying of public officials to convey information to them, and indirect lobbying or mobilization of grassroots supporters across the country who in turn attempt to influence public officials. In addition, many of the groups often engaged in litigation to help monitor and enforce environmental laws, which some see as a way to keep government honest and responsive to public concerns. They also participated in the often complex administrative processes of executive agencies such as standard setting, rulemaking, and other implementation actions.3

A smaller number of groups have engaged in electioneering, or use of campaign contributions, political endorsements, and support for officials during election campaigns, to achieve their goals. The logic here is to help ensure that policymakers sympathetic to environmental concerns are elected to office.4 Many other environmental NGOs, such as Resources for the Future, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Worldwatch Institute, and the World Resources Institute, have focused more on education, policy analysis, and scientific research rather than policy advocacy.

As this brief review illustrates, the diversity of these groups and their activities is as impressive as their collective success. While we speak of environmentalists or environmental NGOs as if they were a single social group

Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×

or phenomenon, they are in fact a highly disparate set of individuals and organizations with widely varying purposes and strategies.

Some of the characteristics of environmental NGOs during the decade of the 1970s were distinctive to that time period, and other attributes continue to the present day. Among the former was an understandable tendency among advocacy groups to play an “outsider” role that often became confrontational and adversarial. Environmental groups frequently challenged corporate decision-making and labeled polluters as callous and unthinking. They pressed government at all levels to enact and enforce tough new regulatory laws on clean air, clean water, toxic chemicals, endangered species, and a host of other issues. The assumption was that only such “command-and-control” policies, particularly at the federal level of government, could change corporate behavior (and actions by state and local governments) and thereby control pollution and abuse of natural resources. Given those purposes and the political climate at the time, little thought was given to the costs of environmental policy or to the difficulties of implementation.

These groups were also adept at translating and promoting new scientific research. For many reasons, scientists themselves are often reluctant to get involved in public controversies and the policymaking process, leaving the public and policymakers to deal as best they can with complex technical issues. Environmental NGOs helped to fill this void by bringing scientific discoveries to public and policymaker attention, and by clarifying both the technical and policy issues. They did so in part through release of their own reports that summarized scientific studies and often gained significant and positive media coverage. Sometime those studies were used to challenge government positions based on conflicting data and interpretations. At a minimum, they highlighted important issues that might otherwise have been ignored.

Survey data from the period indicated a rising level of public concern about environmental problems, particularly threats to public health from pollution and toxic chemicals. The existence of such public concern greatly facilitated the success of environmental and health groups in their quest for policy action.5 Thus building public knowledge and support for governmental action was one of the most important ways in which environmental groups successfully pursued their goals.

The ability of U.S. environmental groups to engage in these strategies during the 1970s was helped by their surging membership from the 1960s to the late 1990s. Table 3 lists seven of the most visible and active of the national environmental organizations that scholars refer to as “mainstream” groups—to distinguish them from thousands of smaller and less visible grassroots or community groups and the more radical groups such as Greenpeace. The astonishing rate of growth in membership from 1960 to 1970 helps to explain the success of these NGOs in influencing government decisions and policies in the early 1970s. Some of the groups saw their membership rolls triple or

Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×

quadruple over the decade. In a democracy, elected officials are likely to pay keen attention to public opinion and to the preferences of large membership NGOs. This is especially so when the issues are highly salient and the values they reflect are widely held.

A strong membership growth rate for environmental groups continued during the 1970s, and it accelerated during the 1980s in response to perceived threats to environmental policy from a conservation administration (see Table 3). The larger memberships and budgets aided the groups in their many legislative and legal challenges to the conservative administration of President Ronald Reagan. For most of the major groups, the growth rate stabilized during the 1990s, but some continued to exhibit strong growth. The Nature Conservancy, for instance, reached new membership heights as public support for land conservation efforts grew across the nation. It had a membership of 800,000 by 1995, and rose further to 1.2 million members by 1998. It enjoyed a comparable increase in its revenues, and thus in its capacity to purchase additional land for conservation purposes.6 One recent estimate put the total membership of U.S. environmental groups at over 14 million people and their combined budget at over $600 million per year.

The fundamental policy changes listed in Table 2 occurred quickly during the 1970s, and they were consolidated and in many respects strengthened over the next 20 years. The result was that environmental policy became strongly institutionalized, giving it a permanent and broadly supported position in government and in the private sector.7

CONSOLIDATION AND REBUILDING DURING THE 1980s

Not all the news was good. By 1980, there was much concern over the economic impacts of environmental policies, or at least the imagined economic impacts. By 1981, early in the Reagan presidency, there began a period of concerted efforts to pull back from the environmental policy commitments of the 1970s.

On the whole, these efforts failed. Yet environmental agencies suffered from sharp cuts in their budgets and personnel, and environmental research was adversely affected as government support for research was cut. A lasting legacy of this era was the need to justify environmental policy actions through analysis of economic impacts and through provision of strong scientific analysis such as quantitative risk assessments. Both concerns continue to this day.8

In this sense, this second era or epoch could be called a searching for efficiency-based regulatory reform and greater flexibility in environmental regulations. Policymakers sought to find ways to minimize those economic impacts. This was also a time when environmental responsibilities increasingly were decentralized or shifted to state and local governments, and when market

Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×

mechanisms or economic incentives were given serious consideration as a supplement to regulation by the national government.

In this period, environmental NGOs continued many of the same strategies and activities they used during the 1970s, but their additional resources allowed them to hire a diversity of professionals, from water quality and toxic chemical specialists to economists and lawyers. Some, such as Environmental Defense, assumed a leading role in advocating the use of market-based incentives. In general, the credibility of the NGOs’ work increased substantially during the 1980s as they gained experience and expertise. The result was that they became even more adept at public education and mobilization, and gained significantly in political influence. This was particularly so by the early 1990s as a new administration that was more receptive to their arguments took office at the federal level.

In addition, this second period saw much activity by business organizations and government agencies directed at pollution prevention, additional gains in environmental information and databases, and the beginnings of a more collaborative approach to environmental policy. These activities and developments have been widely discussed, generally in a very favorable light.9 Examples abound. For instance, studies of ecosystem functioning assist in the development of Habitat Conservation Plans under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Modeling of contaminated sediments and river flows allows state and federal agencies to make better informed and more efficient decisions on cleanup strategies. Ecological risk assessment methodologies are improving and will become critical to many natural resource management decisions. Environmental NGOs often play a major role in encouraging such research and in overseeing its use in decision-making.

PURSUING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE 1990s AND TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

As these comments suggest, in the third epoch beginning around 1990— toward sustainable communities—much more sophisticated research in environmental science and sustainable development strategies becomes a necessity. In this current epoch, stimulated by the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), emphasis has been placed on reconciliation of economic development and environmental protection. In particular, human needs and the needs of natural systems have to be brought into harmony on a long-term basis. Doing so requires a different kind of decision-making within both government and industry.

As a result, emphasis increasingly has been placed on comprehensive analysis of environmental problems, use of systems design and management, computer modeling of human-natural systems interactions, life-cycle product

Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×

analysis, and much greater attention to product design and materials use. Moving toward sustainable development as a goal also requires (a) new mechanisms and institutions that can assist in balancing human and ecosystem needs, and (b) new policy strategies and tools. These tools include use of market incentives, public-private partnerships, and extensive public involvement in environmental decision-making.

These new policy approaches and tools highlight a special role to be played by environmental NGOs. In addition to the activities noted above such as public education, collection and dissemination of scientific information, lobbying of public officials, and litigation, environmental NGOs increasingly have been active participants in governmental decision-making. This has been particularly the case at the local, regional, and state levels where the groups have shifted, as noted above, from an earlier adversarial style to one characterized much more by cooperation, collaboration, and professionalism. Many environmental NGOs have become key stakeholders in these local exercises in collaborative decision-making. They sit at the table with industry, government officials, and scientists, and they bring a distinctive perspective to these proceedings.

Table 4 lists five cases that illustrate these new roles for environmental NGOs. No single case tells the full story, and these new strategies continue to evolve. Some cases of collaboration at the local and regional level are remarkably successful while other are not. Among the former is the approval of a Habitat Conservation Plan adopted in the San Diego, California, area. Developers, citizen groups, environmentalists, and government officials reached agreement on a plan designed both to conserve the habitat of endangered and threatened species and to offer a reasonable level of economic development in the region.

Development of a comprehensive plan to help restore the Florida Everglades similarly illustrates the potential of these new policy strategies. This was the most complex, extensive, and costly U.S. effort to date to restore a damaged ecosystem. Development of the plan was characterized by extensive stakeholder involvement and collaboration and negotiation among multiple levels of government. Environmental NGOs and the business community were heavily involved in these processes which took years to complete. Restoration itself will take place over the next three decades or more.10

Examination of these and other cases suggests that certain factors help to account for successful collaboration and movement toward sustainable development. Table 5 summarizes these factors. Among the most important is community leadership, particularly by “policy entrepreneurs.” These are well-informed and respected leaders who can articulate the issues, help to design appropriate solutions, and bring the various stakeholders together. In addition, support by the community and especially by business leaders is critical to success. Such support appears to be gained in part by providing full access to scientific and other key information, and use of an open decision-making

Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×

process that allows for and encourages extensive citizen involvement. Finally, communities must be able to establish clear goals for sustainable development, and this too requires the availability and widespread discussion of how economic, social, and environmental goals interrelate to form a basis for sustainable development. Scientific expertise and modeling or simulation exercises can help build such goals and public understanding.

Clearly, environmental NGOs play a crucial role in this third epoch of sustainability, and they do so at all levels of government. They continue to play the same roles in policymaking as they did in the 1970s and 1980s, but in the 1990s and the early twenty-first century they have the additional advantage of greater resources and access to new information technologies. Perusal of their Web pages indicates the enormous capabilities they bring to their roles of public education, lobbying, and involvement in the newer forms of collaborative decision-making. Table 6 lists selected Web sites for a wide range of both governmental agencies and environmental NGOs.

It is unclear how easily these roles and activities of environmental NGOs can be duplicated in Russia. There is a long American tradition of encouraging citizen involvement in governmental decision-making, and multiple points of access are provided in the U.S. political system at all levels of government. The U.S. public is highly concerned about environmental problems and is generally sympathetic toward the agendas of environmental NGOs. Those NGOs are often quite capable of participating in decision-making from the local to the national level and increasingly they are expected to participate and to balance the perspectives found in industry and government.

As Russia develops economically, there will be many opportunities to further build an emerging civil society and to create decision-making processes that can facilitate contributions by environmental NGOs. Scientific NGOs are likely to play a central role for years to come as citizen groups themselves begin to develop. Such a role would be enhanced to the extent that scientists are willing and able to assist the public and policymakers in understanding environmental problems, their causes, and possible solutions. Such a role has been underscored in recent years by many prominent scientists.11

Yet science alone is almost never sufficient to design, adopt, and implement environmental policy. Policy decisions inevitably involve social, economic, and political judgments about levels of acceptable risk, which policy strategies will work best, political feasibility, and administrative feasibility. Hence the role of science is to inform those judgments, not necessarily to make them. At the same time, public officials must be receptive to concerns voiced by the public and scientists.

If the experience of the United States is pertinent, the concept of sustainable development may provide a vehicle for bringing policymakers, scientists, and citizens together to discuss environmental problems of concern and their relationship to social and economic issues. People disagree about what

Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×

sustainability means, and this is why it should be considered to be a process as much as it is an end state of environmental conditions. Environmental NGOs can help to create a public dialogue about long-term needs and how best to reconcile conflicting values and goals. These processes can take place at all levels of government and within many different institutions. The U.S. experience suggests that they are particularly promising at local and regional levels where environmental problems are most visible and citizens may be more strongly motivated to take interest and participate actively in discussions and decision-making.

TABLE 1 From Environmental Protection to Sustainable Communities

 

Regulating for Environmental Protection 1970–1990

Efficiency-Based Regulatory Reform and Flexibility 1980–1990s

Toward Sustainable Communities 1990-onward

Problem identification and policy objectives

• pollution caused primarily by callous and unthinking business and industry

• establish as national priority the curtailment of air, water, and land pollution caused by industry and other human activity

• managing pollution through market-based and collaborative mechanisms

• subject environmental regulations to cost-effectiveness test

• internalize pollution costs

• pursue economically optimal use of resources and energy

• introduce pollution prevention

• add policies on toxic waste and chemicals as national priorities

• bringing into harmony human and natural systems on a Sustainable basis

• balance long-term societal and natural system needs through system design and management

• rediscover/emphasis on resource conservation

• halt diminution of biodiversity

• embrace an eco-centric ethic

Implementation philosophy

• develop the administrative and regulatory legal infrastructure to ensure compliance with federal and state regulations

• shift to state and local level for initiative in compliance and enforcement

• create market mechanisms for protection of the environment

• develop new mechanisms and institutions that balance the needs of human and natural systems, both within the U.S. and around the globe

Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×

 

Regulating for Environmental Protection 1970–1990

Efficiency-Based Regulatory Reform and Flexibility 1980–1990s

Toward Sustainable Communities 1990-onward

Points of intervention

• end of the production pipeline

• end of the waste stream

• at the point of local, state, and federal governmental activity

• the market-place, which serves as the arbiter of product viability

• provide education and training at several points along the cradle-to-grave path of materials and resource use

• societal level needs assessment and goal prioritization

• industry-level attention to product design, materials selection, and environmental strategic planning

• individual behavior and life-style choices

Policy approaches and “tools”

• policy managed by Washington, DC

• command-and-control regulation

• substantial federal technology R&D

• generous federal funding of health and pollution prevention projects

• policy managed more by states and affected communities

• federal role shifts to facilitation and oversight

• introduction of incentive-based approaches (taxes, fees, emissions trading) for business and industry

• creation of emissions-trading markets

• comprehensive future visioning

• regional planning based on sustainability guidelines

• Total Quality Environmental Management (TQEM) and life-cycle-design practice in industry

• various experiments with new approaches

Information and data management needs

• firm-level emissions

• waste stream contents and tracking

• human health effects

• environmental compliance accounting in industry

• costing out environmental harms and benefits of reduced pollution

• provision of readily accessible emissions data, e.g., through Toxics Release Inventory and right-to-know programs

• professional protocols for environmental accounting in industry

• ecosystem mapping

• sustainability criteria and indicators

• eco-human support system thresholds

• region/community-global interaction effects (e.g., regarding CO2 emissions and depletion of ozone layer)

• utilization of ecological footprint analysis

• use of material and energy “flow-through” inventories and accounting

• computer modeling of human-natural systems interactions

Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×

 

Regulating for Environmental Protection 1970–1990

Efficiency-Based Regulatory Reform and Flexibility 1980–1990s

Toward Sustainable Communities 1990-onward

Predominant political/ institutional context

• rule of law

• adversarial relations

• zero-sum politics

• focus on national regulatory agencies and enforcement mechanisms

• alternative dispute resolution techniques

• greater stakeholder and public participation, especially, at the state and local level

• reliance on the market place

• public/private partnerships

• local/regional collaborations

• community capacity building and consensus building

• mechanisms created to enforce “collective” decisions

Key events and public actions

• Santa Barbara oil spill

• Earth Day

• passage of the 1970 CAA and 1972 CWA

• passage of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

• creation of the Environmental Protection Agency

•Carter administration/focus on cost of environmental regulation,

•election of President Ronald Reagan

• Love Canal, Bhopal

• RCRA and SARA

• growth in state and local environmental policy capacity

• attention to global issues of sustainability

• Brundtland report, Our Common Future

• Earth Summit (UNCED)

• collective international action-Montreal Protocol on CFCs, international accords on global warming

 

Source: Mazmanian, Daniel A. and Michael E.Kraft, eds. 1999. Toward Sustainable Communities: Transition and Transformations in Environmental Policy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×

TABLE 2 Major Federal Environmental Laws: 1964 to 1990

1964

Wilderness Act, PL 88–577

1968

Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, PL 90–542

1969

National Environmental Policy Act, PL 91–190

1970

Clean Air Act Amendments, PL 91–604

1972

Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments (Clean Water Act), PL 92–500

Federal Environmental Pesticides Control Act of 1972 (amended the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) of 1947, PL 92–516

Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972, PL 92–532

Marine Mammal Protection Act, PL 92–522

Coastal Zone Management Act, PL 92–583

Noise Control Act, PL 92–574

1973

Endangered Species Act, PL 93–205

1974

Safe Drinking Water Act, PL 93–523

1976

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), PL 94–580

Toxic Substances Control Act, PL 94–469

Federal Land Policy and Management Act, PL 94–579

National Forest Management Act, PL 94–588

1977

Clean Air Act Amendments, PL 95–95

Clean Water Act (CWA), PL 95–217

Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, PL 95–87

1980

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund), PL 96–510

1982

Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, PL 97–425 (amended in 1987 by the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987, PL 100–203)

1984

Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (RCRA amendments), PL 98–616

1986

Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments, PL 99–339

Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act, PL 99–499

1987

Water Quality Act (CWA amendments), PL 100–4

1988

Ocean Dumping Act of 1988, PL 100–688

1990

Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, PL 101–549

 

Source: Kraft, Michael E. 2001. Environmental Policy and Politics, 2nd ed. New York: Addison Wesley Longman. A fuller list with a description of the key features of each act can be found in Vig and Kraft, eds., Environmental Policy, Appendix 1. Natural resource policies are discussed in Chapter 6 in Kraft, and summarized in Table 6.1 in that chapter (pp. 162–63).

Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×

TABLE 3 Membership and Budgets of Selected National Environmental Organizations, 1960–1998

Membership

Organization

Year Founded

1960

1970

1980

1990

1998

1998 Budget ($ million)

Sierra Club

1892

15,000

113,000

181,000

630,000

555,000

47.0

National Audubon Society

1905

32,000

148,000

400,000

600,000

575,000

47.4

National Parks and Conservation Association

1919

15,000

45,000

31,000

100,000

500,000

14.0

Wilderness Society

1935

10,000

54,000

45,000

350,000

350,000

15.0

National Wildlife Federation

1936

NA

540,000

818,000

997,000

4 milliona

100.0

Environmental Defense

1967

*

11,000

46,000

200,000

300,000

23.4

Natural Resources Defense Council

1970

*

*

40,000

150,000

400,000

27.0

Sources:

Bosso, Christopher J. 2000. Environmental Groups and the New Political Landscape, in Environmental Policy, 4th ed., Norman J.Vig and Michael E.Kraft, eds.Washington, DC: CQ Press, pp. 64, 69.

Bosso, Christopher J., 1994. After the Movement: Environmental Activism in the 1990s, in Environmental Policy in the 1990s, 2nd ed. Norman J.Vig and Michael E.Kraft, eds. Washington, DC: CQ Press. Membership figures are notoriously hard to pin down. All figures reported here should be considered estimates and used only to illustrate change over time.

aNWF membership figures before 1998 include full members only, not the much larger number of affiliated members who have membership in other environmental organizations. The figure for 1998 is much larger because the NWF no longer releases data on regular versus affiliate members; thus, it reflects the combined number of members.

*In 1960, neither Environmental Defense nor the Natural Resources Defense Council existed, and in 1970, NRDC was not a membership organization.

Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×

TABLE 4 Selected Cases in Environmental and Natural Resource Protection

1. San Diego, California: Development of a Comprehensive and Broadly Supported Habitat Conservation Plan Under Endangered Species Act.

2. Northeast Wisconsin and the Great Lakes: Use of Collaborative Decision-making to Address Problems of Contaminated River and Harbor Sediments. Work of Remedial Action Plan, Science and Technical Advisory Committee, Fox River PCB Cleanup, and the Natural Resource Damage Assessment Process.

3. Pacific Northwest: Use of Watershed Management Councils to Foster Environmental Planning and Ecosystem Restoration.

4. Florida Everglades: The Most Complex, Extensive, and Costly U.S. Effort at Ecosystem Restoration, with Extensive Stakeholder Involvement, Collaboration, and Negotiation Among Multiple Levels of Government, Environmental NGOs, and the Business Community. Restoration will take place over the next three decades or more.

5. Local Land Conservation Initiatives: Large Number of Measures Approved Through Direct Voter Endorsement in Initiatives and Referenda in Late 1990s to Deal with Urban Sprawl and Loss of Open Space.

Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×

TABLE 5 Factors that Foster Community and Regional Sustainable Development

1. Community leadership. Especially prominent and well-respected “policy entrepreneurs” who can articulate the issues, formulate solutions, and bring together diverse stakeholders from the community, environmental NGOs, government, and business.

2. Business and community support. Public support and citizen and NGO involvement are particularly important. To build such support, communities must provide full access to scientific and other key information, and make decisions in an open process that allows for and encourages citizen involvement.

3. Clear sustainability goals for the community or region. This also means an ability to understand how economic, social, and environmental goals interrelate to form a basis for sustainable development. Scientific expertise and modeling exercises can help build such goals and public understanding.

4. The availability of pertinent scientific knowledge and scientists. Do citizens and public officials have access to scientific expertise? And are scientists willing and able to spend time helping citizens, NGOs, and policymakers understand the technical issues and thus to inform policy judgments. Too often scientists have little interest in playing this vital role.

Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×

TABLE 6 Selected Environmental Internet Sites

General Sites on Public Policy or the Environment

www.policy.com

Policy institutes, advocacy groups, media, businesses, and government agencies, policy news, issue briefings. Links to major environmental organizations.

http://thomas.loc.gov

Library of Congress’s Thomas search engines for locating congressional documents.

www.gao.gov

U.S. General Accounting Office. Evaluation studies and reports on government agencies and programs.

www.epa.gov

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

www.epa.gov/epahome/rules.html

EPA site for laws, rules, and regulations, including the full text of the dozen key laws administered by the EPA.

www.epa.gov/epahome/Programs.html

EPA programs and projects.

www.whitehouse.gov/CEQ

Council on Environmental Quality.

Research and Data Collections

www.cnie.org

National Council for Science and the Environment, formerly Committee for the National Institute for the Environment. Includes issue library, environmental journals, and links to Congressional Research Service.

www.rff.org

Resources for the Future—economic policy analyses and information.

www.worldwatch.org

Worldwatch Institute, with list of Worldwatch papers and other publications.

www.wri.org/wri/index.html

World Resources Institute, with links to international environmental and governmental organizations.

www.scorecard.org

Environmental Defense Fund site for extensive environmental data by city or zip code.

www.epa.gov/epahome/Data.html

EPA databases and software. Good entry point to locating environmental information.

www.epa.gov/ceiswebl/ceishome

Center for Environmental Information and Statistics at EPA.

www.unfpa.org

United Nations Population Fund.

www.census.gov

Census Bureau population data.

www.prb.org

Population Reference Bureau

www.doi.gov

Department of Interior—Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Park Service, U.S. Geological Survey.

www.usda.gov

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.

www.doe.gov

Energy Department.

Environmental Organizations and Advocacy Groups

www.gwu.edu/~greenu/index2.html

Environmental organization Web sites.

www.webdirectory.com

Environmental organization Web directory and search engine for diverse environmental topics.

www.zpg.org

Zero Population Growth, population news and resources.

www.lcv.org

League of Conservation Voters—environmental voting records and information on congressional actions.

Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×

 

www.nrdc.org/nrdc

Natural Resources Defense Council—news and information on public policy issues.

www.nwf.org

National Wildlife Federation

www.2nature.org

Second Nature. Devoted to education for sustainability.

www.sierraclub.org

Sierra Club

www.defenders.org

Defenders of Wildlife

www.edf.org

Environmental Defense (formerly Environmental Defense Fund)

www.foe.org

Friends of the Earth

www.greenpeace.org

Greenpeace International

www.iwla.org

Izaak Walton League of America

www.audubon.org

National Audubon Society

www.npca.org

National Parks and Conservation Association

www.tnc.org

The Nature Conservancy

www.nrdc.org

Natural Resources Defense Council

www.tws.org

Wilderness Society

www.panda.org

World Wildlife Federation

www.enviroweb.org/ef

Earth First!

www.ran.org

Rainforest Action Network

www.farmland.org

American Farmland Trust

Environmental News Sites

www.envirolink.org

Environmental library search.

www.enn.com

Environmental News Network, current news and links.

www.igc.org/igc/econet

Econet, diversified news and links.

http//cnn.com/NATURE

CNN environmental news.

Environmental Education/Careers

http://conbio.rice.edu/cnie/dep

Directory of over 200 environmental programs in higher education.

www.starfish.org

Sustainability and environmental education resources, bibliographies, courses.

www.eco.org

Environmental Careers Organization, internships and jobs in environmental field.

www.webdirectory.com/Employment

comprehensive site for environmental employment information and posting of resumes.

Sustainability Sites

 

www.naturalstep.org

The Natural Step, with principles of sustainability for corporations and others.

www.sustainable.doe.gov

A key site for information on sustainability actions, with extensive links.

www.sustainable.org

Sustainable Communities Network, extensive sustainability and smart growth tools and references.

www.geonetwork.org/links

Geolink Library. Over 400 sustainable development links on urban sprawl, green design, green living, news.

www.rprogress.org

Redefining Progress, offering new measures for redefine the meaning of human progress.

www.whitehouse.gov/PCSD

President’s Council on Sustainable Development.

www.gn.apc.org

GreenNet, computer network for environment, peace, human rights.

Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×

REFERENCES

1Mazmanian, Daniel A. and Michael E.Kraft, eds. 1999. Toward Sustainable Communities: Transition and Transformations in Environmental Policy: Cambridge, MA.: MIT Press.

2In this paper environmental NGOs are assumed to be those nongovernmental organizations that are supportive of environmental protection policies. These include environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense, and the National Wildlife Federation as well as many public health groups such as the American Lung Association. There are other NGOs that typically oppose such policies or seek to limit their impact, such as those associated with the Wise Use Movement (largely in the West), property rights groups, and some state and local governments. Industry and trade associations also tend to be skeptical of governmental intervention. For a description of the “environmental opposition” in the United States, see Switzer, Jacqueline Vaughn . 1997. Green Backlash: The History and Politics of Environmental Opposition in the U.S. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.

3Wenner, Lettie M. 1982. The Environmental Decade in Court. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press and O’Leary, Rosemary. 1993. Environmental Change: Federal Courts and the EPA Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

4For a thoughtful overview of environmental groups and their organizational and political challenges, see Shaiko, Ronald G. 1999. Voices and Echoes for the Environment: Public Interest Representation in the 1990s and Beyond. New York: Columbia University Press. Group strategies and tactics, particularly regarding communication, are addressed in Kraft, Michael E. and Dianna Wuertz. 1996. Environmental Advocacy in the Corridors of Government, in The Symbolic Earth, James G.Cantrill and Christine L.Oravec, eds. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky.

5See Dunlap, Riley E. and Angela G.Mertig, eds. 1992. American Environmentalism: The U.S. Environmental Movement, 1970–1990. Philadelphia: Taylor and Francis.

6See Bosso, Christopher J. Environmental Groups and the New Political Landscape, in Environmental Policy. Vig and Kraft, eds.

7This history can be found in much greater detail in Vig, Norman J. and Michael E.Kraft, eds. 2000. Environmental Policy from the 1970s to 2000: An Overview, in Environmental Policy, 4th ed., Washington, DC: CQ Press. See also Kraft, Michael E. 2001. Environmental Policy and Politics, 2nd ed. New York: Addison Wesley Longman. A slightly different version of this history can be found in Kraft, Michael E. 2000. U.S. Environmental Policy and Politics: From the 1960s to the 1990s, Journal of Policy History 12, 1: pp. 17–42. For two detailed historical accounts of the last five decades of environmental policy and the role of environmental science and environmental groups, see Hays, Samuel P. 2000. A History of Environmental Politics Since 1945. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, and Lacey, Michael J. ed. 1989. Government and Environmental Politics: Essays on Historical Developments Since World War II. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

8See Freeman III, A.Myrick Economics, Incentives, and Environmental Regulation. And Andrews, Richard N.L. Risk-Based Decisionmaking, in Environmental Policy, 4th ed., Vig and Kraft, eds.

9See, for example, Sexton, Ken, Alfred A.Marcus, K.William Easter, and Timothy D. Burkhardt, eds. 1999. Better Environmental Decisions: Strategies for Governments, Businesses, and Communities . Washington, DC: Island Press, and Daniel Press. And Mazmanian, Daniel A.

Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×

Understanding the Transition to a Sustainable Economy, in Environmental Policy. Vig and Kraft, eds.

10For one assessment of how environmental NGOs worked closely with industry and government officials in a local case involving water quality in a river basin and remediation of PCB-contaminated sediments, see Kraft, Michael E. Clean Water and the Promise of Collaborative Decision Making: The Case of the Fox-Wolf Basin in Wisconsin, in Toward Sustainable Communities, Mazmanian and Kraft, eds. A broad review of cases that illustrate collaboration in natural resource protection can be found in Wondolleck, Julia M. and Steven L.Yaffee. 2000. Making Collaboration Work: Lessons from Innovation in Natural Resource Management. Washington, DC: Island Press.

11See, for example, Lubchenco, Jane. January 23. Entering the Century of the Environment: A New Social Contract for Science. Science 279: pp. 491–97.

Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
This page in the original is blank.
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 141
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 142
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 143
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 144
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 145
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 146
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 147
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 148
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 149
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 150
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 151
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 152
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 153
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 154
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 155
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 156
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 157
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 158
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 159
Suggested Citation:"19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades." National Research Council. 2001. The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10240.
×
Page 160
Next: 20 Collaboration of Regional Government Bodies with Environmental Public Organizations: The Example of Tomsk Oblast »
The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons: Proceedings of a Workshop Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $80.00 Buy Ebook | $64.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

An NRC committee was established to work with a Russian counterpart group in conducting a workshop in Moscow on the effectiveness of Russian environmental NGOs in environmental decision-making and prepared proceedings of this workshop, highlighting the successes and difficulties faced by NGOs in Russia and the United States.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!