Political Institutions and Supply-Side Climate Politics: Lessons from Coal Ports in Canada and the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 51-72
Author(s):  
Kathryn Harrison
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Transport Infrastructure ◽  
Supply Side ◽  
Climate Politics ◽  
Subsequent Withdrawal

In recent years, a new “supply-side” climate politics has emerged as activists have turned their attention from fossil fuel combustion to fossil fuel extraction and transport. This article investigates conditions for success of anti–fossil-fuel activism by comparing the fate of two proposed coal terminals on either side of the Canada–United States border. Both cases highlight that fossil fuel transport infrastructure is especially vulnerable to opposition as a result of concentrated costs and limited economic benefits in transit jurisdictions that did not produce the fossil fuels in question. Still, not all contexts are equally amenable to supply-side contestation. Institutional differences explain approval of a new coal port in Canada, while a similar US facility was rejected: a weaker environmental assessment regime and more limited opportunities for local government and Indigenous vetoes. However, the regulator’s subsequent withdrawal of the still-pending Canadian terminal’s permit five years later reveals that delay can be as good as victory for opponents when markets for fossil fuels decline.

scholarly journals An Analysis of Fossil-Fuel Dependence in the United States with Implications for Community Social Work

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Polack ◽  
Shelly Wood ◽  
Kimyatta N. Smith
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Community Organizing ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
The United States ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Energy Sustainability ◽  
Local Economies ◽  
Economic Problems

This article examines fossil-fuel dependence in the United States with emphasis on the areas of transportation and food. It is argued that fossil-fuel dependence will cause significant social and economic problems in the future and that ongoing usage is a major contributor to mounting environmental degradation. Ultimately, the authors argue that our fossil-fuel based economy is unsustainable and that efforts should be taken to reduce usage and dependence. A growing community movement aimed at revitalizing local economies and reducing fossil-fuel usage has recently emerged. Social work can bring critically important values and knowledge to these and similar efforts, especially in regard to community organizing and the participation of marginalized populations. Key Words: Fossil Fuels, Energy, Sustainability, Local Economy, Community Organizing, Social Work

Driving to the End of America’s Birthright

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard G. Wilshire ◽  
Richard W. Hazlett ◽  
Jane E. Nielson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Previous History ◽  
The United States ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
American People ◽  
Technological Base ◽  
Oil Wealth ◽  
The 1960S

In a 1957 speech, the legendary and controversial scientist and submariner Admiral Hyman G. Rickover noted, “Our civilization rests upon a technological base which requires enormous quantities of fossil fuels.” Rickover understood that the United States was producing and using as much oil in the 1950s as we had in all our previous history and worried, “What assurance do we . . . have that our energy needs will continue to be supplied by fossil fuels: The answer is—in the long run—none.” Rickover also warned that failing to conserve our oil wealth could leave us destitute. The United States doubled oil production and consumption again in the 1960s, and again in the 1970s—ignoring Rickover’s appeal “to think soberly about our responsibilities to our descendents—those who will ring out the Fossil Fuel Age.” Unrestrained fossil fuel consumption has propelled the United States to a level of affluence previously unknown in human history. Fossil fuels, petroleum (oil and natural gas), and coal, represent the “stored sunlight of millions and millions of years deposited in an energy bank account in the Earth by geological processes.” Since the early twentieth century, the whole world has been using up this inheritance “in a geological instant.” Cars and other transportation consume the major proportion of the world’s oil, but petroleum also is the raw material for a wide variety of industrial products, fabrics, and medicines (see appendix 3). Without it, every facet of modern life would be less convenient, less comfortable, and far less mobile. Massive energy consumption has addicted Americans to cheap fossil fuels. Energy addicts overheat the house and wear T-shirts all winter, tend to own two or more refrigerators, and maintain a vehicular fleet. Many believe that having and driving cars is a more important American liberty than voting (see chapter 5). Along with U.S. Senator Trent Lott, they feel that “the American people have a right to drive a great big road-hog SUV if they want to.”

scholarly journals An Attack on the Separation of Powers? Strategic Climate Litigation in the Eyes of U.S. Judges

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8335
Author(s):  
Jasmina Nedevska
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
Climate Politics ◽  
The Social ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
Research Plan

Climate change litigation has emerged as a powerful tool as societies steer towards sustainable development. Although the litigation mainly takes place in domestic courts, the implications can be seen as global as specific climate rulings influence courts across national borders. However, while the phenomenon of judicialization is well-known in the social sciences, relatively few have studied issues of legitimacy that arise as climate politics move into courts. A comparatively large part of climate cases have appeared in the United States. This article presents a research plan for a study of judges’ opinions and dissents in the United States, regarding the justiciability of strategic climate cases. The purpose is to empirically study how judges navigate a perceived normative conflict—between the litigation and an overarching ideal of separation of powers—in a system marked by checks and balances.

scholarly journals Risk and Impact Assessment of Dams in the Contiguous United States Using the 2018 National Inventory of Dams Database

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1066
Author(s):  
Junho Song ◽  
Madden Sciubba ◽  
Jonghun Kam
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Storage Capacity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Spatiotemporal Patterns ◽  
Dam Failure ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Hazard Potential ◽  
Significant Potential ◽  
National Inventory

Aging water infrastructure in the United States (U.S.) is a growing concern. In the U.S., over 90,000 dams were registered in the 2018 National Inventory of Dams (NID) database, and their average age was 57 years old. Here, we aim to assess spatiotemporal patterns of the growth of artificial water storage of the existing dams and their hazard potential and potential economic benefit. In this study, we use more than 70,000 NID-registered dams to assess the cumulative hazard potential of dam failure in terms of the total number and the cumulative maximum storage of dams over the 12 National Weather Service River Forecast Center (RFC) regions. In addition, we also estimate potential economic benefits of the existing dams based on their cumulative storage capacity. Results show that the ratios of the cumulative storage capacity to the long-term averaged precipitation range from 8% (Mid-Atlantic) to 50% (Colorado), indicating the significant anthropogenic contribution to the land surface water budget. We also find that the cumulative storage capacity of the dams with high (probable loss of human life is if the dam fails) and significant (potential economic loss and environmental damage with no probable casualty) hazard potential ranges from 50% (North Central) to 98% (Missouri and Colorado) of the total storage capacity within the corresponding region. Surprisingly, 43% of the dams with either high or significant potential hazards have no Emergency Action Plan. Potential economic benefits from the existing dams range from $0.7 billion (Mid Atlantic) to $15.4 billion (West Gulf). Spatiotemporal patterns of hazard potential and economic benefits from the NID-registered dams indicate a need for the development of region-specific preparation, emergency, and recovery plans for dam failure. This study provides an insight about how big data, such as the NID database, can provide actionable information for community resilience toward a safer and more sustainable environment.

The Ramparts of Nations: Institutions and Immigration Policies in France and the United States. By Jeffrey M. Togman. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2001. 176p. $49.00.

2002 ◽  
Vol 96 (4) ◽  
pp. 871-872
Author(s):  
Leah Haus
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
The United States ◽  
Immigration Policies ◽  
Policy Outcome

Faced with similar economic circumstances, France and the United States adopted different immigration policies at various times in the twentieth century. Jeffrey Togman asks why. To account for this variation in public policy outcome, he points to the different structure of political institutions in the two countries.

Understanding International Trade Policies: An Emerging Synthesis

1990 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
John S. Odell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Trade ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
The United States ◽  
Trade Policies ◽  
Market Conditions ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Beliefs And Values

The international trade problems of the 1980s stimulated an expansion of scholarship on trade policies by economists and political scientists. At least four distinct theoretical perspectives weave their way through recent literature that concentrates on the United States—emphasizing market conditions, policy beliefs and values, national political institutions, and global structures, respectively. New studies in each of these traditions advance beyond the work of their predecessors, but none of the perspectives has yet proved adequate as a single unifying vehicle. Nevertheless, we can also see clear movement toward a synthesis, with single works blending insights from several traditions. Thus, the books under review do not all fall neatly into the familiar exclusive categories of “economics” or “political science.” The emerging synthesis needs strengthening in several ways, including the development of “conditioning hypotheses” that will reduce remaining apparent confusions.

scholarly journals Exit, Voice and Political Change: Evidence from Swedish Mass Migration to the United States

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mounir Karadja ◽  
Erik Prawitz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
Travel Costs ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
Initial Wave ◽  
Political Effects ◽  
Welfare Expenditures ◽  
Using Data

We study the political effects of mass emigration to the United States in the nineteenth century using data from Sweden. To instrument for total emigration over several decades, we exploit severe local frost shocks that sparked an initial wave of emigration, interacted with within-country travel costs. Our estimates show that emigration substantially increased the local demand for political change, as measured by labor movement membership, strike participation, and voting. Emigration also led to de facto political change, increasing welfare expenditures as well as the likelihood of adopting more inclusive political institutions.

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