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RESEARCH ARTICLE: Explaining Innovation: The Environmental Protection Agency, Rule Making, and Stakeholder Engagement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 October 2014

Jeffrey J. Cook
Jeffrey J. Cook*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.
*
Address correspondence to: Jeffrey J. Cook, Department of Political Science, Colorado State University, 1782 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO 80523; (phone) 970-491-5156; (e-mail) [email protected].
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Abstract

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been considered one of the most innovative federal agencies in the nation, and the agency recently has employed a new stakeholder engagement practice in rule makings termed shuttle diplomacy. Though the agency has long been experimenting with new stakeholder practices, it is unclear what factors explain the agency’s decision to settle on shuttle diplomacy. This study conducts original interviews with senior career civil servants at the EPA to unpack this decision-making process. These data are then structured by applying Toddi Steelman’s (2010) implementing innovation framework so as to assess what factors are most impactful in the adoption of this new innovative procedure at the EPA. This research suggests that Steelman’s structure and individual variable are of value in explaining the EPA’s rationale for adopting this new practice. Finally, this research discusses the implications of this approach and the practical and political constraints that impact its use.

Environmental Practice 16: 171–181 (2014)

Type
Features
Information
Environmental Practice , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , September 2014 , pp. 171 - 181
Copyright
© National Association of Environmental Professionals 2014 

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