Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T23:20:30.181Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Are Republicans Bad for the Environment?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2021

Luke Fowler Open the ORCID record for Luke Fowler [Opens in a new window]  and
Jaclyn J. Kettler
Luke Fowler*
Affiliation:
Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA
Jaclyn J. Kettler
Affiliation:
Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA
*
Luke Fowler, School of Public Service, Boise State University, 1910 University Drive–MS 1935, Boise, ID83725-0001, USA. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Does the partisanship of officeholders affect environmental outcomes? The popular perception is that Republicans are bad for the environment, but complicating factors like federalism may limit this outcome. Using a dataset that tracks toxic releases over 20 years, we examine how partisan control of executive and legislative branches at both state and federal levels affect environmental policy. Moving beyond the passage of policies or environmental program spending allows us to fully understand the impact of Republicans on the environment. In addition, we take into account structural complications that may shape the relationship between Republican control and environmental outcomes. We find that the conventional wisdom that Republicans are bad for the environment has some validity, but it is dependent on what offices Republican elected officials occupy. More specifically, Republicans significantly affect toxic chemical releases when occupying governorships and controlling Congress. Our conclusions provide further insight into understanding how partisanship affects environmental outcomes, including how partisanship composition across the federal system matters.

Keywords

environmental policypublic policyfederal and state politicsfederalismlegislative and executive interactionlegislative politicspolitical partiesparties and interest groupsbureaucracyexecutive politics
Type
Original Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , June 2021 , pp. 195 - 219
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, Monica . 2017. “For Earth Day, Here’s How Americans View Environmental Issues.” Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/20/for-earth-day-heres-how-americans-view-environmental-issues/ (accessed April 3, 2019).Google Scholar
Bacot, A. Hunter, Dawes, Roy A . 1997. “State Expenditures and Policy Outcomes in Environmental Program Management.” Policy Studies Journal 25 (3): 355–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrilleaux, Charles . 1999. “Governors, Bureaus, and State Policymaking.” State and Local Government Review 31 (1): 53–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrilleaux, Charles, Berkman, Michael . 2003. “Do Governors Matter? Budgeting Rules and the Politics of State Policymaking.” Political Research Quarterly 56 (4): 409–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bawn, Kathleen, Cohen, Martin, Karol, David, Masket, Seth, Noel, Hans, Zaller, John . 2012. “A Theory of Political Parties: Groups, Policy Demands and Nominations in American Politics.” Perspectives on Politics 10 (3): 571–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, Andrew, Jones, Kelvyn . 2015. “Explaining Fixed Effects: Random Effects Modeling of Time-Series Cross-Sectional Panel Data.” Political Science Research and Methods 3 (1): 133–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, William D., Ringquist, Evan J., Fording, Richard C., Hanson, Russell L . 1998. “Measuring Citizen and Government Ideology in the American States, 1960-1993.” American Journal of Political Science 42 (1): 327–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beyle, Thad, Ferguson, Margaret . 2008. “Governors and the Executive Branch.” In Politics in the American States, 9th ed., eds. Gray, Virginia, Hanson, Russell L . Washington, DC: CQ Press, 192–228.Google Scholar
Bowen, William M., Wells, Michael V . 2002. “The Politics and Reality of Environmental Justice: A History and Considerations for Public Administrators and Policy Makers.” Public Administration Review 62 (6): 688–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bromley-Trujillo, Rebecca, Holman, Mirya, Sandoval, Andres . 2019. “Hot Districts, Cool Legislation: Evaluating Agenda Setting in Climate Change Bill Sponsorship in US States.” State Politics & Policy Quarterly 19 (3): 375–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carley, Sanya . 2011. “The Era of State Energy Policy Innovation: A Review of Policy Instruments.” Review of Policy Research 28 (3): 265–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. 2019. “State Climate Policy Maps.” https://www.c2es.org/content/state-climate-policy/ (accessed April 11, 2019).Google Scholar
Chang, Howard F., Sigman, Hilary, Traub, Leah G . 2014. “Endogenous Decentralization in Federal Environmental Policies.” International Review of Law & Economics 37:39–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, Tom S., Linzer, Drew A . 2015. “Should I Use Fixed or Random Effects?” Political Science Research and Methods 3 (2): 399–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coffey, Daniel J. 2014. “Federal Parties and Polarization.” In The State of the Parties: The Changing Role of Contemporary American Politics, eds. Green, John Clifford, Coffey, Daniel J., Cohen, David B . Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 137–53.Google Scholar
Crotty, Patricia McGree . 1987. “The New Federalism Game: Primacy Implementation of Environmental Policy.” Publius 17 (2): 53–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daley, Dorothy M., Garand, James C . 2005. “Horizontal Diffusion, Vertical Diffusion, and Internal Pressure in State Environmental Policymaking, 1989-1998.” American Politics Research 33 (5): 615–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daniels, David P., Krosnick, Jon A., Tichy, Michael P., Tompson, Trevor . 2012. “Public Opinion on Environmental Policy in the United States.” In Handbook of U.S. Environmental Policy, eds. Kraft, Michael, Kamieniecki, Sheldon . New York: Oxford University Press, 461–86.Google Scholar
Dietz, Thomas, Frank, Kenneth A., Whitley, Cameron T., Kelly, Jennifer, Kelly, Rachel . 2015. “Political Influences on Greenhouse Gas Emissions from US States.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112 (27): 8254–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dinda, Soumayananda . 2004. “Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis: A Survey.” Ecological Economics 49 (4): 431–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dometrius, Nelson C. 2002. “Gubernatorial Approval and Administrative Influence.” State Politics & Policy Quarterly 2 (3): 251–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunlap, Riley E., McCright, Aaron M . 2008. “A Widening Gap: Republican and Democratic Views on Climate Change.” Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development 50 (5): 26–35.Google Scholar
Fowler, Luke . 2016a. “Local Governments: The ‘Hidden Partners’ of Air Quality Management.” State and Local Government Review 48 (3): 175–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fowler, Luke . 2016b. “The States of Public Opinion on the Environment.” Environmental Politics 25 (2): 315–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fowler, Luke . 2019. “Problems, Politics, and Policy Streams in Policy Implementation.” Governance 32:403–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, John Georges Monette . 1992. “Generalized Collinearity Diagnostics.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 87 (417): 178–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francia, Peter L., Morris, Jonathan S . 2014. “The Divided Republicans? Tea Party Supporters, Establishment Republicans, and Social Networks.” In The State of the Parties: The Changing Role of Contemporary American Politics, eds. Green, John C., Coffey, Daniel J., Cohen, David B . Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 175–90.Google Scholar
Gromley, William T. 2006. “Money and Mandates: The Politics of Intergovernmental Conflict.” Publius 36 (4): 523–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grossmann, Matt, Dominguez, Casey B. K . 2009. “Party Coalitions and Interest Group Networks.” American Politics Research 37 (5): 767–800.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howell, William G., Lewis, David E . 2002. “Agencies by Presidential Design.” Journal of Politics 64 (4): 1095–1114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huber, John D., Shipan, Charles R., Pfahler, Madelaine . 2001. “Legislatures and Statutory Control of Bureaucracy.” American Journal of Political Science 45 (2): 330–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Martin, Brace, Paul, Arceneaux, Kevin . 2005. “Public Opinion and Dynamic Representation in the American States: The Case of Environmental Attitudes.” Social Science Quarterly 86 (1): 87–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kamieniecki, Sheldon . 1995. “Political Parties and Environmental Policy.” In Environmental Politics and Policy: Theories and Evidence, 2nd ed., ed. Lester, James P . Durham: Duke University Press, 146–67.Google Scholar
Kim, Sung Eun, Urpelainen, Johannes . 2018. “Environmental Public Opinion in the U.S. States, 1973-2012.” Environmental Politics 27 (1): 89–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koger, Gregory, Masket, Seth, Noel, Hans . 2010. “Cooperative Party Factions in American Politics.” American Politics Research 38 (1): 33–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Konisky, David M. 2007. “Regulatory Competition and Environmental Enforcement: Is There a Race to the Bottom?” American Journal of Political Science 51 (4): 853–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Konisky, David M., Milyo, Jeffrey, Richardson, Lilliard E . 2008. “Environmental Policy Attitudes: Issues, Geographical Scale, and Political Trust.” Social Science Quarterly 89:1066–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Konisky, David M., Woods, Neal D . 2010. “Exporting Air Pollution? Regulatory Enforcement and Environmental Free Riding in the United States.” Political Research Quarterly 63 (4): 771–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Konisky, David M., Woods, Neal D . 2012. “Measuring State Environmental Policy.” Review of Policy Research 29 (4): 544–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Konisky, David M., Woods, Neal D . 2016. “Environmental Policy, Federalism, and the Obama Presidency.” Publius 46 (3): 366–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Konisky, David M., Woods, Neal D . 2018. “Environmental Federalism and the Trump Presidency: A Preliminary Assessment.” Publius 48 (3): 345–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koski, Chris . 2007. “Regulatory Choices: Analyzing State Policy Design.” Law & Policy 29 (4): 407–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Layzer, Judith A. 2012. Open for Business: Conservatives’ Opposition to Environmental Regulation. Cambridge: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lester, James P. 1995. “Federalism and State Environmental Policy.” In Environmental Politics and Policy: Theories and Evidence, 2nd ed., ed. Lester, James P . Durham: Duke University Press, 39–60.Google Scholar
McCright, Aaron M., Xiao, Chenyang, Dunlap, Riley E . 2014. “Political Polarization on Support for Government Spending on Environmental Protection in the USA, 1974-2012.” Social Science Research 48:251–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). 2019. “State Partisan Composition.” http://www.ncsl.org/research/about-state-legislatures/partisan-composition.aspx (accessed January 1, 2019).Google Scholar
Office of Management Budget. 2019. “President’s Budget: Historical Tables.” https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/historical-tables/ (accessed July 8, 2020).Google Scholar
O’Toole, Laurence J., Yu, Chilik, Cooley, James, Cowie, Gail, Crow, Susan, DeMeo, Terry, Herbert, Stephanie . 1997. “Reducing Toxic Chemical Releases and Transfers: Explaining Outcomes for a Voluntary Program.” Policy Studies Journal 25 (1): 11–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pew Research Center. 2017. “Public Dissatisfaction with Washington Weighs on the GOP.” https://www.people-press.org/2017/04/17/public-dissatisfaction-with-washington-weighs-on-the-gop/ (accessed April 13, 2019).Google Scholar
Potoski, Matthew . 1999. “Managing Uncertainty through Bureaucratic Design: Administrative Procedures and State Air Pollution Control Agencies.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 9 (4): 623–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Potoski, Matthew . 2001. “Clean Air Federalism: Do States Race to the Bottom?” Public Administration Review 61 (3): 335–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Potoski, Matthew . 2002. “Designing Bureaucratic Responsiveness: Administrative Procedures and Agency Choice in State Environmental Policy.” State Politics & Policy Quarterly 2 (1): 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Potoski, Matthew, Woods, Neal D . 2000. “Designing State Clean Air Agencies: Administrative Procedures and Bureaucratic Autonomy.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 11 (2): 203–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Primo, David M., Jacobsmeier, Matthew L., Milyo, Jeffrey . 2007. “Estimating the Impact of State Policies and Institutions with Mixed-Level Data.” State Politics & Policy Quarterly 7 (4): 446–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rabe, Barry . 2007. “Environmental Policy and the Bush Era: The Collision between the Administrative Presidency and State Experimentation.” Publius 37 (3): 413–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rabe, Barry . 2008. “States on Steroids: The Intergovernmental Odyssey of American Climate Change Policy.” Review of Policy Research 25 (2): 105–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rabe, Barry . 2011. “Contested Federalism and American Climate Policy.” Publius 41 (3): 494–521.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruckelshaus, William D. 1985. “Environmental Protection: A Brief History of the Environmental Movement in America and the Implications Abroad.” Environmental Law 15 (3): 455–69.Google Scholar
Sapat, Alka . 2004. “Devolution and Innovation: The Adoption of State Environmental Policy Innovations by Administrative Agencies.” Public Administration Review 64 (2): 141–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheberle, Denise . 2004. Federalism and Environmental Policy: Trust and the Politics of Implementation. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Scheberle, Denise . 2005. “The Evolving Matrix of Environmental Federalism and Intergovernmental Relationships.” Publius 35 (1): 69–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scicchitano, Michael J., Hedge, David M . 1993. “From Coercion to Partnership in Federal Partial Preemption: SMCRA, RCRA, and OSH Act.” Publius 23 (4): 107–21.Google Scholar
Shipan, Charles R., Lowry, William R . 2001. “Environmental Policy and Party Divergence in Congress.” Political Research Quarterly 54 (2): 245–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shor, Boris, McCarty, Nolan . 2011. “The Ideological Mapping of American Legislatures.” American Political Science Review 105 (3): 530–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skocpol, Theda, Hertel-Fernandez, Alexander . 2016. “The Koch Network and Republican Party Extremism.” Perspective on Politics 14 (3): 681–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Travis, Rick, Morris, John C., Morris, Elizabeth D . 2004. “State Implementation of Federal Environmental Policy: Leveraging in the State Clean Water Revolving Fund.” Policy Studies Journal 32 (3): 461–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, James M., Isenberg, Andrew C . 2018. The Republican Reversal: Conservatives and the Environment from Nixon to Trump. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2019. “Regional Data.” https://apps.bea.gov/itable/iTable.cfm?ReqID=70&step=1 (accessed January 1, 2019).Google Scholar
U.S. Census. 2019. “Statistical Abstract Series.” https://www.census.gov/library/publications/time-series/statistical_abstracts.html (accessed January 1, 2019).Google Scholar
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2019a. “Learn about the Toxic Release Inventory.” https://www.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program/learn-about-toxics-release-inventory (accessed January 1, 2019)Google Scholar
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2019b. “State Review Framework for Compliance and Enforcement Performance.” https://www.epa.gov/compliance/state-review-framework-compliance-and-enforcement-performance (accessed January 1, 2019).Google Scholar
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2019c. “TRI Basic Data Files: Calendar Year 1987-2017.” https://www.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program/tri-basic-data-files-calendar-years-1987-2017 (accessed January 1, 2019).Google Scholar
U.S. House of Representatives. 2019. “Party Division of the House of Representatives, 1789 to Present.” https://history.house.gov/Institution/Party-Divisions/Party-Divisions/ (accessed January 1, 2019).Google Scholar
U.S. Senate. 2019. “Party Division.” https://www.senate.gov/history/partydiv.htm (accessed January 1, 2019).Google Scholar
Vandeweerdt, Clara, Kerremans, Bart, Cohn, Avery . 2016. “Climate Voting in the US Congress: The Power of Public Concern.” Environmental Politics 25 (2): 268–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, B. Dan, Bohte, John . 2004. “Political Transaction Costs and the Politics of Administrative Design.” Journal of Politics 66 (1): 176–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, B. Dan, Waterman, Richard W . 1991. “The Dynamics of Political Control of the Bureaucracy.” American Political Science Review 85 (3): 801–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woods, Neal D. 2006a. “Interstate Competition and Environmental Regulation: A Test of the Race-to-the-Bottom Thesis.” Social Science Quarterly 87 (1): 174–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woods, Neal D. 2006b. “Primacy Implementation of Environmental Policy in the U.S. States.” Publius 36 (2): 259–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woods, Neal D. 2008. “The Policy Consequences of Political Corruption: Evidence from State Environmental Programs.” Social Science Quarterly 89 (1): 258–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woods, Neal D., Baranowski, Michael . 2007. “Governors and the Bureaucracy: Executive Resources as Sources of Administrative Influence.” International Journal of Public Administration 30 (11): 1219–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woods, Neal D., Konisky, David M., Bowman, Ann O’M . 2009. “You Get What You Pay For: Environmental Policy and Public Health.” Publius 39 (1): 95–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woods, Neal D., Potoski, Matthew . 2010. “Environmental Federalism Revisited: Second-Order Devolution in Air Quality Regulation.” Review of Policy Research 27 (6): 721–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Fowler and Kettler supplementary material

Appendix A

Download Fowler and Kettler supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 45.6 KB