Environmental Politics and Law - Audio John Wargo

The final lecture reviews topics discussed in previous lectures by imagining an ideal society. Professor Wargo talks about success stories in land management in the Adirondacks and pesticide regulation, and notes ongoing challenges in food safety, drinking water quality, personal consumption, population control, and the creation of parks and protected areas. He lectures about the fractured nature of environmental management at different levels of government, and the way governmental and corporate secrecy have affected environmental regulation. He ends the lecture with advice for students.

The lecture discusses the various factors affecting the expansion of the U.S. renewable energy portfolio, as well as the importance of energy efficiency and changes to current consumption. As a case study, Professor Wargo discusses the nine-year effort to create Cape Wind, a wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts. The project has faced opposition for a number of reasons, including noise and disruption of use of private property. The lecture ties the development of more renewable energy options to issues of property rights and discusses ways to overcome challenges in siting, in noise pollution, and in the impacts on wildlife (i.e. avian mortality as a result of wind farms).

The lecture begins a discussion of present and future energy demands and the ways in which we invest in different forms of energy by focusing on nuclear energy use globally. The risks associated with nuclear energy are described, including risk of human error leading to a mass evacuation event, and the challenges faced in finding an adequate nuclear waste storage facility for the United States. Such a facility would be need to be able to store nuclear waste for a million years or more, due to the long half-lives of nuclear waste. The lecture describes the disaster that took place at Chernobyl nuclear plant, and the wide-ranging effects of that disaster on the natural and built environments as well as human health.

The lecture critiques the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) certification system, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). The criteria for being highly rated under LEED emphasize energy efficiency and minimizing waste, but do not prioritize environmental health and limiting use of dangerous plastics and chemicals. USGBC is a non-profit organization, not a government agency, and has employees of for-profit organizations on its board of directors. The lecture discusses the implications of having a non-profit organization run this system and be responsible for evaluating environmental quality in architecture and construction.

The lecture reviews the legal and economic strategies that can be used to manage coastal development. Over half of the United States population lives in coastal areas and will be affected by sea level rise and more intense storms. The lecture looks at the conflict between property rights and efforts to protect coastal ecosystems through the use of eminent domain to create national seashores. Barrier islands such as Fire Island National Seashore and Cape Cod National Seashore are used as case studies; a variety of strategies have been employed to manage these constantly moving islands. The lecture also discusses the role insurance plays in coastal settlement patterns; changes in insurers' policies in high-risk coastal areas could change the way people settle in coastal regions.

The lecture addresses the issue of takings and when the government has the right to seize private property for the public good. The government is required to compensate property owners in some circumstances. Through legal cases, Professor Wargo gives some examples of when compensation is required and why takings are an important management tool for environmental managers.