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Environmental Policy, Federalism, and the Obama Presidency

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  • David M. Konisky
  • Neal D. Woods

Abstract

Environmental policy is a central piece of President Obama’s domestic policy agenda. Congressional gridlock, however, has frequently compelled the Obama Administration to turn to the tools of the administrative presidency to achieve its goals. While executive authority has enabled the President to pursue a relatively ambitious environmental agenda, it has often engendered conflict with Congress, industry, and some states. High levels of intergovernmental conflict have plagued the Obama Administration in several areas of environmental policy, including investment in renewable energy, Environmental Protection Agency regulations on air pollution, and executive actions to manage public lands. And, for their part, states have continued to pursue their own policy goals in the absence of federal policy, with episodes of both policy innovation and retrenchment. Although President Obama’s approach continues a trend of presidents primarily using the tools of the administrative presidency, the President’s signature climate change policy, the Clean Power Plan, may signal an evolving intergovernmental partnership in environmental policy.

Suggested Citation

  • David M. Konisky & Neal D. Woods, 2016. "Environmental Policy, Federalism, and the Obama Presidency," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 46(3), pages 366-391.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:publus:v:46:y:2016:i:3:p:366-391.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/publius/pjw004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Thomas P. Lyon & Haitao Yin, 2010. "Why Do States Adopt Renewable Portfolio Standards?: An Empirical Investigation," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3), pages 133-158.
    2. Henry N. Butler, 1996. "Using Federalism to Improve Environmental Policy," Books, American Enterprise Institute, number 53022, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Neal D Woods, 2021. "An Environmental Race to the Bottom? “No More Stringent” Laws in the American States," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 51(2), pages 238-261.
    2. Axel Dreher & Kai Gehring & Christos Kotsogiannis & Silvia Marchesi, 2018. "Information transmission within federal fiscal architectures: theory and evidence," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(1), pages 243-265.
    3. Lim, Taekyoung & Guzman, Tatyana S. & Bowen, William M., 2020. "Rhetoric and Reality: Jobs and the Energy Provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    4. Rajesh Sahu & Pramod Kumar, 2023. "The Missing Nexus: A Historical and Contemporary Position of the United States on Climate Change Action," International Studies, , vol. 60(4), pages 444-479, October.
    5. Erin C. Pischke & Barry D. Solomon & Adam M. Wellstead, 2018. "A historical analysis of US climate change policy in the Pan-American context," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 8(2), pages 225-232, June.
    6. Craig Jones & Luke Fowler, 2022. "Administration, rhetoric, and climate policy in the Obama presidency," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 39(4), pages 512-532, July.
    7. Pan, Dan & Chen, Huan, 2021. "Border pollution reduction in China: The role of livestock environmental regulations," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    8. Lee, Nathan R., 2020. "When competition plays clean: How electricity market liberalization facilitated state-level climate policies in the United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).

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