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The Nature of Environmental
Conflict
Chapter 1
Environmental Dispute Resolution
Bacow & Wheeler, 1987
Changing Attitudes Toward the
Environment
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Not that long ago, economic development
was viewed as the cornerstone of social
progress
However, since the 1960s attitudes have
changed a great deal because people
realized that few of the benefits of ED
come without costs
The negative consequences of ED have
always been with us, what has changed is
peoples’ attitudes about them
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Plausible explanations for rising environmental
consciousness include:
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The costs of economic development are often long
term & cumulative, and therefore it takes years for
people to fully appreciate the impacts of pollution
Peoples’ values have fundamentally changed
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Recent wave of environmentalism grew in the turbulent
period in the 60s & 70s – a time of political ferment and
change
Reaction to excessive materialism
Antiestablishment impulse
Political & legal institutions lay the groundwork for
environmental change
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Passage of new legislation has created momentum for the
environmental movement as a whole
Water quality legislation passage in the 60s created
momentum for clean air provisions in the 70s
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As distinct as these three explanations appear, the
common thread among them is that they are each
grounded in conflict
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To the extent that environmentalism is related to a
growing awareness of the long-term impacts of
development, some people will suffer costs more
acutely than others
To the extent that environmentalism is related to a
change in peoples' values, the attitudes of particular
individuals & groups may still be in sharp conflict
To the extent that legal and political institutions
influenced the rise of the environmental movement,
they have always operated in a contentious arena
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Environmental conflict has been manifested
repeatedly in a wide range of cases and in a
variety of forms (demonstrations, court
injunctions, objections in regulatory hearings,
etc.)
Conflicts do not come without costs
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Transactions costs
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Costs related to the methods of resolving conflicts
When environmental disputes go to court, litigants on all
sides can incur substantial legal fees
Delays in the courtroom impose great costs on developers
and consumers
When industry, government & citizen groups get locked into
contentious battles, they all inevitably must consume
resources that could be used elsewhere productively
Costs associated with the ends of a conflict as well as
the means
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Although environmental conflict cannot be
eliminated, there is still reason to believe it
can be managed more efficiently
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Costs can be reduced
The quality of decisions can be enhanced
For the most part, the environmental debate
has been focused on substantive, transactional
questions rather than overlying strategies for
resolving conflicts
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In attempting to identify the methods that can be
used to address environmental conflict, it is
relevant to ask the following questions:
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What is gained/lost when judges must resolve
complex scientific questions?
What way do current administrative procedures breed
disputes instead of preventing them?
Is it possible to revise our procedures so as to promote
more equitable and efficient environmental
policymaking?
What are alternatives to environmental litigation?
Why is it often difficult to solve environmental cases
out of court?
To what extent do collective bargaining and mediation
of international disputes offer useful lessons?
The Sources of Environmental Conflict
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People have differing views over what constitutes good
policy for the environment
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The essence of the dispute is a question of policy
If environmental disputes are to be resolved, it is essential to
understand the more fundamental conflicts that underlie them
People often take opposing positions because they have
differing stakes in the outcome
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A simple assessment of the distributional consequences (who
wins and who loses) can provide important insights into the
politics of environmental controversies
Such an assessment can be the first step in creating solutions
as it enables us to enumerate costs and benefits of potential
policies
Because of uncertainty involved in environmental
policymaking, it is oftentimes impossible to identify winners
and losers
Decision Trees
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Illustrate how uncertainty about physical
and economic impacts is central to many
environmental disputes
Introduces a mode of analysis for making
decisions when the consequences are not
completely clear
Simple Decision Tree
Decision making under uncertainty
Dirty
Clean
Dirty
Clean
Comparing probabilities and impacts
Dirty (-$1,000,000)
Clean (-$0)
Dirty (-$25,000)
Clean (-$0)
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Most environmental conflicts are similar to
the landfill-incinerator example
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Conflict arises not only because of the
distributional consequences of the project, but
because people assess probabilities,
outcomes, and risks differently