America''s Energy Gamble - People, Economy and Planet

"This Book's Inspiration, Sources, and Approach This book project emerged from discussions with colleagues and students at the University of Pittsburgh and communities in the tristate region of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia located on the Marcellus Shale. This region has served as a microcosm of the national and global debate over energy. Which of the competing visions of America's future economic, energy, and environmental pathways should the region embrace? Should it drill down on the path of greater shale gas extraction and build its economy and energy pathways around shale? Or should this region, which is still reeling from the collapse of coal extraction and the boom-bust cycles of shale gas, persist in pursuing the goal of economic diversification, even though it poses its own challenges? As I worked with colleagues and students to comprehend the direction and impact of US energy and environmental policies, the need for a book like this became clear. Few books have focused on the Trump administration's energy and environmental policies. The outlets that report on the Trump administration's energy policies focus on the public's need for immediate updates on the administration's rapid-fire policy pronouncements and deregulatory actions. These include the electronic publication Environmental Protection in the Trump Era (2018) by the Environmental Law Institute and the American Bar Association; trackers and commentary on regulatory rollbacks by NGOs such as the Environmental Integrity Project and by law schools such Harvard Law School; and podcasts such as the "Trump on Earth" podcast by National Public Radio.28 However, these outlets that are focused on keeping the public up-to-date with policy changes, understandably, have not provided in-depth analyses of the broader historical, economic, and political context of the administration's actions and detailed assessments of their long-term implications. I decided to write a book that is aimed at three audiences - professionals working on US energy and environmental policies, scholars and students of these policies, and members of the general public interested in these debates - and that lays out the administration's policies, scrutinizes the logic for and against these policies and their likely consequences, and explores the mechanisms to support or to reverse these policies. To evaluate these policies, I searched for uniform yardsticks. There are at least three criteria that seem to rise above partisanship. First, advocates of expanding extraction and deregulation argue that these strategies will achieve energy independence and make Americans more prosperous. Thus, one criterion is to determine whether or not these strategies will actually achieve these stated goals. Second, a significant proportion of oil and gas extraction takes place offshore and a substantial amount takes place on public lands. The American people, present and future, own these resources and, according to laws enacted by Congress, the federal government is supposed to manage them for the benefit of the public. Thus, a second criterion is the extent to which these strategies share benefits broadly or instead concentrate wealth in the hands of a few. Third, the United States has historically respected factual evidence, not least scientific evidence, in its rulemaking processes"--

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction; Part I. America's Energy; 2. Oil and gas: the quest for energy dominance; 3. Renewable energy: setbacks, successes and strategies for the energy transition; Part II. America's Lands; 4. Public and private lands: extraction and infrastructure versus competing economic pursuits; 5. Native American lands: respect for tribes' rights vs. encroachment; Part III. America's Seas; 6. Oceans: drilling v. competing use of coasts and seas; 7. Backtracking on safety: risking another BP oil spill; Part IV. America's Regulatory Process. 8. Science: undermining facts to understate regulatory benefits; 9. Economics: skewing analyses to justify weaker regulations; 10. Law: anti-regulatory statutory interpretations and reshaping the judiciary; Part V. The Global Climate; 11. Endangering the climate: attacking global cooperation, state governments' leadership and the private sector's economic restructuring; 12. America at crossroads.

Über den Autor / die Autorin

Shanti Gamper-Rabindran is an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh, with a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.Sc. in Environmental Management and BA in Jurisprudence, both from Oxford University where she was a Rhodes scholar. She served as the August-Wilhelm Scheer Visiting Professor at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, at the Department of Environment and Climate Policy. She is the editor of The Shale Dilemma: A Global Perspective on Fracking and Shale Development (2018), which received critical acclaim.

Zusammenfassung

An invaluable source for course instructors and students, government and industry officials, activists and journalists, this book explores the Trump administration's pro-fossil fuel policy and analyzes its impact. It provides a comprehensive account of the major conflicts between pro-oil advocates and those pushing for a more sustainable energy mix.

Zusatztext

'The book traces how US decades-long policies to favor oil and gas extraction, while running rough shod over communities in “energy sacrifice zones,” paved the way for the Trump administration's destructive policies. It highlights how the administration's anti-science and anti-democratic decision-making perpetuated the grip of the oil and gas industry when economic prudence and human survival demand a transition to renewable energy.' Daniel Kammen, University of California, Berkeley and Former Science Envoy, US Department of State

Produktdetails

• Autoren: Shanti Gamper-Rabindran, Shanti (University of Pittsburgh Gamper-Rabindran
• Verlag: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Sprache: Englisch
• Produktform: Fester Einband
• Erschienen: 31.01.2022
• EAN: 9781316510742
• ISBN: 978-1-316-51074-2
• Seiten: 550
• Themen: Sozialwissenschaften, Recht,Wirtschaft > Politikwissenschaft > Politische Wissenschaft und Politische Bildung; USA, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Environmental Policy, United States of America, USA, International Environmental Law, Public international law: environment, Energy resources