Environmental Science Environmental Policy and Law 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The Montreal Protocol (1987) was designed to address:
- Transboundary acid rain between the U.S. and Canada
- Depletion of stratospheric ozone caused by chlorofluorocarbons and other halocarbons (Correct answer)
- International trade in endangered species and wildlife products
- Mercury contamination of international waters
Correct answer: Depletion of stratospheric ozone caused by chlorofluorocarbons and other halocarbons
The Montreal Protocol phased out the production and use of ozone-depleting substances (CFCs, HCFCs, halons), allowing the ozone layer to begin recovering.
The Vienna Convention (1985) and Montreal Protocol (1987) responded to scientific evidence that CFCs and other halogenated compounds catalytically destroy stratospheric ozone. The Protocol established a schedule to phase out production of CFCs, HCFCs, halons, and other ozone-depleting substances. It is widely considered the most successful international environmental agreement; stratospheric ozone is gradually recovering. The Kigali Amendment (2016) extended the Protocol to phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), potent greenhouse gases.
Question 2: CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) operates primarily by:
- Banning all international travel to countries with high biodiversity
- Regulating and restricting international trade in specimens of endangered plants and animals (Correct answer)
- Funding habitat restoration in countries that sign the agreement
- Requiring nations to set aside 30% of their land as protected areas
Correct answer: Regulating and restricting international trade in specimens of endangered plants and animals
CITES classifies species into three appendices based on threat level and regulates (or bans) international trade in listed species and their products.
CITES (1975) regulates international trade in over 38,000 plant and animal species through a permit system. Appendix I: commercial trade prohibited (most endangered species). Appendix II: trade allowed with permits if not detrimental to wild populations. Appendix III: species protected in at least one country that needs cooperation. CITES does not address habitat destruction; its focus is trade as a driver of wildlife decline.
Question 3: The polluter pays principle in environmental economics holds that:
- Governments should compensate businesses for pollution control costs
- Those who produce pollution should bear the costs of managing it and its effects on society (Correct answer)
- Consumers who buy polluting products pay a special environmental tax
- Multinational companies pay for pollution in developing countries
Correct answer: Those who produce pollution should bear the costs of managing it and its effects on society
The polluter pays principle (PPP) requires that the costs of pollution prevention and remediation be borne by those responsible for the pollution, internalizing the externality.
Adopted by the OECD in 1972, the Polluter Pays Principle holds that the firm or individual causing environmental damage should bear the costs of prevention, control, and remediation - not taxpayers. It underpins liability laws (like CERCLA/Superfund in the U.S.), environmental taxes, and the requirement for environmental bonds before permits are granted.
Question 4: U.S. EPA's Superfund program (CERCLA) was established to:
- Fund air quality monitoring stations across the country
- Clean up the nation's most hazardous abandoned waste sites and assign cleanup costs to responsible parties (Correct answer)
- Provide grants to states for wastewater treatment plant construction
- Regulate the disposal of municipal solid waste in landfills
Correct answer: Clean up the nation's most hazardous abandoned waste sites and assign cleanup costs to responsible parties
CERCLA (1980) created the Superfund to finance cleanup of contaminated sites and empowered EPA to hold potentially responsible parties (PRPs) liable for cleanup costs.
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, 1980) was enacted after disasters like Love Canal revealed the dangers of abandoned hazardous waste sites. It created a trust fund (Superfund) to pay for cleanup when responsible parties cannot be found or refuse to pay. CERCLA also established strict, joint-and-several, and retroactive liability, meaning any party that contributed waste to a site can be held responsible for all cleanup costs.
Question 5: An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is most accurately described as:
- A tax levied on companies based on their pollution output
- A systematic process to evaluate the environmental consequences of a proposed project or policy before a decision is made (Correct answer)
- An annual audit of a company's environmental performance
- A legal action brought by citizens against polluting industries
Correct answer: A systematic process to evaluate the environmental consequences of a proposed project or policy before a decision is made
EIA is a decision-support tool that identifies, predicts, and evaluates the potential environmental effects of a proposed development, informing decision-makers and the public.
Environmental Impact Assessment is a pre-decision process mandated by NEPA (U.S.) and analogous laws worldwide. It involves scoping (identifying key issues), baseline data collection, impact prediction, evaluation of alternatives, mitigation measures, and public participation. The final EIS/EIA document informs decision-makers but does not always determine the outcome. EIA has been adopted in over 100 countries.
Question 6: The tragedy of the commons, as described by Garrett Hardin (1968), refers to:
- The tendency of governments to underinvest in public transportation
- The overexploitation of shared resources when individuals act in their own self-interest without regulation (Correct answer)
- The difficulty of passing environmental legislation in democratic systems
- The historical pattern of colonialism destroying indigenous environmental knowledge
Correct answer: The overexploitation of shared resources when individuals act in their own self-interest without regulation
Each rational user of a commons (fishery, atmosphere, pasture) gains full benefit from exploitation but shares costs among all users, leading to overuse and depletion.
Hardin's 1968 Science article argued that any resource held in common will inevitably be overexploited because individual rational actors benefit fully from each additional unit of use while the costs are distributed across all users. Solutions include privatization, government regulation, or - as Elinor Ostrom demonstrated (winning the 2009 Nobel in Economics) - community-based governance institutions with clear rules, monitoring, and sanctions.
Environmental Science Environmental Policy and Law 2
The Montreal Protocol (1987) was designed to address: