230
Toxic Chemicals
may require significant effort and money. Another approach is to set limits on
the overall pollutant load to the environment but allow individuals to collectively
remain below this overall established limit, that is, command without control or a
market-based approach.
This is the approach used in setting a limit across a factory rather than through
limits on individual discharge points within the factory. The overall effect of acceptable overall emissions is achieved but leaves it to the individual to find the most
efficient way of achieving the limit, for example, by installing a scrubber on a major
source of pollutants rather than finding and eliminating a number of much smaller
fugitive emissions sources.
According to an innovative Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) policy report, it i
s
important to adopt standards and regulations that are stringent in their goals but
flexible in their means of achieving those goals (Swift 2000). Laws and policies that
command but not control (i.e., “second-generation” policy) encourage the redesign
of industrial processes to produce less waste instead of relying on costly equipment
to clean pollutants at the end of the production process. According to the PPI, the
following should be noted when establishing pollution prevention policies:
1. Established policy should continuously stimulate and reward technological
innovation. Laws and regulations should be written such that they prevent
pollution and at the same time drive innovation, instead of the command-andcontrol approach in which specific technologies to control pollution (i.e., at the
end of a discharge pipe or smokestack) are mandated, often by a costly permitting process. The traditional command-and-control approaches also require
reductions in rates of end-of-pipe single pollutants, as opposed to continuous innovation toward an overall cleaner process resulting in comprehensive
pollutant discharge reductions. Second-generation approaches would take the
following into account:
• Implement standards that specify a set of desired environmental outcomes rather than end-of-pipe rate reductions in single pollutants
• Eliminate outdated mandates in federal and state laws requiring specific technologies
• Favor upstream pollution prevention (vs. downstream)
• Establish “cap-and-trade” programs
• Reform hazardous waste laws to promote reuse and recycling
By offering more choices in how standards are achieved, it has been shown
at both the federal and state levels that strict environmental standards
can be maintained and even exceeded over time. For example, the Clean
Air Act sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) emissions trading program achieves major
reductions using a cap on total emissions. The program also eliminates
individual permit review of technology.
2. By creating the opportunity for technology innovation, and thereby avoiding the permitting process and associated regulator lack of familiarity with
the new technology and time delays, along with reducing the number of
enforcing jurisdictions, the chance for developing and marketing environmental technologies increases. The traditional laws and regulations that
Toxic Chemicals
may require significant effort and money. Another approach is to set limits on
the overall pollutant load to the environment but allow individuals to collectively
remain below this overall established limit, that is, command without control or a
market-based approach.
This is the approach used in setting a limit across a factory rather than through
limits on individual discharge points within the factory. The overall effect of acceptable overall emissions is achieved but leaves it to the individual to find the most
efficient way of achieving the limit, for example, by installing a scrubber on a major
source of pollutants rather than finding and eliminating a number of much smaller
fugitive emissions sources.
According to an innovative Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) policy report, it i
s
important to adopt standards and regulations that are stringent in their goals but
flexible in their means of achieving those goals (Swift 2000). Laws and policies that
command but not control (i.e., “second-generation” policy) encourage the redesign
of industrial processes to produce less waste instead of relying on costly equipment
to clean pollutants at the end of the production process. According to the PPI, the
following should be noted when establishing pollution prevention policies:
1. Established policy should continuously stimulate and reward technological
innovation. Laws and regulations should be written such that they prevent
pollution and at the same time drive innovation, instead of the command-andcontrol approach in which specific technologies to control pollution (i.e., at the
end of a discharge pipe or smokestack) are mandated, often by a costly permitting process. The traditional command-and-control approaches also require
reductions in rates of end-of-pipe single pollutants, as opposed to continuous innovation toward an overall cleaner process resulting in comprehensive
pollutant discharge reductions. Second-generation approaches would take the
following into account:
• Implement standards that specify a set of desired environmental outcomes rather than end-of-pipe rate reductions in single pollutants
• Eliminate outdated mandates in federal and state laws requiring specific technologies
• Favor upstream pollution prevention (vs. downstream)
• Establish “cap-and-trade” programs
• Reform hazardous waste laws to promote reuse and recycling
By offering more choices in how standards are achieved, it has been shown
at both the federal and state levels that strict environmental standards
can be maintained and even exceeded over time. For example, the Clean
Air Act sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) emissions trading program achieves major
reductions using a cap on total emissions. The program also eliminates
individual permit review of technology.
2. By creating the opportunity for technology innovation, and thereby avoiding the permitting process and associated regulator lack of familiarity with
the new technology and time delays, along with reducing the number of
enforcing jurisdictions, the chance for developing and marketing environmental technologies increases. The traditional laws and regulations that