Doctoral Dissertation Research: Situating the Effects of Public US Environmental Policy Making

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Government regulations that shape our lives are often influenced by a legal procedure known as "informal rulemaking," or "notice and comment." This procedure allows members of the public to submit comments critiquing policies before they become law. Its effectiveness in terms of participation in governance hinges on what happens to comments once they are submitted. This research project investigates the way bureaucratic actors construct and respond to perceptions of "the public" in rule-creation and rule-implementation, specifically around environmental governance. How do government officials interpret commenters' ideas of what the environment is and how it is valued? And how do government officials, who have their own experiences and beliefs, create the details of this legal process through behaviors and social practices carried out in their day-to-day work lives? The research plan involves 13 months on site in the Environmental Protection Agency, including agency approved participant observation and interviews with its employees. In addition, the researcher will conduct interviews with commenters and analyze their submissions to learn how they experience and value the environment and participation in informal rulemaking. This research will contribute to understanding of both how government officials' everyday work justifies policy decisions about how to implement public participation mechanisms and the effects on state-making of officials' notions of citizenship, governance, and public participation.