Science and Environmental Regulatory Policy: State and Local Efforts to Ban Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) in Reformulated Gasoline (RFG)

该项目由科学与社会计划的政策、科学、工程和技术研究部分资助，研究科学和技术在制定、修订和影响环境政策方面的应用之间的关系。该研究探讨了在美国重新配方汽油（RFG）中使用甲基叔丁基醚（MTBE）的案例，这是清洁空气法案修正案（CAAA）引入的一种技术“解决方案”，旨在减少挥发性有机化合物（VOCs）和氮氧化物（NOx）的排放。该研究解决了以下问题：科学是如何被用来告知使用新技术来解决环境问题的？当这些技术“解决方案”产生新的环境问题时，会发生什么？有时，这些问题的负面影响比它们寻求补救的原始问题更严重。在选择或排除这些可能直接影响当地环境和公众健康的新技术方面，当地社区可以发挥什么作用？此外，在做出同样的选择时，工业界有多大的影响力？该研究还探讨了环境监管领域的一个平行但直接相关的问题，涉及政府应负责确定、建立和执行影响当地社区的环境标准的监管级别的辩论。尽管自美国建国以来，联邦监管权力与各州权利之间的关系问题就一直存在，但在过去几十年里，地方社区与州政府和联邦政府之间的权利关系日益紧张。最近，超国家机构已成为重要的监管参与者。由于最近欧盟、北美自由贸易协定和世界贸易组织等非常强大和普遍的贸易制度的扩散，超国家机构已成为关于地方社区建立自己的环境标准的权利的辩论的一个组成部分。同样，在RFG中使用MTBE是一个很好的工具，可以说明和分析与各级政府的监管决策有关的这组新的复杂关系的后果。哪一级政府应该对制定环境标准负主要责任？当地社区在决定当地环境标准方面应发挥什么作用？这项工作的主要目标是确定国家和超国家组织和机构对制定和执行州和地方监管政策的影响，将MTBE作为界定问题，将州和地方政府作为分析单位。这项研究将查明通过管制政策和做法建立和执行环境保护的各种公共机构（国际、联邦、州和地方各级）的作用和相互作用。该项目将采用比较案例研究方法，其中包括利用各种定性方法，包括档案文件的历史和比较分析，以及对关键行为者的定性半结构化访谈。通过记录联邦政策和超国家贸易制度对地方环境政策的影响，本研究将有助于告知州和地方公共机构在面对有争议或不确定的科学数据以及相互冲突的国家和超国家法规时规划更有效的环境监管政策。

This project, funded by the Studies of Policy, Science, Engineering and Technology component of the Science and Society Program, examines the relationship between the use of science and technology in informing, revising and affecting environmental policy. The research explores the case of the use of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in reformulated gasoline (RFG) in the United States, a technological "solution" that was introduced by the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) to reduce volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions. The research addresses the following questions: How has science been used to inform the use of new technologies to resolve environmental problems? What happens when these technological "solutions" create new environmental problems, sometimes with a more significant negative impact than the original problem they sought to remedy? What role do local communities have in choosing or excluding these new technologies that may directly affect their local environment and public health? Further, how much influence does industry have in making the same choices? The research also explores a parallel, but directly related issue in the area of environmental regulation involving the debate over what regulatory level of government should be responsible for identifying, establishing and enforcing environmental standards that affect local communities. While issues surrounding the relationship between federal regulatory powers and states' rights have existed since the establishment of the US, the past few decades have seen increasing tension between the rights of local communities vis-a-vis state and federal governments. More recently, supranational institutions have become significant regulatory players. As a consequence of the recent proliferation of very powerful and pervasive trade regimes, such as the EU, NAFTA and WTO, supranational institutions have become an integral part of the debate about the rights of local communities to establish their own environmental standards. Again the use of MTBE in RFG is an excellent vehicle for illustrating and analyzing the consequences of this new complex set of relationships concerning the regulatory decision making of the various levels of government. What level of government should hold primary responsibility for establishing environmental standards? What role should local communities have in determining local environmental standards? The primary goal of the work is to determine the influence of national and supranational organizations and institutions on the establishment and enforcement of state and local regulatory policies using MTBE as the defining issue and state and local governments as the unit of analysis. The research will identify the role and interplay of the various public agencies (international, federal, state and local levels) vested with establishing and enforcing environmental protection through regulatory policies and practices. The project will use a comparative case study approach, which involves the utilization of a variety of qualitative methods, including an historical and comparative analysis of archival documents, and qualitative semi-structured interviewing of key actors. By documenting the effects of federal policy and supranational trade regimes on local environmental policy, this research will help to inform state and local public agencies in planning more effective environmental regulatory policies in the face of controversial or uncertain scientific data as well as conflicting national and supranational regulations.