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Early Involvement and Multi-stage Coalitions in Environmental Rulemaking – A Stakeholder Analysis of the Clean Power Plan

Holm, Federico
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4558-0892
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1523869486507285

Abstract Details

2018, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Environment and Natural Resources.
Climate change-related policies and regulations have been particularly contentious since their emergence on the U.S. national agenda in the late 1980s (Giddens, 2009; Dunlap and McCright, 2010; Fisher, Waggle & Leifeld, 2013). In this thesis, I examine stakeholder participation in the policymaking process of the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, the cornerstone rule designed to tackle climate change by lowering greenhouse emissions from power plants in the U.S. The rulemaking process leading to the development of the Clean Power Plan was incredibly complex and not exempted from political conflict. Scholars have thoroughly addressed the importance of rulemaking in the U.S. for decades. Despite of the wealth of research that addressed the rulemaking process, there are still two considerable knowledge gaps that demand scholarly attention. The first one is the lack of knowledge about how informal interactions among policy stakeholders may affect the rulemaking process. A second area in which additional work is necessary is the understanding of how stakeholders’ behavior in one stage influences further involvement in subsequent stages of the process. This thesis intends to make a contribution to solve these two limitations. I do so by pursuing three main objectives: addressing the structural characteristics of the network for stakeholders’ participation in meetings during the first two stages of the Clean Power Plan, discerning the effect of shared policy beliefs on coalitional behavior throughout the rulemaking process and examining the relationship between coalition participation and activity. The studies presented in this thesis aim to tackle these two shortcomings and in so doing contribute to the literature on coalitions in environmental policy. Chapter 2 addresses the informal dimensions of the rulemaking process. It does so by focusing on the interactions that took place among stakeholders in meetings that occurred during the first two stages of the policy process. Chapter 3 takes a comprehensive look at the multi-stage approach leading to the design of the Clean Power Plan, focusing on the interactions among the subset of stakeholders that were active during every stage of the process. The data utilized comes from participation in meetings, submission of public comments and engagement in litigation regarding the rule after it was published in the Federal Register. Over 5000 individuals participated in a total of 266 meetings, aggregated in 1315 total stakeholders. From this group, we identified 77 actors who were active in every stage of the process. We also identified 94 court actions in which these actors participated. Results showed the topology of the network of meetings is characterized by the existence of a core-periphery structure. I did not find evidence of preferential attachment for organizational types among actors’ early involvement in the rulemaking process. Most of state governments and agencies are in the core of the network. Similar patterns arise for the most prominent environmental NGO’s. Interestingly, I find that the proportion of industry actors that are part of the core is lower than expected. The findings in chapter 3 suggest that coalitions are ideologically structured, each one pursuing goals consistent with their own policy beliefs. This finding provides additional support for the most important hypothesis of the Advocacy Coalitions Framework: belief congruence is a major driver in coalition formation, but the effect of shared beliefs is greater for the anti-rule coalition. I also find evidence of stable coalitions throughout the process. Early participation in meetings and a greater number of shared allies identified during the notice-and-comment stage are positively and significantly correlated with litigation activity. I conclude by discussing the limitations of this study and potential areas of development for future research. We highlight not only the academic value of these findings, but also the value for individuals working in the development of rules in governmental agencies.
Ramiro Berardo, Dr. (Advisor)
94 p.
Climate Change; Environmental Studies; Public Policy
Clean Power Plan; rulemaking; energy policy; climate change; coalitions; social network analysis

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Citations

  • Holm, F. (2018). Early Involvement and Multi-stage Coalitions in Environmental Rulemaking – A Stakeholder Analysis of the Clean Power Plan [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1523869486507285

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Holm, Federico. Early Involvement and Multi-stage Coalitions in Environmental Rulemaking – A Stakeholder Analysis of the Clean Power Plan. 2018. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1523869486507285.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Holm, Federico. "Early Involvement and Multi-stage Coalitions in Environmental Rulemaking – A Stakeholder Analysis of the Clean Power Plan." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1523869486507285

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1523869486507285
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