Resolutions

Principles for Environmental Management in the WestWestern Governors' Association
February 24, 1998
Western Governor's Association Resolution #98 - 001

Sponsors: Governors Leavitt, Kitzhaber, Geringer, and Knowles

A. Background

  1. Throughout the 1990s, the population growth rate in the Western United States has surpassed that of every other region of the country. Much of this increase is fueled by in-migration to the West, both from other regions of the United States and from outside the country. The West's population increased by over six million with nine out of the ten fastest growing states in the nation. Migrants to the West seek a better quality of life, as measured by better jobs, a cleaner environment, open spaces and recreational opportunities, strong and safe communities, and a brighter future for their children, while current residents seek to protect these same qualities. Paradoxically, it is growth that both energizes the current economic prosperity and threatens the other qualities Western citizens seek to protect.
  2. At the same time, the economy of the West has changed dramatically. While its historic base of natural resource-related industries such as farming, fishing, mining, wood products, and tourism remain central to its economy, the West has diversified and now counts telecommunications, recreation services, transportation, information technologies, software and entertainment companies among its larger employers. Furthermore, all Western businesses now compete in a robust international economy that demands superior performance for businesses to survive.
  3. Population mobility and growth, new businesses, rapid communications and the attendant increased diversity in values are changing political dynamics in the region. These forces make policy-making more complex and difficult, occasionally hardening positions on issues and polarizing public debate. Often, inflexible federal requirements compound the problem and help create a zero-sum atmosphere surrounding environmental issues.
  4. As these trends continue, we must find new ways to vest our citizens with policies that both protect the heritage and traditions in the West that are valued and advance the kind of development that will maintain the region's extraordinary quality of life.
  5. The nature of environmental and natural resource problems is changing. As large, easily identified sources of pollution are controlled, the threat to the environment has shifted to diffuse, numerous, and smaller scale sources that are more difficult to control through enforcement-based command and control regulation. Agricultural consolidation and fragmentation due to dispersed development have affected land-use patterns, threatening good stewardship born of locally controlled, and economically sustainable agriculture.
  6. New computer and communications technologies, as well as new environmental monitoring and characterization technologies, create opportunities for implementing innovative solutions for preserving and enhancing the environment and communities of the West. In addition, the accelerating pace of technological change makes even more imperative the need to avoid mandated technological solutions. Innovative solutions hold the prospect of achieving the desired environmental outcome and increasing economic wealth.
  7. During the 1990s, the Western governors have experimented with a variety of ways to improve management of the natural resources of the West. Valuable lessons have been learned from regional, interstate projects and public-private partnerships such as development of the Park City Principles for Water Management, the Great Plains Partnership, the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission and from individual state efforts such as The Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds, the Texas Regional Water Supply Planning Process, Trails and Recreational Access for Alaska and the Wyoming Open Lands Initiative. These efforts have demonstrated that the environmental strategies that work best have strong governors' commitment, vested local support, and federal collaboration.

B. Governors' Policy Position

  1. Based on extensive state and regional experience, the Western governors commit to a new doctrine to guide natural resource and environmental policy development and decision-making in the West. That doctrine is based upon the principles below, each of which is dependent upon the others. The integration of these principles is critical to their interpretation and the success of the new doctrine.
    • National Standards, Neighborhood Solutions
      Assign Responsibilities at the Right Level
      The federal government is responsible for setting environmental standards for national efforts. These standards should be developed in consultation with the states and in the form of scientifically justified outcomes. National standards for delegated programs should not include prescriptive measures on how they are to be met. States should have the option of developing plans to meet those standards and ensuring that the standards are met. Planning at the state level is preferable because it allows for greater consideration of ecological, economic, social and political differences that exist across the nation. A state can tailor its plans to meet local conditions and priorities, thereby ensuring broad community support and ownership of the plans. States can also work together to address conditions and issues that cross their boundaries. It is appropriate for the federal government to provide funds and technical assistance within the context of a state plan to achieve national standards. In the event that states do not want to develop their own plans the federal government should become more actively involved in meeting the standards.
    • Collaboration, Not Polarization
      Use Collaborative Processes to Break Down Barriers and Find Solutions
      The old model of command and control, enforcement based programs is reaching the point of diminishing returns. It now frequently leads to highly polarized constituencies that force traditional actions by governmental authorities without first determining if they are the most effective ways to protect environmental values. Successful environmental policy implementation is best accomplished through balanced, open and inclusive approaches at the ground level, where interested public and private stakeholders work together to formulate critical issue statements and develop locally based solutions to those issues. Collaborative approaches often result in greater satisfaction with outcomes, broader public support, and lasting productive working relationships among parties. Additionally, collaborative mechanisms may save costs when compared with traditional means of policy development, and can lessen the chance that an involved party will dispute a final result. To be successful however, and given the often local nature of collaborative processes, private and public interests must provide resources to support these efforts.
    • Reward Results, Not Programs
      Move to a Performance-Based System
      Everyone wants a clean and safe environment. This will best be achieved when government actions are focused on outcomes, not programs, and when innovative approaches to achieving desired outcomes are rewarded. Federal and state policies should encourage "outside the box" thinking in the development of strategies to achieve desired outcomes. Solving problems rather than just complying with programs should be rewarded.
    • Science For Facts, Process for Priorities
      Separate Subjective Choices from Objective Data Gathering
      Competing interests usually point to the science supporting their view. It is best to try to reach agreement on the underlying facts surrounding the environmental question at hand before trying to frame the choices to be made. Using credible, independent scientists can help in this process and can reduce the problem of "competing science" but it may not eliminate it. There comes a time in the collaborative process when the interested stakeholders must evaluate the scientific evidence on which there may be disagreement and make difficult policy decisions.
    • Markets Before Mandates
      Replace Command and Control with Economic Incentives Whenever Appropriate
      While states and most industries within the states want to protect the environment and achieve desired environmental outcomes at the lowest cost to society, many federal programs require the use of specific technologies and processes to achieve these outcomes. Reliance on the threat of enforcement action to force compliance with technology or process requirements may result in adequate environmental protection. Such prescriptive approaches, however, reward litigation and delay; cripple incentives for technological innovation; increase animosity between government, industry and the public; and increase the cost of environmental protection. Market-based approaches and economic incentives which send appropriate price signals to polluters would result in more efficient and cost-effective results and may lead to quicker compliance.
    • Change A Heart, Change A Nation
      Environmental Understanding is Crucial
      Governments at all levels can develop policies, programs and procedures for protecting the environment. Yet the success of these policies ultimately depends on the daily choices of our citizens. Beginning with the nation's youth, people need to understand their relationship with the environment. They need to understand the importance of sustaining and enhancing their surroundings for themselves and future generations. If we are able to achieve a healthy environment, it will be because citizens understand that a healthy environment is critical to the social and economic health of the nation. Government has a role in educating people about stewardship of natural resources. One important way for government to promote individual responsibility is by rewarding those who meet their stewardship responsibilities, rather than imposing additional restrictions on their activities.
    • Recognition of Benefits and Costs
      Make Sure Environmental Decisions are Fully Informed
      The implementation of environmental policies and programs should be guided by an assessment of the costs and benefits of different options and a determination of the feasibility of implementing the options. The assessment of the feasibility of implementing options should consider the social, legal, economic, and political factors and identify a viable strategy for addressing the major costs.
    • Solutions Transcend Political Boundaries
      Use Appropriate Geographic Boundaries for Environmental Problems
      Many of the environmental challenges in the West span political and agency boundaries. Challenges may be circumscribed by specific transboundary water or air sheds, and their solutions may better be defined by the geography of certain markets or biologic factors rather than by the geography of a single political jurisdiction. Recognizing these factors voluntary interstate strategies as well as other partnerships may be an important tool in the future.
  2. The Western governors call on the leaders in the public and private sector as well as Native American leaders, Congress and the Administration to embrace these principles in their environmental policy and decision-making.

C. Governors' Management Directive

  1. WGA staff shall distribute this resolution to the President; Vice President; the Council on Environmental Quality; the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; the secretaries of Interior, Energy and Agriculture; the chairmen and ranking minority leaders of the relevant committees of Congress; the Western delegation to Congress; Western tribal leaders; leaders of business associations and environmental institutions; and interested CEOs.
  2. Governors direct WGA to incorporate these principles into its projects and activities in environmental and natural resources policy development and to work with the states to identify specific areas where they have been demonstrated and adopted or may be in the future.
  3. Governors direct WGA to communicate the commitment of the governors to these principles to organizations, institutions and media concerned with environmental protection and natural resources management and to seek opportunities to expand their practical application in regional policy development and programs.