Join Karl Hausker, Senior Fellow at World Resources Institute Energy and Climate Program as he discusses climate challenges and solutions of getting to net-zero emissions.
The School for Environment and Sustainability honors the 30th Anniversary of the “Incidence of Environmental Hazards Conference,” which helped put environmental justice (EJ) on the national radar for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Join the students of PUBPOL 750: Renewable Energy Policy at the State & Local Level for a Student Symposium on State & Local Renewable Energy Policy. Students will share their research on the web of state and local policies facilitating and hindering renewable energy deployment in California, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, Texas, and Wyoming.
Local government fiscal health is typically assessed using objective financial indicators, but little is understood about how local officials subjectively understand their own fiscal health. We compare self-assessment data from the Michigan Public Policy Survey with financial data on Michigan local governments to explore the extent to which self-assessments align with conventional financial indicators. Qualitative results reveal that local officials emphasize long-term spending pressures (e.g. roads, infrastructure) and external factors, such as uncertainty around property values and state aid (i.e. revenue sharing) payments, when assessing their fiscal health. Quantitative results provide some corroborating evidence, but in general, conventional indicators are not powerful predictors of self-assessments, especially for high-stress governments. We believe that part of the disparity is that financial indicators do a poor job of capturing what local officials say they are most worried about. We suggest that self-assessments may be a useful supplement to conventional measures in capturing “true” fiscal health.
Book Talks @ The Ford School,
CLOSUP Lecture Series
Barry Rabe discusses his book Can We Price Carbon? Moderated by John Milewski, Director of Digital Programming; Host and Managing Editor, Wilson Center NOW.
Weill Hall, Max and Marjorie Fisher Classroom (1220)
Student panels will discuss the implications of their independent research projects on state and local environmental policy on issues ranging from recycling and food policy to water and energy.
During the past two decades environmental issues and especially climate change have become very divisive issues in U.S. politics, both among political elites and lay persons. This presentation will track these developments with longitudinal data, paying special attention to trends in partisan polarization over climate change using Gallup Poll data from 1997 to 2016.
There are many discussions regarding the water crisis affecting our neighbors in Flint. The Ford School is putting together this panel discussion to help the local public engage in policy-focused dialogue from the perspectives of key Flint community members.
Climate change is a potential threat to the welfare of mankind and its mitigation is becoming urgent. Nuclear energy, which provides one-fifth of U.S. electricity generation, is currently the leading utility-scale, carbon-free baseload power source in America. But it is expensive, controversial, and regulated in a way that poses challenges to technological innovation. So how does nuclear power fit into U.S. climate change mitigation goals going forward?
CRC & CLOSUP Ask if Michigan's System of Funding Local Government is Broken
Join us for a webinar on Sep 13, 2016 at 1:00 PM EDT.
Register now!
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3376805094469781763
How do Americans think about energy? Is the debate over fossil fuels, nuclear power, and renewable energy highly partisan and ideological? Are people’s preferences for different energy sources idiosyncratic, or is there a common pattern that explains how people view energy across sources? How much does concern about climate change weigh on these opinions?
Please join us for the next installment of the Environmental Law & Policy Program's Lecture Series. Patricia Beneke, North America Regional Director for the United Nations Environment Programme, will be the featured speaker.
Prior to her May 2014 appointment to the U.N., Ms. Beneke served as Senior Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for nearly 20 years, specializing in legislation and oversight matters relating to energy policy, water resources, and environmental issues. She also served as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science for five years.
A reception will immediately follow.
This event is free and open to the public.
CLOSUP welcomes guest speaker Ian Rowlands to discuss policies and politics of renewable electricity in Ontario, Canada. This lecture will examine the ways in which electricity generated by renewable resources (like solar and wind) have been encouraged in the province of Ontario (Canada) during the past 20 years.
In recognition of Earth Day, please join us for a very special lecture about what it takes to pass historic air quality legislation. Margo Oge served at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for 32 years, the last 18 of which she directed the Office of Transportation Air Quality. Ms. Oge led the Obama Administration’s landmark 2012 Clean Air Act deal with automakers, the nation’s first action targeting greenhouse gases. This regulation will double the fuel efficiency of automakers’ fleets to 54.5 mpg and cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2025.
From Cambodia’s forests to its rivers, from its idyllic rice fields to the capital’s pulsing heart, forces of radical change are transforming the landscape of the country – and the dreams of its people. A River Changes Course intimately captures the stories of three families living in Cambodia as they strive to maintain their traditional ways of life amid rapid development and environmental degradation. Award winning filmmaker and director Kalyanee Mam will offer introductory remarks, and take questions from the audience following the film screening.
Oil and gas development has increased substantially in the United States over the past decade, largely associated with shale resources. This increase has important implications for local government’s financial capacity to provide quality services to citizens. This talk will provide an overview of the major revenues and service demands (i.e., costs) associated with new oil and gas development for local governments, along with the net fiscal impact to date for county and municipal governments across ten oil and gas plays in eight states: Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wyoming.
The often-unnoticed actor in environmental policy is the state regulator—the Lilliputian. Together, these Lilliputians comprise the foundation of environmental regulation...
The Obama Administration’s EPA created a stir when it recently proposed widely varying state carbon-intensity targets to be achieved by 2020 and permanently by 2030. Dr. Engel will discuss a recent paper that examines the bases for federal allocation, among the various states, of the greenhouse gas emissions reductions needed to meet federal air pollution standards under the Clean Air Act.
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
5th Floor Seminar Room
Presenting the findings on the system of funding of local government. About the Michigan Public Policy Survey The Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS) is a program of state-wide surveys of local government leaders in Michigan. The MPPS is designed to fill an important information gap in the policymaking process.
Over the last decade, local government in Michigan has experienced widespread contraction. Driven by falling revenues and rising costs, local jurisdictions have been forced to adjust to a "new normal" by right-sizing themselves to live within reduced means. The Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS), conducted by the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, has tracked the fiscal challenges facing Michigan's local governments over the last 4 years, and how they've been responding.
Free and Open to the Public Panelists: Eric Lupher, Director of Local Affairs, Citizens Research Council of Michigan Sanya Carley, Assistant Professor, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Thomas P. Lyon, Professor, Ross School of Business and School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan Abstract Michigan and twenty-eight other states have enacted legislation that mandates increases in the amount of electricity that they use from renewable sources.
Anthrax scares, nuisance lawsuits and political attacks and are all in a day's work for some climate scientists. In his July 2012 feature story in Popular Science, journalist Tom Clynes investigated the people and organizations behind the harassment—and their influence on scientific research, public opinion and policy.
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Betty Ford Classroom
Free and open to the public. Panelists: Christopher Borick Professor and Director, Muhlenberg Institute of Public Opinion, Muhlenberg College Erick Lachapelle Départment de science politique, Université de Montréal Barry Rabe Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R.
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
5th Floor Seminar Room
11th Annual Lent Upson Lecture at Wayne State University – Spring 2010 MPPS fiscal data findings The Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS) is a program of state-wide surveys of local government leaders in Michigan. The MPPS is designed to fill an important information gap in the policymaking process. While there are ongoing surveys of the business community and of the citizens of Michigan, before the MPPS there were no ongoing surveys of local government officials that were representative of all general purpose local governments in the state.
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
5th Floor Seminar Room
Michigan Municipal League (MML) Annual Convention – Spring 2009 MPPS fiscal data findings The Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS) is a program of state-wide surveys of local government leaders in Michigan. The MPPS is designed to fill an important information gap in the policymaking process. While there are ongoing surveys of the business community and of the citizens of Michigan, before the MPPS there were no ongoing surveys of local government officials that were representative of all general purpose local governments in the state.