Why do some communities do far more than is required of them to protect the environment? What can be learned from these innovative approaches? Can a better understanding of these approaches lead to more effective, efficient popular environmental policy? What role does public participation have in innovative local policies? The present study attempts to answer these questions. Fifty localities that have been recognized by national organizations for their adoption of voluntary environmental policies are being compared to localities without voluntary policies in the same state or region. We are examining how social, economic, and political factors influence local policy. For each community that has been recognized for innovative environmental policy, we are identifying a comparison case from the same region that has not adopted such innovations. These pairs of cases will be compared utilizing statistical procedures to examine which local factors influence the adoption of voluntary, innovative local environmental policies. The predictor variables will be obtained from various existing sources including the Census of Governments, the City/County Databook, and the Internal Revenue Service summary statistics. In addition, a mail and telephone survey will be administered to selected officials both innovator and non-innovator communities to determine the scope, content, and influence of public participation procedures in local environmental decision making. The results of the project will help to identify the local factors that constrain or foster the effective adoption of voluntary environmental policies and programs. Thus, project results will provide insights into local capacity for environmental policy responsibilities, what key factors influence a localities decision-making capacity, and how these factors shape policy outcomes. It is expected that the research results will benefit policy makers and risk professionals at all levels of government. First, local decision makers will benefit from the results of this research as it will provide guidance on critical factors at the local level that facilitate and inhibit policy efforts. Second, as the EPA and other federal agencies continue to evolve from a regulator to a facilitator, this research will provide insights into local government policy capacity, local barriers and opportunities to policy success, and local deficiencies which may be leveraged with state or federal support.
