Short circuiting policy : interest groups and the battle over clean energy and climate policy in the American states

Author(s)
    • Stokes, Leah Cardamore
Bibliographic Information

Short circuiting policy : interest groups and the battle over clean energy and climate policy in the American states

Leah Cardamore Stokes

(Studies in postwar American political development / Steven Teles, series editor)

Oxford University Press, c2020

  • : hardback

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 289-306) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

In 1999, Texas passed a landmark clean energy law, beginning a groundswell of new policies that promised to make the US a world leader in renewable energy. As Leah Stokes shows in Short Circuiting Policy, however, that policy did not lead to momentum in Texas, which failed to implement its solar laws or clean up its electricity system. Examining clean energy laws in Texas, Kansas, Arizona, and Ohio over a thirty-year time frame, Stokes argues that organized combat between advocate and opponent interest groups is central to explaining why states are not on track to address the climate crisis. She tells the political history of our energy institutions, explaining how fossil fuel companies and electric utilities have promoted climate denial and delay. Stokes further explains the limits of policy feedback theory, showing the ways that interest groups drive retrenchment through lobbying, public opinion, political parties and the courts. More than a history of renewable energy policy in modern America, Short Circuiting Policy offers a bold new argument about how the policy process works, and why seeming victories can turn into losses when the opposition has enough resources to roll back laws.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations List of Figures Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. When New Policies Fail to Create a New Politics Chapter 3. An Institutional History of Electricity Politics and Climate Inaction Chapter 4. Policy Feedback: Networked and Influential Advocates Use the Public to Drive Clean Energy Leadership in Texas Chapter 5. A Direct Line to Legislators and Regulators: Fossil Fuel Corporations and the Limitations of Texas's Renewable Energy Laws Chapter 6. Retrenchment by a Thousand Cuts: Fossil Fuel Opponents Drive Polarization on Clean Energy in Kansas Chapter 7. Regulatory Capture: Electric Utilities Retrench Arizona's Net Metering Laws Chapter 8. When the Fog of Enactment Lifts: Late Action brings Rapid Retrenchment of Ohio's Renewable Energy Laws Chapter 9. Conclusion References Appendix:List of Interviews

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