Introduction

In late September 2004, one day after the fourth severe hurricane tromped across the state of Florida in six weeks -- something that had never occurred in more than 150 years of official record keeping -- crude oil prices broke the $50-per-barrel mark, also setting a new record. Those two unwelcome events may have appeared to be unrelated, but there were actually real and symbolic connections between them: Hurricane damage along the oil-rich Gulf Coast contributed to the oil price spike. And oil played a role in stirring up so many violent hurricanes in the first place, because the combustion of oil and other fossil fuels is a leading cause of climate change.

As wave upon wave of extreme weather strikes the United States, the debate about global climate change -- and the energy policies that are perpetuating it -- has assumed new urgency. Left unchecked, most scientists believe climate change will not only cause increasingly serious weather-related damage, but also potentially harm our health, by accelerating the spread of insect-borne diseases, for example. Meanwhile, unsettled political conditions in oil-producing nations such as Iraq, Russia, and Saudi Arabia are undermining both our economic stability and our national security. Yet, even in the face of such ominous trends, Washington is unlikely to decisively change course any time soon. Instead, many of the most innovative approaches to environmental problems are happening at the state and local levels. Often in partnership with each other, states and localities are charting new ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ensure ample supplies of clean water, and mitigate the effects of sprawling development. By doing so, they are spreading best practices -- and may ultimately prod the federal government into action.

Decades ago, Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis described states as "laboratories of democracy" for their capacity to incubate great ideas that eventually find their way to the national level. That dynamic has long been particularly true in the case of environmental protection. Groundbreaking state environmental policies were the templates for our current set of federal environmental laws, which were fashioned during the 1960s. California's Porter Cologne Water Quality Act, for example, served as the model for the federal Clean Water Act. Likewise, the federal Clean Air Act was based in part on local codes and ordinances pioneered in smog-plagued cities. Now, the state laboratories of democracy are working to modernize our decades-old first generation of environmental laws and regulations. Increasingly, states and localities are replacing "one-size-fits-all" approaches with policies and programs tailored to specific industries and places. The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) refers to these new environmental practices as "second-generation" strategies to distinguish them from first-generation command-and-control regulations.

Some of these second-generation state innovations have already percolated up to the national level. For instance, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Project XL, a pilot program that gives state and local governments, private companies, and federal facilities flexibility to individually tailor cost-effective ways of achieving environmental outcomes, was first refined in Minnesota. Similarly, the EPA's program to improve water quality and supply in the Great Lakes grew out of local efforts to improve environmental quality in the place where the problem arises, rather than at the national level. The Great Lakes program is one of the most notable examples of what DeWitt John of the National Academy of Public Administration refers to as "civic environmentalism," another concept long endorsed by PPI.

Beyond the broad issues of global warming and the energy policies that are exacerbating the situation, cities and states face a host of more localized problems. For example, they increasingly lack resources to address water quality and supply issues -- an area where Washington once provided leadership. In the 1960s and 1970s, Congress sought to improve water quality mainly by funding massive sewage treatment plants and water pipelines in local communities. But those systems are now nearly 40 years old, and cities and states are being stuck with the repair bills. Water supplies are also threatened by pollutants, pathogens, and over-fishing. States adjacent to oceans and large inland lakes are at risk, as are those with large agricultural economies.

States and localities alone will be more frequently called upon to tackle those and other environmental challenges -- such as the costs associated with urban and suburban sprawl. In some cases, the innovations and best practices that they develop can point the way for national and world leaders as they finally move to confront our greatest global challenges, including climate change. In other cases, such as with urban sprawl, more customized solutions may solve problems at the local level, but not necessarily be suitable as one-size-fits-all national strategies.

To further the process of identifying which policy approaches hold the most potential for which environmental challenges, PPI has compiled this briefing book of field-tested state and local policy innovations. Included are a number of recommendations for the president to expand upon quickly at the national level, along with a number of other cases where state, local, and civic groups are effectively solving their own problems -- cases where the administration should simply applaud and avoid interfering.