ABSTRACT
The author examines whether patterns of state behaviors related to legacy environmental programs, such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, can be extrapolated to climate policy. The author uses a typology based on political incentives and administrative capacities to show that greenhouse gas emissions follow similar patterns to pollution concentrations regulated under those legacy environmental programs. The author also shows that patterns of subnational climate policies align with expectations, where progressive states, with both high incentives and capacities, have been national leaders, while regressive states, with both low incentives and capacities, have fallen behind the rest of states in this area. Then, the author examines patterns of intergovernmental interactions for climate policy and finds that they largely conform to expectations for the national-state dimensions but are far less clear for the state-local dimension. Finally, the author offers a brief thought experiment on how applying lessons learned from legacy environmental programs can provide insights into the potential success of a national climate policy implemented through the federal system.
