CLOSUP > Energy & Environmental Policy Initiative

The CLOSUP Energy & Environmental Policy Initiative

Summary

CLOSUP's Energy and Environmental Policy Initiative (EEPI), launched in the fall of 2012, is a program of coordinated activities designed to bring the latest academic knowledge to bear on issues of energy, environment, and climate policy. Through a combination of research projects, events, classroom activities, and publications, EEPI seeks to inform policy-relevant discussions among policymakers and other stakeholders with new research findings.

Research

Under the direction of professor Barry Rabe at CLOSUP, and professor Christopher Borick at Muhlenberg College, one core set of research activities in the EEPI is a series of ongoing surveys of American public opinion, conducted jointly by CLOSUP and the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion (MCIPO). Originally known as the National Survey of American Public Opinion on Climate Change, as of fall 2012 this program of research has been renamed the National Surveys on Energy and Environment (NSEE). NSEE will include twice-per-year surveys in the spring and fall focused on climate change and a wide range of related issues under the EEPI umbrella.

CLOSUP's Fracking Project, part of the wider Energy and Environmental Policy Initiative (EEPI), launched in the fall 2012 with a survey on fracking in Michigan and Pennsylvania, part of the National Surveys on Energy and Environment. The Fracking Project includes survey research, case studies, web-based information resources, policy events, and more, with the goal of informing policy debate around the issue of hyrdraulic fracturing for natural gas, more commonly known as "fracking."

The CLOSUP Wind Project, also part of the EEPI, aims to improve understanding of state and local policy issues related to utility-scale wind energy development. This project originated from three surveys conducted in 2013 and 2014-one of residents in the Great Lakes region, another of local officials in Michigan, and a third of farmland owners near four Michigan windfarms.

For more information on the CLOSUP Energy & Environmental Policy Initiative, contact CLOSUP staff at 734-647-4091 or by email to closup@umich.edu.

Highlighted EEPI Publications

See the new paper in Climate Change Economics: "Individual Discount Rates and Climate Change: Is Discount Rate Associated with Support for A Carbon Tax?" by David Amdur, Donald Dale, Christopher Borick, and Barry Rabe.
See Prof. Barry Rabe's chapter "A New Era in States' Climate Policies?" in the new book by CQ Press and edited by Yael Wolinsky-Nahmias. Changing Climate Politics: US Policies and Civic Action is available from the CQ Press store and Amazon.
See the recent article by Prof. Barry Rabe in the journal Governance: "The Durability of Carbon Cap-and-Trade Policy"