Survey of advanced environmental protection programs in Texas

Environmental policy is a focal point in the state of Texas. With the task of regulating over 1000 cities, the state is faced with the need to implement effective programs that allow local governments the flexibility and control that is essential to local government participation. One attempt that is currently in effect in Texas is what are known as Advanced Environmental Programs (AEP). Of the many local governments in Texas, only a handful have willingly become participants in these voluntary AEPs. One such AEP is a program called Clean Texas. In this project, we will attempt to uncover some of the underlying reasons that contribute to a local governments willingness to participate in a program such as Clean Texas. At the same time, we will also attempt to discover the reasons why the majority of Texas local governments choose not to participate in these programs.

We will use data that was collected during the Fall 2003 semester in the Early Survey Lab at Texas Tech University. This data was collected with the aide of a computer based questionnaire. The survey instrument was devised under the direction of the Earl Survey Lab and a graduate public administration class, PUAD 5333, Environmental Policy and Administration. Then survey was subsequently pre-tested, revised, and administered in the research lab. We worked collecting the data and recording responses in the Earl Survey Research Lab under the direction of Dr. Brian Gerber, Department of Political Science, Texas Tech University and Mr. Brian Cannon, Earl Survey Research Lab, Texas Tech University. We contacted all participating local governments and a random sample was collected from local governments that choose not to participate in AEPs. A census of cities that participate in AEPs was also collected.

We will construct a complete statistical analysis, with the use of SAS, Minitab, and Microsoft Excel, of this data set in an attempt to answer key questions that arise pertaining to the issue of why local governments choose to participate in AEPs. We will look to see if there is any inherent differences between participating local governments and non-participating local governments.