Environmental Commitment among the States: Integrating Alternative Approaches to State Environmental Policy

Abstract

This article examines variation in state commitment to protecting the natural environment. We contribute to theoretical and empirical research in this area in two primary ways. First, our dependent variable consists of a general measure of state commitment to the environment. Second, we develop a causal model that integrates six major explanatory approaches to state environmental policy. Our results show that stales with liberal public opinion, strong environmental interest groups, liberal legislatures, and professionalized legislatures are the most committed to environmental protection. States' manufacturing interests and economic resources play a relatively minor role, and slates' environmental conditions and the influence of the federal government play virtually no role in explaining variation in general state commitment to environmental protection.