Rules and regulations set by government agencies are meant to protect the environment, but they often impose hardships on the very companies and communities they are designed to protect. These groups then seek to minimize the losses through long and costly litigation.
In this volume, professors Susskind, Bacow and Wheeler offer an alternative to expensive and time consuming legal proceedings: informal and voluntary bargaining between companies, communities, and government agencies. They suggest that informal methods of dispute resolution may result in more beneficial outcomes for all the parties than would otherwise be achieved through litigation.
In particular they argue that informal negotiation offers several advantages over litigation, including: 1) a reduction in the risk to the parties associated with the uncertainty of win-all or lose-all litigation; 2) a reduction in court costs, legal fees, inflationary delays, and other conflict-related expenses; 3) an increase in the efficiency of the outcome (an outcome is more efficient if all disputants or stakeholders prefer it to all other feasible outcomes); 4) an increase in the likelihood of achieving a stable agreement (an agreement is stable if it is subsequently honored by all the parties for at least several years).
The editors provide seven case studies of recent environmental disputes in various parts of the country. These involve the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to regulate a pulp and paper company in New Hampshire, a chemical manufacturing company in Tennessee, a power company in Montana, a sewage treatment plant in Wyoming, a coal burning utility in Massachusetts, and a water treatment complex in Colorado. These interesting and well-developed case studies demonstrate the advantages of informal resolution of regulatory disputes, as well as some of the obstacles.
Soft copy vs. hard copy
You may order this role simulation in either soft copy (electronic) or hard copy (paper) format. If you select the soft copy option, you will receive an e-mail with a URL (website address) from which you may download an electronic file in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. You are then permitted to view the document on your computer and either print the number of copies you purchased, or forward the electronic file as many times as the number of copies you purchased. You will only receive a link to one electronic file per document. So, if you order 25 soft copies, you may either forward copies of the link to 25 people via e-mail, or print (and/or photocopy) 25 hard copies of the document.
If you select the hard copy option, you will receive paper copies of this role simulation via the shipping method you select.
The purchase price and handling fee are the same for both soft and hard copies. Soft copies do not entail a shipping fee.
For additional information about the soft copy option, please visit our FAQ section, or contact the PON Clearinghouse at chouse@law.harvard.edu or 800-258-4406 (within the U.S.) or 781-966-2751 (outside the U.S.).
Please note: At the present time, Clearinghouse soft copies are compatible with the following versions of the Adobe Acrobat Reader: English, German, French, Spanish, Swedish, Portuguese, Japanese, and Korean. If you have a different version of the Acrobat Reader, you may wish to download one of these at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html, or contact the PON Clearinghouse at chouse@law.harvard.edu, 800-258-4406 (within the U.S.), or 781-966-2751 (outside the U.S.) for further assistance. This restriction does not apply to the freely available Teacher’s Package Review Copies.
Ordering a single copy for review
If you wish to review the materials for a particular role simulation to decide whether you’d like to use it, then you should order a single Teacher’s Package for that role simulation. A PDF, or soft copy, version of the Teacher’s Package is also available as a free download from the description page of most role simulations and case studies. There is no need to order participant materials as well as a Teacher’s Package, as all Teacher’s Packages include copies of all participant materials. In addition, some Teacher’s Packages (but not all) include additional teaching materials such as teaching notes or overhead masters. Please note that the materials in Teacher’s Packages are for the instructor’s review and reference only, and may not be duplicated for use with participants.
Ordering copies for multiple participants
If you wish to order multiple copies of a role simulation for use in a course or workshop, simply enter the total number of participants in the box next to “Participant Copies.” There is no need to calculate how many of each role is required; the Clearinghouse will calculate the appropriate numbers of each role to provide, based on the total number of participants. For example, if you wish to order a 2-party role simulation for use with a class of 30 students, you would enter “30” in the box next to “Participant Copies.” You then would receive 15 copies of one role and 15 copies of the other role, for use with your 30 participants. As another example, if you ordered 30 participant copies of a 6-party role simulation, you would receive 5 copies of each role.
In the event that the number of participant copies you order is not evenly divisible by the number of roles in the simulation, you will receive extra copies of one or more roles. Participants receiving the extra roles may partner with other participants playing the same role, thus negotiating as a team. So, for instance, if you ordered 31 copies of a 2-party role simulation, you would receive 15 copies of the first role and 16 copies of the second role. One of the participants playing the second role would partner with another participant playing that same role, and the two would negotiate as a team.
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