When business leaders, government officials, and other stakeholders come to the table in an environmental, health, or safety dispute, acrimony often results, leading to expensive and time-consuming litigation. Not only does this waste precious resources, but rarely does the process produce the best outcome for any of the parties involved.
For the past five years, the authors of this volume have conducted semi-annual seminars at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology and at Harvard to provide business leaders and regulators with the knowledge and skills they need to more effectively handle environmental, health, and safety negotiations. Their strategy, known as the ""mutual gains approach,"" is a proven method of producing fairer, more efficient, more stable, and wiser results. Negotiating Environmental Agreements provides the first comprehensive introduction to this widely practiced and highly effective approach to environmental regulation.
The book begins with an overview of the mutual gains approach, introducing important concepts and ideas from negotiation theory as well as the theory and practice of mediation. The authors then offer five model negotiations from their MIT-Harvard Public Disputes seminar, followed by a series of real-world negotiated environmental agreements that illustrate the kinds of outcomes possible when the mutual gains approach is employed. A collection of writings by leading experts provide valuable insights into the process, and appendixes offer both instructions for conducting model negotiation sessions and analysis of actual game results from earlier seminars.
This is the only prescriptive text available for the many regulatees and regulators involved in environmental regulatory negotiations each year. Anyone involved with environmental negotiation -- including corporate and public sector managers, students of environmental policy, environmental management, and business management -- will find the book an essential resource.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
The Mutual Gains Approach
Putting Your Skills to the Test
Gadgets, Inc.
ChemCo, Inc.
Bog Berries versus Federal Environmental Agency
MC Metals
Carson Extension Debriefing Questions for Simulations 1–5
Case Examples of Negotiated Agreements
Mercury Discharge Permits Thomas-Larmer Jennifer
Shoreline Restoration on Martha's Vineyard Sobel Gregory
Coastal Zone Regulations in Delaware Sobel Gregory
Superfund Cleanup at the Massachusetts Military Reservation Field Patrick
Scher Edward
Selected Readings
“They Treated Me Like a Criminal”: Sanctions, Enforcement Characteristics, and Compliance DiMento Joseph F.
The Negotiator's Dilemma: Creating and Claiming Value Lax David A.
Sebenius James K.
Squaring Off at the Table, Not in the Courts Susskind Lawrence
Dam Laura van
Mediation and Other Forms of Assisted Negotiation Susskind Lawrence
Cruikshank Jeffrey
The Risks and the Advantages of Agency Discretion: Evidence from EPA's Project XL Susskind Lawrence E.
