While most people think environmental regulation is tied to the left-right divide, with left leaning states desiring more regulation and conservative states less, Dr. JoyAnna Hopper, Assistant Professor of Politics, has found that “organizational cultures, beliefs, structures, and norms have profound impacts on environmental agency activities, and yet these factors are rarely considered.”

According to Dr. Hopper, day-to-day tasks at environmental protection agencies like the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation provide critically important services. These organizations perform quality inspections, assign violations, and issue penalties to individuals and organizations that fail to follow environmental protection policies. State-level environmental agencies vary immensely from state to state, but ultimately are responsible for conducting the majority of environmental enforcement activities in the United States. “Clean air and water are critically important for the health and wellness of our citizens and the environment, so it is important we have an understanding of how these entities work.”

Dr. Hopper’s research primarily focuses on differing structures within these agencies. “Some environmental agencies look very much like the EPA--an agency with a single task of protecting the environment. However, at least 20 state environmental agencies are combined with other mandates, such as protecting public health, conserving natural resources, and even regulating the marijuana industry.” According to Dr. Hopper, bureaucratic research indicates that combined mandates often lead to the neglect of other tasks. “Agencies tasked with numerous regulatory mandates in addition to environmental protection are more cooperative with industry, assigning fewer violations and lower penalties,” says Hopper, “while agencies whose sole purpose is environmental protection are generally more assertive in regulation.”

Currently, Dr. Hopper is working on a book manuscript entitled State Environmental Agencies: The Enduring Power of Design, Culture, and Politics, in which she explores the many facets that impact environmental enforcement, including organizational cultures, beliefs, structures, employee turnover rates, and agency history. Her research has been published in State Politics and Policy Quarterly, Environmental Policy and Governance, and SAGE Research Methods Cases.

--Photo and story by Stephen Priest, C'20

Research and scholarship can take many forms. For Kelsey Arbuckle, C’19, and Alexa Fults, C’21, both politics majors from Grundy County, it has involved uncovering information about a coal mine disaster that was personal for both of them even though it occurred long before they were born. In 1981, Mine 21, near Whitwell, Tennessee, exploded, killing 13 workers. During her sophomore year at Sewanee, Kelsey read a newspaper story about the tragedy and realized that her grandfather had been one of the victims. Further research led her to a blog entry by Dr. Chris McDonough, Alderson-Tillinghast Chair in the Humanities. Kelsey contacted him, and they began a discussion spanning many months that eventually led to the idea on the part of McDonough to create a documentary about the disaster.

In the meantime, Alexa had come to Sewanee, participating in Finding Your Place (FYP), immersing herself in Sewanee traditions, and trying to ignore her rural Tennessee background. A visit with her FYP class to the Grundy County Historical Society changed all that. Alexa realized that there is important and interesting history in her county of origin and that she wanted to study the socioeconomic effects of the downfall of the coal industry and develop a deeper understanding of the role her family played in local history (Alexa’s great, great, great, great, great uncle was the first person to discover coal on the plateau). This new-found interest in coal mining made Alexa a perfect partner for Kelsey to assist with the documentary, and Mine 21 was underway.

Kelsey and Alexa didn’t want Mine 21 to be an “academic thing.” Rather, they wanted to provide a way for local former coal miners and their families, many of whom had never talked about the tragedy before, to tell their stories in a supportive setting. Kelsey and Alexa, being Grundy County insiders, helped these people feel much more comfortable discussing their memories and feelings about the event. Tears were flowing as lifelong friends listened to each other talk about the explosion, its aftermath, and their self-imposed silence, which was intended to protect their families and community. Unlike a statistically oriented assessment of the economics and culture of Grundy County, Mine 21 enabled the community to speak for itself.

Arbuckle, Fults, and McDonough have been invited to Yale University to present their documentary and to talk to faculty and students about handling community trauma. They will be traveling to New Haven at the end of February to present their work and discuss how their documentary may be a first step in healing for coal miners and their families whose lives were torn apart by the explosion. The scholarly endeavors of these two students and a faculty member may turn out to have long-lasting positive effects for local individuals and could serve as an intervention model for other similar events.