Who Shapes Environmental Policy? Power and Politics in the Renewable Portfolio Standards of U.S. States, 1997–2020

Climate change has been a contentious political issue in the United States for many years. Although research at the national level has documented how fossil fuel interests have inhibited the United States from adopting a serious climate policy agenda, the situation among states is more heterogeneous. Using an original data set of 48 U.S. states from 1997 to 2020, I examine how qualitative variations in state energy policies are the product of conflicts between environmental groups, fossil fuel producers, utility providers, and political parties as they vie for power and influence. I show that Democratic party power, higher political spending from environmental organizations, lower investor-owned utility market share, higher publicly owned utility market share, and lower levels of fossil fuel production and political spending lead to more stringent policies. In contrast, weaker policies are more likely in states where the prototypical opponents of climate policy, Republican politicians and oil and gas interests, have greater power.