Environmental policy and citizen participation: A case study analyzing the effect of local advisory committees on human activity in the coastal zone areas of Louisiana and Texas

Wetlands are at risk. The coastal areas of Louisiana and Texas are among the areas of greatest wetland loss. The Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 was intended to simultaneously accomplish the conflicting goals of protecting coastal resources and allowing for development while encouraging citizen participation through the formation of local advisory committees. These advisory committees must work within the framework of Federal and state environmental policies.; When governmental units are viewed as nonresponsive to local needs, citizen's advisory committees succeed in protecting their areas only if they empower themselves and to take part in the decision making process.; This research evaluated advisory committees from two perspectives: (1) By applying Ashford's model of the purpose of advisory committees, and (2) By examining them as examples of collaborative problem. Neither Ashford's model, nor collaborative problem solving theory, nor any reference in the literature address the phenomena that some committees have extended their influence beyond the governmental units they are advising to directly contact those entities that are impacting the environment.