Public Enterprise, Economic Development, And The Impact Of Environmental Regulation: The Experience Of American Seaports On The Pacific Rim

Port authorities perceive their ideas as broadly supportive of regional economic development and are strongly associated with chambers of commerce, economic development agencies and growth oriented citizens groups. However, shifts in American foreign trade and the use of new technologies atid environmental regulation have dramatically changed the seaport industry over the last 15 years. As public enterprises, many ports responded to the new competitive markets by developing efficient but capital intensive container technologies. Environmental regulation also had a role in stimulating more efficient use of port lands. Although frequently viewed as a road block to all development plans, the intergovernmental review processes may have helped turn ports away from their traditional patterns of land expansion development and toward redevelopment of existing facilities. With the constraint of greatly reduced expansion opportunities. the enterprising ports figured out they could greatly increase cargo handling capacity without enacting the wrath of environmental quality interests. This paper examines this contention with both economic logic and inferential data.