奥地利的环境保护

奥地利环境保护行政管理分联邦和州两级,联邦政府主管政策制定、法规起草、编制规划等,具体执法管理工作由州环保局负责.为了减少事务性工作,强化环境保护行政管理和执法,成立了联邦环保局,为制定联邦环保政策和环保执法提供专业支持,履行环境监督职能.完善的法规、活跃的环保社团、广泛的群众参与是奥地利环境保护处于世界领先地位的基础和保证.     

成都城市热环境的空间特点及对策

简要介绍了城市热环境的形成因素、机理和危害;基于《成都市城市热岛效应的遥感研究》成果,分析了成都城市热环境所具有的环型特征及其成因;探讨了改善热环境的方法和对策措施。这对于环境保护、城市的可持续发展,建设＂世界现代田园城市＂等具有现实意义。     

美国环境与健康管理体制借鉴

美国为应对环境污染带来的公共健康灾难,建立了环保局与卫生部既分工又协作的体制,两个部门都关注环境污染对人类健康的危害。在职能上,环保局侧重于管制和"污染者",卫生部侧重于服务和"潜在受害者"。联邦层面,环保局与卫生部在管制方面和研究(信息共享)方面紧密合作。地方层面,环保局的主要职能是监督各州执行联邦标准,卫生部的主要职能是提供健康和医疗服务,并在具体工作中密切配合。借鉴美国的经验教训,明确建立"公众健康优先"的环境管理价值取向,针对环境与健康风险管理的特点推进生态环境统一监管机构改革,以法治思维和法治方法推进环境与健康治理体系建设;加强科学研究,加快建设环境与健康风险控制信息系统。     

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act's Public Registry System

Public access to information and public participation in the environmental assessment (EA) process are cornerstones of the Canadian EA system. The Government's commitment is stated in the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act which requires that federal departments establish and operate a public registry of information on the EAs they conduct to ensure convenient public access. The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency has taken the lead to ensure this commitment is met through the development of an innovative electronic Public Registry System. The system allows all federal departments conducting EAs to meet their obligations in a consistent and cost-effective manner. The public can easily access information on the 'who, what, when, where and why' of all EAs carried out by the federal departments, as well as document listings and the actual EA documents. Access is through the Internet, CD ROM, and in hardcopy.     

Environmental Justice in Indian Country: Dumpsite Remediation on the Swinomish Indian Reservation

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines environmental justice as the “fair treatment for people of all races, cultures, and incomes, regarding the development of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” The last decade has focused considerable national attention on the environmental pollution inequity that persists among the nation’s poorest communities. Despite these environmental justice efforts, poor communities continue to face adverse environmental conditions. For the more than 550 Native American communities, the struggle to attain environmental justice is more than a matter of enforcing national laws equitably; it is also a matter of a federal trust duty for the protection of Indian lands and natural resources, honoring a promise that Native American homelands would forever be sustainable. Equally important is the federal promise to assist tribes in managing their reservation environments under their reserved powers of self-government, an attribute that most distinguishes tribes from other communities. The PM Northwest, Inc. (PMNW) dumpsite is located within the boundaries of the Swinomish Indian Reservation in Washington State. Between approximately 1958 and 1970, PMNW contracted with local oil refineries to dispose of hazardous wastes from their operations at the reservation dumpsite. Almost two decades would pass before the Swinomish tribe was able to persuade EPA that a cleanup action under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) was warranted. This article reviews the enduring struggle to achieve Indian environmental justice in the Swinomish homeland, a process that was dependent upon the development of the tribe’s political and environmental management capacity as well as EPA’s eventual acknowledgement that Indian environmental justice is integrally linked to its federal trust responsibility.     

Contemporary Western Rural USA Economic Composition: Potential Implications for Environmental Policy and Research

/ The rural West of the United States is considered strongly antienvironment. The traditional economic reliance of the area on natural resources has long explained this antienvironment stance. The region consistently elects federal officials who as a group consistently vote against environmental bills and seek to undo existing federal environmental regulation. These politicians defend their antienvironment actions based on their perception of the economic composition and interests of the region. Recent studies, however, have suggested that rural residents are increasingly concerned about environmental issues. These studies, however, lack a consistent theoretical basis. This article uses an alternative economic typing system to examine the economic composition of rural Idaho and suggests that the results found using the alternative typing system might provide a theoretical basis to explain why some studies are finding increased rural environmental support. The results show that rural Idaho is much more economically diverse using this alternative typing methodology compared to the outcomes of traditional USDA economic methodologies. The policy and research implications of these findings are examined.KEY WORDS: Rural; Environmental policy; Economic composition     

Dismantling Environmental Racism in the USA

A growing body of evidence reveals that people of colour and low-income persons have borne greater environmental and health risks than the society at large in their neighbourhoods, workplaces and playgrounds. Over the past decade or so, grassroots activists have attempted to change the way government implements environmental, health and civil rights laws. A new movement has emerged in opposition to environmental racism and environmental injustice. Over the past two decades or so, grassroots activists have had some success in changing the way the federal government treats communities of colour and their inhabitants. Grassroots groups have also organised, educated and empowered themselves to improve the way health and environmental policies are administered. Environmentalism is now equated with social justice and civil rights.     

The eclipse of NEPA as Environmental Policy

Previous evaluations of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) have focused on the effectiveness of its procedural requirements in improving the quality of decision making with respect to environmental matters. Subsequent growth of other environmental regulation and the changing role of Environmental Impact Statements in the decision-making process should also be considered. The many federal and state environmental laws passed in the 1970s have, by defining the nature and acceptability of environmental impact and prohibiting unacceptable impacts, superseded the substantive role of NEPA in environmental protection. Although the EIS continues to serve as a focus for public debate regarding proposed government actions, such debates usually center around social or economic rather than environmental issues. NEPA has thus been superseded by other environmental laws, and its role in the decision-making process today has little relation to its earlier environmental significance.     

美国《清洁空气法》中的环境质量达标制度研究——以联邦与地方的权限为视角

虽然针对美国《清洁空气法》(CAA)的研究众多,然而诸多研究并未发掘至其之所以先进的核心。CAA之所以先进的关键在于重新分配法律(EPA是其代表)与州政府之间权力与义务的环境质量达标制度。CAA要求在联邦层面构建一个约束美国各州的大气环境质量标准体系,并且以各州的客观环境与发展程度为前提,赋予各州政府一系列的大气环境质量目标。各州政府需要在自身的权限范围内采取行动,从而为这一系列目标向联邦负责。CAA将自身的法律设置分为两大内容(或称两大原则):国家空气质量标准原则与州政府独立实施原则,并将两大原则转化为具体的程序:NAAQS与SIP。代表国家法律的环保署与代表实际环境义务承担者的州政府之间,是互相依赖又互相独立的关系。     

Integrating Environmental Restoration and Ecological Restoration: Long-Term Stewardship at the Department of Energy

With the ending of the Cold War, several federal agencies are reclaiming land through remediation and restoration and are considering potential future land uses that are compatible with current uses and local needs. Some sites are sufficiently contaminated that it is likely that the responsible federal agency will retain control over the land for the foreseeable future, providing them with a stewardship mission. This is particularly true of some of the larger Department of Energy (DOE) facilities contaminated during the production of nuclear weapons. The use of the term “restoration” is explored in this paper because the word means different things to the public, ecologists, and environmental managers responsible for contaminated sites, such as Superfund sites and the DOE facilities. While environmental restoration usually refers to remediation and removal of hazardous wastes, ecological restoration refers to the broader process of repairing damaged ecosystems and enhancing their productivity and/or biodiversity. The goals of the two types of restoration can be melded by considering environmental restoration as a special case of ecological restoration, one that involves risk reduction from hazardous wastes, and by broadening environmental restoration to include a more extensive problem-formulation phase (both temporal and spatial), which includes the goal of reestablishing a functioning ecosystem after remediation. Further, evaluating options for the desired post remediation result will inform managers and policy-makers concerning the feasibility and efficacy of environmental restoration itself.     

Bottom-Up Risk Regulation? How Nanotechnology Risk Knowledge Gaps Challenge Federal and State Environmental Agencies

Nanotechnologies have been called the "Next Industrial Revolution." At the same time, scientists are raising concerns about the potential health and environmental risks related to the nano-sized materials used in nanotechnologies. Analyses suggest that current U.S. federal regulatory structures are not likely to adequately address these risks in a proactive manner. Given these trends, the premise of this paper is that state and local-level agencies will likely deal with many "end-of-pipe" issues as nanomaterials enter environmental media without prior toxicity testing, federal standards, or emissions controls. In this paper we (1) briefly describe potential environmental risks and benefits related to emerging nanotechnologies; (2) outline the capacities of the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Resources Conservation and Recovery Act to address potential nanotechnology risks, and how risk data gaps challenge these regulations; (3) outline some of the key data gaps that challenge state-level regulatory capacities to address nanotechnologies' potential risks, using Wisconsin as a case study; and (4) discuss advantages and disadvantages of state versus federal approaches to nanotechnology risk regulation. In summary, we suggest some ways government agencies can be better prepared to address nanotechnology risk knowledge gaps and risk management.     

Environmental auditing: Theory and applications

The environmental audit has become a regular part of corporate environmental management in Canada and is also gaining recognition in the public sector. A 1991 survey of 75 private sector companies across Canada revealed that 76% (57/75) had established environmental auditing programs. A similar survey of 19 federal, provincial, and municipal government departments revealed that 11% (2/19) had established such programs. The information gained from environmental audits can be used to facilitate and enhance environmental management from the single facility level to the national and international levels. This paper is divided into two sections: section one examines environmental audits at the facility/company level and discusses environmental audit characteristics, trends, and driving forces not commonly found in the available literature. Important conclusions are: that wherever possible, an action plan to correct the identified problems should be an integral part of an audit, and therefore there should be a close working relationship between auditors, managers, and employees, and that the first audits will generally be more difficult, time consuming, and expensive than subsequent audits. Section two looks at environmental audits in the broader context and discusses the relationship between environmental audits and three other environmental information gathering/analysis tools: environmental impact assessments, state of the environment reports, and new systems of national accounts. The argument is made that the information collected by environmental audits and environmental impact assessments at the facility/company level can be used as the bases for regional and national state of the environment reports and new systems of national accounts.     

美国联邦财政环保支出经验借鉴

为应对当前环境保护工作所处的新阶段、新形势、新任务,在分析美国联邦财政环保支出特征的基础上,从加大环保专项资金投入、提高环境科技支出占比、强化重点领域环保支出、注重建立环保基金等方面,提出优化我国中央财政环保支出可供借鉴的四点经验。     

Virtual Intergovernmental Linkage Through the Environmental Information Exchange Network

Over the past decade the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the states have partnered in developing a web-based information sharing initiative that provides state environmental agencies easy access to federal environmental monitoring data and to the environmental data of other states, and gives the EPA access to data from state sources. The Environmental Information Exchange Network (EIEN) has established basic data exchange nodes in each of the states. Using multiple regression analysis we investigate the factors that account for the number and development stage of the data exchanges in which the states participate as of 2009. Overall, we find that administrative factors, especially the EPA’s grant program, are more important than political or environmental conditions. Participation in the exchanges is important not only as a way to reduce costs for data reporting and communication, but also as a precursor to greater eventual interstate environmental collaboration. Though clear evidence of a transition to collaboration is not yet seen here, there are some indications it may emerge in time.     

Return to the River: Environmental Flow Policy in the United States and Canada1

Abstract: This paper provides an overview and summary of United States and Canadian federal, state, and provincial laws that offer some form of legal protection for environmental flows. Special attention is given to the new “second generation” law established in Texas and to ways western states are beginning to encourage transactions that help restore dewatered streams. Progress in the eastern states and some Canadian provinces to provide environmental flow protection is addressed. Based on this review, this paper presents recommended elements of a “model” environmental flow policy.     

Environmental Protection as a US National Government Priority: Analysis of Six Annual Public Opinion Surveys, 1999 – 2004

Public support for environmental protection in the US as a federal government priority has substantially dropped since 2001. Data for the years 1999?–?2004 show that the least support was from non-Hispanic white, middle-class, college educated and suburban residents. Poorer, black, and residents of large cities have become the strongest supporters. In addition, with the important exception of wanting the federal government to focus on job creation, the public is less interested in many other domestic program priorities, including crime prevention and regulating health care management. The results are not an ominous sign that the public has lost interest in environmental planning and management, but are interpreted here as a notice that there must be aggressive efforts to explain to the public, media and elected representatives that efforts are critically important to public health, job creation and economic development.     

Qualitative and Quantitative Assessment of Land-Use Managers' Attitudes Toward Environmental Justice

This study examines the outcome of efforts to educate federal land-use managers about their roles in implementing the Executive Order in their respective districts. The managers participated in a 6-h Nominal Group Technique (NGT) workshop where they were instructed to weight environmental justice issues versus others associated with hazardous waste problems in their districts. Participant responses were quantified and analyzed through a series of rounds. After each round, participants received increasing amounts of information on environmental justice issues. It was hypothesized that the managers would come to a consensus that environmental justice is an important issue that should be seriously addressed. Prior to administering the NGT, the managers appeared to have limited knowledge of environmental justice issues and thus assigned relatively low rankings to such concerns. After being “educated” by viewing films on environmental justice and reading related literature, in general, managers' weightings decreased and a narrower consensus developed. The authors conclude that exposure to the issue may not be as effective as expected in convincing land-use managers to become sensitive to justice issues so that they may effectively implement the Executive Order.     

Environmental application of aerial reconnaissance to search for open dumps

Three approaches to using aerial photography are evaluated for searching for open dumps in the state of Indiana. Photography with hand-held cameras from a small airplane proved more effective and flexible than either photo-interpretation of existing air photos or subcontracting to a federal agency for new aerial photography. The rationale for our choice of aerial reconnaissance, other uses of low-level aerial surveillance, the utility of small-format camera aerial photography for environmental analysis, and methods used for locating open dumps are discussed.     

Environmental quality management in the united states in the 1980s and beyond: An appraisal

Summary This paper presents an overview of: (1) the institutional context of the environmental pollution sector of environmental quality management; (2) accomplishments and problems in some representative subsectors; and (3) prospects. The author describes levels of government within the US federal system and lists types of organizational structures, explains the division of responsibilities for managing environmental quality among legislative bodies/executive agencies, state and federal courts, and state public utility commission, and notes the significant role of nongovernmental environmental groups. In order to assess both the past performance and present status of environmental quality management in the United States, Bower cites some specific and generic problems in such subsectors as water quality, soil erosion, air quality, and hazardous wastes. He goes on to characterize recent approaches and their results using these observations as a basis for an appraisal of future prospects in the context of intermedia impacts and multiple modes of impact on various species. Remarks prepared for presentation at theColloque International, Les Politiques de l'Environnement Face à la Crise, Paris, 10–12 January, 1984. Blair T. Bower, a Registered Civil Engineer, is a Consultant in Residence at Resources For the Future in Washington, DC. He has worked extensively in the US and abroad on environmental quality management with such international organizations as the UN, WHO, OAS, and OECD. His current involvements include consultancies with the US National Oceans and Atmospheric Administration, Strategic Assessments Branch/Oceans Assessment Division; as Leader for Utilization of Coastal Water Problem Areas/Analyzing Biospheric Change Programme, International Federation of Institutes for Advances Study; and with the Office of Policy Analysis/US Environmental Protection Agency. An early supporter of integrated approaches to natural resource/environmental planning and management and to residuals disposal, Mr Bower is the author of many publications on a wide range of environmental topics and management options.     

Environmental democracy in action: The Toxics Release Inventory

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) created by the 1986 Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act initially received limited attention. During the early years of its implementation, the TRI has become the basis for a national experiment in voluntaristic problem solving among citizens and industry, but that process of environmental democracy hinges on citizens' ability to actually acquire, understand, and apply the new data on industrial toxic emissions. A national study of TRI-using organizations in the public and private sectors reveals that effective citizen access depends in part on the efforts of intermediary public interest groups to bridge individual needs and right-to-know data. Although the TRI has had early success as a supplement to conventional command and control regulation, questions exist about the extent to which state and federal government should or must provide special efforts to make environmental information access work for citizens.