The Potential of Public Participation Geographic Information Systems in UK Environmental Planning: Appraisals by Active Publics

The paper draws on an empirical study of two workshops in which the issues that arise from the use of geographic information systems (GIS) as a planning tool in public participation settings were explored by local residents who take an active interest in local planning matters in their London borough. The paper demonstrates how issues concerned with the democratization of GIS and public participation GIS (PPGIS) informed the structure and conduct of the workshops and the qualitative analysis of the workshop discussions. Key themes raised by participants included: the potential of PPGIS as a means of extending knowledge networks; issues of data ownership and the responsiveness of data providers to public concerns; and the role that institutional norms and practices play in democratizing information availability and the transparency of the decision-making process. The paper concludes that the potential of PPGIS as a planning tool cannot be separated from public concerns about the legitimacy of the planning process or local government.     

Pyrethroid pesticide effects on behavioral responses of aquatic isopods to danger cues

The present study sought to evaluate the behavioral responses of non-target organisms in order to determine whether phototactic responses of isopods to danger cues are altered as a function of exposure to the pyrethroid pesticides λ-cyhalothrin and bifenthrin. Experiments conducted on Gnorimosphaeroma oregonensis identified sublethal behavioral responses to pyrethroids, λ-cyhalothrin and bifenthrin at concentrations 0.15 ng/mL, 0.025 ng/mL, and 0.005 ng/mL. Experimental setup tested isopod phototactic responses across six treatments: control, pyrethroid, hemolymph, predator, hemolymph?+?pyrethroid, and predator?+?pyrethroid. Isopods exhibited no preference for phototactic responses in the control and pyrethroid treatments. When exposed to danger cues (hemolymph or predator), isopods exhibited significant negative phototaxis, as expected. When exposure to danger cues was combined with pyrethroids, isopods again exhibited no preference for phototactic response. Experiments indicate that pyrethroids diminish isopod’s negatively phototactic response to danger cues.     

Monitoring of carbon monoxide in residences with bulk wood pellet storage in the Northeast United States

The interest in biomass fuel is continuing to expand globally and in the northeastern United States as wood pellets are becoming a primary source of fuel for residential and small commercial systems. Wood pellets for boilers are often stored in basement storage rooms or large bag-type containers. Due to the enclosed nature of these storage areas, the atmosphere may exhibit increased levels of carbon monoxide. Serious accidents in Europe have been reported over the last decade in which high concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO) have been found in or near bulk pellet storage containers. The aim of this study was to characterize the CO concentrations in areas with indoor storage of bulk wood pellets. Data was obtained over approximately 7 months (December 2013 to June 2014) at 25 sites in New Hampshire and Massachusetts: 16 homes using wood pellet boilers with indoor pellet storage containers greater than or equal to 3 ton capacity; 4 homes with wood pellet heating systems with outdoor pellet storage; 4 homes using other heating fuels; and a university laboratory site. CO monitors were set up in homes to collect concentrations of CO in the immediate vicinity of wood pellet storage containers, and data were then compared to those of homes using fossil fuel systems. The homes monitored in this study provided a diverse set of housing stock spanning two and a half centuries of construction, with homes built from 1774 to 2013, representing a range of air exchange rates. The CO concentration data from each home was averaged hourly and then compared to a threshold of 9 ppm. While concentrations of CO were generally low for the homes studied, the need to properly design storage locations for pellets is and will remain a necessary component of wood pellet heating systems to minimize the risk of CO exposure.

Implications: This paper is an assessment of carbon monoxide (CO) exposure from bulk wood pellet storage in homes in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Understanding the CO concentrations in homes allows for better designs for storage bins and ventilation for storage areas. Hence, uniform policies for stored wood pellets in homes, schools, and businesses can be framed to ensure occupant safety. Currently in New York State rebates for the installation of wood pellet boilers are only provided if the bulk pellet storage is outside of the home, yet states such as New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine currently do not have these restrictions.     

The developmental neurotoxicity of legacy vs. contemporary polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs): similarities and differences

Although banned from production for decades, PCBs remain a significant risk to human health. A primary target of concern is the developing brain. Epidemiological studies link PCB exposures in utero or during infancy to increased risk of neuropsychiatric deficits in children. Nonclinical studies of legacy congeners found in PCB mixtures synthesized prior to the ban on PCB production suggest that non-dioxin-like (NDL) congeners are predominantly responsible for the developmental neurotoxicity associated with PCB exposures. Mechanistic studies suggest that NDL PCBs alter neurodevelopment via ryanodine receptor-dependent effects on dendritic arborization. Lightly chlorinated congeners, which were not present in the industrial mixtures synthesized prior to the ban on PCB production, have emerged as contemporary environmental contaminants, but there is a paucity of data regarding their potential developmental neurotoxicity. PCB 11, a prevalent contemporary congener, is found in the serum of children and their mothers, as well as in the serum of pregnant women at increased risk for having a child diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD). Recent data demonstrates that PCB 11 modulates neuronal morphogenesis via mechanisms that are convergent with and divergent from those implicated in the developmental neurotoxicity of legacy NDL PCBs. This review summarizes these data and discusses their relevance to adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in humans.

     

The Superfund Remedial Action Decision Process: A Review of Fifty Records of Decision

Abstract

Although the Superfund remedial action decision process is a complex process involving a variety of technical, political, and public health issues, the primary goal of remedial action is the protection of public health. We performed an in-depth analysis of 50 post-SARA Records of Decision in order to characterize the role of risk assessment in the decision-making process and determine whether decisions are being made in an effective and environmentally protective manner. Our findings indicate that the majority of decisions to remediate Superfund sites are based on the existence of contamination per se and not on actual public health risk. Although hypothetical risk is an essential consideration, this gray area is not well-defined in the current decision-making process.

The lack of assessment of the degree of risk reduction associated with the remedial alternatives evaluated and the lack of support indicating the effectiveness of the remedial alternatives selected also constitute major weaknesses in the majority of decisions. These inadequacies undermine rationales regarding the protectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the remedial alternatives selected. The fact that objectives beyond addressing public health risk are often unclear in the decision-making process also weakens rationales for costeffectiveness.     

How Should Support for Climate-Friendly Technologies Be Designed?

Stabilizing global greenhouse gas concentrations at levels to avoid significant climate risks will require massive “decarbonization” of all the major economies over the next few decades, in addition to the reduced emissions from other GHGs and carbon sequestration. Achieving the necessary scale of emissions reductions will require a multifaceted policy effort to support a broad array of technological and behavioral changes. Change on this scale will require sound, well-thought-out strategies. In this article, we outline some core principles, drawn from recent social science research, for guiding the design of clean technology policies, with a focus on energy. The market should be encouraged to make good choices: pricing carbon emissions and other environmental damage, removing distorting subsidies and barriers to competition, and supporting RD&D broadly. More specific policies are required to address particular market failures and barriers. For those technologies identified as being particularly desirable, some narrower RD&D policies are available.     

Short-run allocation of emissions allowances and long-term goals for climate policy

We use economic analysis to evaluate grandfathering, auctioning, and benchmarking approaches for allocation of emissions allowances and then discuss practical experience from European and American schemes. In principle, auctions are superior from the viewpoints of efficiency, fairness, transparency, and simplicity. In practice, auctions have been opposed by important sectors of industry, which argue that carbon pricing without compensation would harm international competitiveness. In the European Union's Emissions Trading System, this concern led to grandfathering that is updated at various intervals. Unfortunately, updating gives industry an incentive to change behavior to influence future allocation. Furthermore, the wealth transferred to incumbent firms can be significantly larger than the extra costs incurred, leading to windfall profits. Meanwhile, potential auction revenues are not available to reduce other taxes. By circumscribing free allocation, benchmarking can target competitiveness concerns, incur less wealth transfer, and provide a strategy consistent with transitioning to auctions in the long run.     

How should support for climate-friendly technologies be designed?

Stabilizing global greenhouse gas concentrations at levels to avoid significant climate risks will require massive "decarbonization" of all the major economies over the next few decades, in addition to the reduced emissions from other GHGs and carbon sequestration. Achieving the necessary scale of emissions reductions will require a multifaceted policy effort to support a broad array of technological and behavioral changes. Change on this scale will require sound, well-thought-out strategies. In this article, we outline some core principles, drawn from recent social science research, for guiding the design of clean technology policies, with a focus on energy. The market should be encouraged to make good choices: pricing carbon emissions and other environmental damage, removing distorting subsidies and barriers to competition, and supporting RD&D broadly. More specific policies are required to address particular market failures and barriers. For those technologies identified as being particularly desirable, some narrower RD&D policies are available.     

Assessing ecological risk on a regional scale

Society needs a quantitative and systematic way to estimate and compare the impacts of environmental problems that affect large geographic areas. This paper presents an approach for regional risk assessment that combines regional assessment methods and landscape ecology theory with an existing framework for ecological risk assessment. Risk assessment evaluates the effects of an environmental change on a valued natural resource and interprets the significance of those effects in light of the uncertainties identified in each component of the assessment process. Unique and important issues for regional risk assessment are emphasized; these include the definition of the disturbance scenario, the assessment boundary definition, and the spatial heterogeneity of the landscape. Although the research described in this article has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through Interagency Agreement Number DW89932112-01-2 to the U.S. Department of Energy, it has not been subjected to EPA review and therefore does not necessarily reflect the views of EPA and no official endorsement should be inferred.     

Determining regional water quality patterns and their ecological relationships

A multivariate statistical method for analyzing spatial patterns of water quality in Georgia and Kansas was tested using data in the US Environmental Protection Agency's STORET data system. Water quality data for Georgia and Kansas were organized by watersheds. We evaluated three questions: (a) can distinctive regional water quality patterns be detected and predicted using only a few water quality variables, (b) are regional water quality patterns correlated with terrestrial biotic regions, and (c) are regional water quality patterns correlated with fish distributions? Using existing data, this method can distinguish regions with water quality very different from the average conditions (as in Georgia), but it does not discriminate well between regions that do not have diverse water quality conditions (as in Kansas). Data that are spatially and temporally adequate for representing large regions and for multivariate statistical analysis are available for only a few common water quality parameters. Regional climate, lithology, and biotic regimes all have the potential to affect water quality, and terrestrial biotic regions and fish distributions do compare with regional water quality patterns, especially in a state like Georgia, where watershed characteristics are diverse. Thus, identifiable relationships between watershed characteristics and water quality should allow the development of an integrated landaquatic classification system that would be a valuable tool for resource management. Because geographical distributions of species may be limited by Zoogeographic and environmental factors, the recognition of patterns in fish distributions that correlate with regional water quality patterns could influence management strategies and aid regional assessments.