The capital shortage phenomenon : Its impact on the US mineral industries

After examining the concept of a capital shortage, the author analyses the impacts of sectoral shortages in the mineral industries. He analyses the future capital needs of certain segments of the mineral industries and the prospects open to them. Finally, the author discusses some policy proposals to stimulate investment. These include the reduction of corporate tax, increasing investment tax credit, changing depreciation allowances to allow for inflation, and changing the tax treatment of capital gains.     

US copper supply : An economic/engineering analysis of cost—supply relationships

The authors present short- and long-term supply schedules for the primary US copper industry. These schedules are based on the economic theory of supply, and are derived from site- and input-specific cost data. Cost figures are arrived at by a combination of engineering process analysis and statistical cost estimation. The supply functions can be used to evaluate the effects of changes in market, policy, or other variables on US copper supply.     

The Carbon Dioxide Reduction Workshop: Dutch Experiences with a Participatory Approach

This paper investigates the potential of a method for participatory policy making in the field of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) reduction in housing: the CO 2 reduction workshop. This innovative method aims to involve relevant actors at an early stage of urban development and to formulate common ambitions for CO 2 reduction. Special attention is paid to the inputting of information about options for CO 2 reduction. The workshop was organized and evaluated in two planning processes for new housing estates in the Netherlands. The evaluation addresses the design of the workshop, the utilization of knowledge in the process, the effects of the workshop on the commitment and knowledge of the participants and the effects on the wider planning process.     

The raw material supply of the European Community : The importance of secondary raw materials

The availability and security of raw materials supply have taken on a new political dimension within the last few years. These issues influence the economic and political rank of nations, affecting their independence, their standards of living and the competitive position of their industries. The importance of raw materials supply will continue to grow, for both the developed industrial and the developing countries. The European Community depends on external sources for 50–100% of most of its raw materials. Although the degree of dependence varies considerably from commodity to commodity, sources are not diversified enough to guarantee supply. Yet 1700–2000 million tons of waste are generated annually in the Community, containing substances of potential value—including metals, glass, rubber, textiles, oil, plastics—of which 70– 80% are tipped. This represents a loss of materials as far as they could be reused economically. This article argues that efforts should be made to recover and reuse the maximum possible of these resources to reduce the Community's dependence on, and improve its security of, raw materials supplies, and to lower the balance of payments burden.     

The current status of the US mining industry

The US economy annually needs over 4 billion tons of new mineral supplies. The value of domestically produced energy and processed materials of mineral origin exceeds $175 billion annually, but domestic production of both raw and processed minerals is not keeping pace with demand.     

World supply of non fuel minerals: The geological constraints

The feasibility of trebling production of essential non fuel minerals by AD 2000 is considered in relation to a rise in world population to 6 billion (10⁹). Adequate supplies of common bulk ‘minerals’ like sand and gravel, brick clays and saline deposits, are assured, but mining will place additional strains on local environments. Ores of the metals that can be regarded as available in sufficient quantities include iron, aluminium, chromium, titanium, copper and nickel, and possibly also lead and zinc. In spite of the geological constraints imposed by complexity of geometry and genesis, reasoned resource estimates are possible for these, but they may not be feasible for rarer necessary minerals, such as those of the precious metals, mercury, niobium and flourine. The extraction of even the commonest of the non fuel minerals is conditioned by the availability of abundant energy at economic prices – this should be regarded as the critical factor.     

Decline of materials intensiveness : The US pulp and paper industry

Despite the USA's image as a throw-away society, materials consumption per real GNP is declining, and has been for several years. Materials conservation practices in industry and a shift towards a service economy are two important factors in the decline of material intensiveness. The authors document this resource trend for the paper industry and conclude that an important cause of material intensiveness decline for this industry is the concept of product maturity. Future policy options are also analysed.     

State ownership and the price sensitivity of supply: The case of the copper mining industry

The paper attempts to verify the claim that output in state owned copper mining industries is less sensitive to price changes than in private ones. This is done by comparing the price sensitivity of copper supply in countries with state and privately owned copper industries and by testing whether nationalization leads to changes in the supply behaviour of copper mining industries. It is found that low supply elasticities and nationalizations are both the result of a country's high dependence on copper and are not themselves causally related.     

Managing for Desired Experiences and Site Preferences: The Case of Fee-Fishing Anglers

Fee-fishing involves paying a fee for the privilege of fishing a body of water where fish populations are enhanced by stocking fish. Past literature on this activity has focused more on the operation of the enterprise and management of the fish than the people and site characteristics. The objectives of the study were to profile anglers and describe their site/management preferences. This study utilized an on-site interview and mail-back questionnaire at fee-fishing establishments in West Virginia (n = 212). Factor analysis of desired recreation experiences yielded five factors: Experience nature & adventure, Stress release & relaxation, Trophy fishing, Escape, and Family time. Cluster analysis showed that these anglers can be segmented into two distinct clusters, differing by sociodemographic characteristics, fishing behavior, and site/management preferences. The findings from this study provide baseline data to aid public resource managers and fee-fishing business owners in determining how to provide satisfying outdoor experiences and deliver desired services on-site. Future research will be needed from additional fee-fishing sites to obtain more detail about this outdoor recreation cohort and be able to generalize to a larger population of participants.     

Sustainable innovation journeys: exploring the dynamics of firm practices as part of transitions to more sustainable food and farming

Deep structural and sustained change is necessary to tackle contemporary environmental challenges. How such change emerges and can be governed has been explored through the notion of sustainable innovation journeys. To date research had conceptualised such journeys as transitions to more sustainable socio-technical systems, e.g. mobility, shelter, food and farming. However, there is a paucity of how innovation proceeds in firms as part of sustainable innovation journeys. This paper begins to address this gap in knowledge. A longitudinal case study was completed of a medium-sized food-processing firm in the UK. Qualitative data were collected using ethnographic methods such as participant observation. Drawing on practice theory, a conceptual framework was developed which enabled us to explore and make sense of the firm's sustainable innovation journey conceptualised as practices. Findings show that we can usefully treat a firm as a flow of practices that either resist or otherwise accommodate new practices deemed more sustainable.     

US federal tax policy: The evolution of percentage depletion for minerals

We are often tempted to believe that a nation's resource policy is the result of careful deliberation and conscious design and is articulated in a relatively few statutes. This paper traces the history of percentage depletion in the USA and finds that this particular resource policy has evolved in the absence of a recognizable master plan. Percentage depletion has developed through a continuing political tug-of-war in the US Congress as a seemingly unending array of special interest groups sought and finally gained the prize of percentage depletion for their industry.     

Patterns of selectiveness in the Amazonian freshwater fisheries: implications for management

Tropical fisheries, which are considered multi-species, may show selectiveness. We analyzed the degree of selectivity of fish catches in 46 sites along the Amazon basin through the percentage of biomass corresponding to the most caught fish species. Amazonian fisheries were considered moderately selective, as 54% of the sites directed more than a quarter of fishing effort to one fish species and in 87% of the sites more than half the fishing effort was directed to five fish species. Commercial fisheries were more selective than subsistence fisheries. Eleven fish species (nine of them migratory) have received more fishing pressure in the studied Amazonian regions and the catch composition differed among regions. We thus recommend that fisheries management in the Amazon basin should distribute fishing effort among more fish species; incorporate the particularities of commercial and subsistence fisheries; evaluate fishing effects on ecosystem services; and consider the biological characteristics of preferred fish.     

The supply behaviour of state mining enterprises: A case study of the Jordanian phosphate industry

An important feature of export-oriented production in mineral-rich developing countries for almost three decades after 1960 was the growth of state-owned enterprises. For the phosphate industry, this was reflected in the expansion of companies such as Office Cherifienne des Phosphate (OCP) in Morocco and the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company (JPMC). There was a strategic importance of the industry for these nations and the large capital outlays necessary for phosphate and fertilizer production expansion often required considerable government assistance because of the perceived high risks of private investment in the industry.     

Changing places, changing emissions: The cross-scale reliability of greenhouse gas emission inventories in the US

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventories, which currently inform abatement policy discussions, are developed mostly from national scale data. Nevertheless, although the policy debate tends to take place in global and national arenas, action to abate GHG emissions is inherently within the provenance of local institutions and communities. The purpose of this paper is to examine how much information is lost by not estimating GHG emissions data at scales finer than the whole US. Such information may be critical in bridging global and local policy. Differences in the composition of GHG emission sources based on GHG emission inventories at three nested spatial scales (national, state, local) for four study sites (in Kansas, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania) are analysed, drawing upon initial results of a large collaborative study known as the 'Association of American Geographers-Global Change in Local Places (GCLP)' project. The concept of spatial sovereignty of emissions is developed to test the cross-scale reliability of emission inventories. For the test year 1990, close agreement is found in the by-gas composition of GHG emissions among national, state and local inventories. Spatial sovereignty in this case is maintained. However close agreement is not found in the by-source composition of GHG emissions among national, state and local inventories. Spatial sovereignty in this case is not maintained. Regular compilation of state and local emissions source inventories may be necessary to track important spatial and temporal deviations from national trends.     

The shadow price of substitutable sulfur in the US electric power plant: a distance function approach

Given restrictions on sulfur dioxide emissions, a feasible long-run response could involve either an investment in improving boiler fuel-efficiency or a shift to a production process that is effective in removing sulfur dioxide. To allow for the possibility of substitution between sulfur and productive capital, we measure the shadow price of sulfur dioxide as the opportunity cost of lowering sulfur emissions in terms of forgone capital. The input distance function is estimated with data from 51 coal-fired US power units operating between 1977 and 1986. The indirect Morishima elasticities of substitution indicate that the substitutability of capital for sulfur is relatively high. The overall weighted average estimate of the shadow price of sulfur is -0.076 dollars per pound in constant 1976 dollars.     

Environmental Equity and the Role of Public Policy: Experiences in the Rijnmond Region

This Φ Ψ study of environmental equity uses secondary quantitative data to analyze socioeconomic disparities in environmental conditions in the Rijnmond region of the Netherlands. The disparities of selected environmental indicators—exposure to traffic noise (road, rail, and air), NO₂, external safety risks, and the availability of public green space—are analyzed both separately and in combination. Not only exposures to environmental burdens (“bads”) were investigated, but also access to environmental benefits (“goods”). Additionally, we held interviews and reviewed documents to grasp the mechanisms underlying the environmental equity situation, with an emphasis on the role of public policy. Environmental equity is not a priority in public policy for the greater Rotterdam region known as the Rijnmond region, yet environmental standards have been established to provide a minimum environmental quality to all local residents. In general, environmental quality has improved in this region, and the accumulation of negative environmental outcomes (“bads”) has been limited. However, environmental standards for road traffic noise and NO₂ are being exceeded, probably because of the pressure on space and the traffic intensity. We found an association of environmental “bads” with income for rail traffic noise and availability of public green space. In the absence of regulation, positive environmental outcomes (“goods”) are mainly left up to market forces. Consequently, higher-income groups generally have more access to environmental “goods” than lower-income groups.