试论公众参与环境保护的深入与发展

在环境保护问题日益受到关注的今天,公众参与无疑是一项值得肯定和提倡的制度。环境问题的特点决定了公众参与的必要性,公众参与的建立对环境保护起着至关重要的作用。在现今的法律中,已经有诸多关于公众参与的法律法规方面的相关规定;实践中,公众参与在某些地方、某些层面已经实行和落到实处。但是,面对环境“局部好转,总体恶化”的状况,公众参与凸显很多不足,需要在制度、法律等层面加以进一步完善。     

关于我国环境保护公众参与制度建设的探讨

论述了我国环境保护公众参与的现状及存在的问题，指出当前亟需建立适应我国社会主义市场经济体制的、符合中国国情的、并具有中国特色的环境保护公众参与的新机制，以推动我国环保事业的进一步发展。     

我国环境管理中的公众参与

环境保护是我国一项基本国策，是一项全民事业。只有公众的广泛参与，才能实现保护和改善环境的目的。因此，我国非常重视组织广大公众参与环境管理和环境建设。1我国关于公众参与环境管理的法律规定为了保证广大人民群众参与环境管理，我国的有关法律作了明确的规定。根据《宪法》规定，人民有权依照法律规定，通过各种途径和形式管理环境保护事务，并对国家机关的环境保护工作进行监督，对其违法失职行为进行检举或者提出申诉、控告。《中华人民共和国环境保护法》第六条规定：“一切单位和个人都有保护环境的义务，并有权对污染和破坏环…     

公众参与环境保护国际研讨会圆满闭幕

历时两天的公众参与环境保护国际研讨会,2008年4月27日在北京圆满结束。     

公众参与环境管理的模式创新及试点探讨

合理有序的公众参与可以有效弥补政府失灵和市场失灵,改变社会力量在环境保护中功能缺位和主体缺位的双重窘境。但目前中国公众参与环境管理存在法律法规不健全、公众参与环境管理的程度不高、组织体系不完善、民间组织发展缓慢、社区参与环境管理不足等问题。在此基础上,建议引入社区磋商小组这种创新型公众参与模式来充分调动基层广泛的公众力量来参与环境管理。介绍了社区磋商小组的模式设计、职能和特点,并对社区磋商小组的试点研究和效果进行总结。最后提出,社区磋商小组这一公众参与环境管理的模式在常州市雅浦村的示范效果和成功经验为进一步研究社区参与环境管理奠定了良好的基础,该模式在中国有着广泛的应用前景,但仍需在政策支持、资金保障和长效运行模式等方面展开进一步研究。     

建设项目竣工环境保护验收监测应注意的问题

针对建设项目竣工环境保护验收监测中存在的问题,阐述了工况控制、总量监测、环境相容性等环节的技术要求和注意事项,并就与之相关的公众参与、监测人员的素质等问题展开了讨论。     

中国环境保护规划评估制度建设的主要问题分析

分析了环境保护规划评估体系的主要内容和开展环境保护规划评估的主要方法学需求;根据中国环境保护工作的客观需要,提出了中国开展环境保护规划评估研究和建设的建议.建议包括:(1)加大技术方法研究力度,为环境保护规划评估机制的建立提供技术支撑.(2)重视环境保护规划评估的制度化建设,构建并逐步完善环境保护规划评估制度.(3)强化环境保护规划第三方评估的能力建设,确保评估的公平性和有效性.(4)环境保护规划评估与行政问责机制相结合,确保环境保护规划评估结果得以贯彻执行.(5)建立有效的环境保护规划评估信息交流和共享机制,加大公众参与评估的力度.     

张家港市经济与环境协调发展之探索

分析了张家港市经济与环境协调发展的历程,总结了其经济与环境协调发展的主要经验与做法,即处理好全局与局部、治标与治本、城市与农村和政府主导与公众参与的四个关系,为加强经济与环境保护协调发展提供借鉴。     

规划环境影响评价中的公众参与探讨

公众参与在规划环境影响评价中具有重要的意义,因此,首先讨论了规划环评中公众参与的涵义和作用,以及规划环评公众参与的对象、形式、时机,然后根据中国环境影响评价中公众参与的现状,提出了提高规划环评公众参与的有效性的途径。     

建设项目环评中公众参与的现实意义

环境影响评价中的公众参与在我国刚刚起步,这是建设项目环境管理中的新课题。本文通过阐述公众参与环境影响评价的意义,旨在进一步规范公众参与制度,使公众参与环境影响评价工作真正落到实处,发挥其更大的作用。     

Strategies to evaluate biodegradability: application to chlorinated herbicides

The biodegradability of nitrochlorinated (diuron and atrazine) and chlorophenoxy herbicides (2,4-D and MCPA) has been studied through several bioassays using different testing times and biomass/substrate ratios. A fast biodegradability test using unacclimated activated sludge yielded no biodegradation of the herbicides in 24 h. The inherent biodegradability test gave degradation percentages of around 20–30 % for the nitrochlorinated herbicides and almost complete removal of the chlorophenoxy compounds. Long-term biodegradability assays were performed using sequencing batch reactor (SBR) and sequencing batch membrane bioreactor (SB-MBR). Fixed concentrations of each herbicide below the corresponding EC₅₀ value for activated sludge were used (30 mg L^?1 for diuron and atrazine and 50 mg L^?1 for 2,4-D and MCPA). No signs of herbicide degradation appeared before 35 days in the case of diuron and atrazine and 21 days for 2,4-D, whereas MCPA was partially degraded since the early stages. Around 25–36 % degradation of the nitrochlorinated herbicides and 53–77 % of the chlorophenoxy ones was achieved after 180 and 135 days, respectively, in SBR, whereas complete disappearance of 2,4-D was reached after 80 days in SB-MBR.     

Two methods to determine plant responses to pollutant mixtures

Two methods are described which enable better interpretation of the effects of pollutant mixtures on plants. The first method is a statistical procedure in which treatment components are partitioned into single degrees of freedom comparisons. With this technique, joint action of pollutants can be calculated. Trends in response, such as linear or quadratic, can be observed for quantitative data. Also, the nature of interactions in experiments of a factorial design can be determined. The second procedure described is growth analysis. Growth analysis provides a method for determination of the effects of pollutants on physiological processes, such as relative rates of growth, carbon allocation and leaf expansion. Advantages, disadvantages and applications of both methods are discussed.     

A Collaborative Effort to Model Plant Response to Acidic Rain

Radish plants were exposed three times per week to simulated acidic rain at pH values of 2.6 to 5.4 over the course of four weeks in trials performed at Argonne, Illinois; Ithaca and Upton, New York; Corvallis, Oregon; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Toronto, Canada. Uniform genotype, soil media and planting techniques, treatment procedures, biological measurements, and experimental design were employed. Growth of plants differed among trials as a result of variation in greenhouse environmental conditions according to location and facilities. Larger plants underwent greater absolute but lower relative reductions in biomass after exposure to the higher levels of acidity. A generalized Mitscherlich function was used to model the effects of acidity of simulated rain or dry mass of hypocotyls using data from three laboratories that performed duplicate trials. The remaining data, from three other laboratories that performed only one trial each, were used to test the model. When the laboratory by trial effect was removed (influence of different growth. conditions), lack of fit to the Mitscherlich function was insignificant. Thus, a single mathematical model satisfactorily characterized the relationship between acidity and mean plant response. The pH value associated with a 10 percent reduction in mass was 3.3 ± 0.3 for hypocotyls. No value was estimated for shoots because effects oh shoots were not significant. The results of this study demonstrate that a generalized exposure-response model can be developed in the presence of large variations in environmental conditions when plant culture and exposure to simulated rain are standardized among laboratories.     

Basement Ventilation Needed to Lower Indoor Radon to Acceptable Levels

Although many remedial measures have been proposed for excessive Indoor ²²²Rn concentrations, their general effectiveness in given situations is not well established, In part because of the number and complexity of the factors that influence Indoor ²²²Rn. The strategy considered here is the use of basement ventilation to control upstairs Indoor radioactivity. A simple two-compartment model is described and used to derive ventilation rates that are needed to lower radon concentrations to specified levels. Previously published indoor radon measurements are used to derive the parameters needed for the calculations. The results of the two compartment model differ typically by a factor of two from the simpler, more often used one-compartment approximation.     

Back to Basics

ABSTRACT

Tests of the compatibility of geomembrane (GM) samples with waste were conducted using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Method 9090 and the Comprehensive Testing System (CTS). The CTS is a multi-axial performance test capable of simultaneous cyclic mechanical loads and chemical exposure. The test chemicals consisted of solvents, transportation-related compounds, and synthesized landfill leachate. Method 9090 testing was unable to distinguish between the effects of individual chemicals to which the GM was subjected, while the CTS was able to provide statistically-significant differences that were also traceable to chemical properties of the solvent and the GM liner. Further, the time required for changes in mechanical properties of the GM was significantly shorter than would be expected based upon diffusion of the solvent into the GM alone. The combination of chemical attack with mechanical load was found to enhance both reduction in mechanical properties and the ability of the solvent to diffuse into the GM. The CTS is a more realistic test than the existing standard test methods because of its ability to provide multi-axial loads and chemical exposure simultaneously.     

Welcome to Florida

A welcoming message was given to the 65th annual meeting of the Air Pollution Control Association by The Honorable Reubin O'D. Askew, Governor of Florida.His remarks follow.     

Responses to ozone pollution of alfalfa exposed to increasing salinity levels

Stomatal closure and biosynthesis of antioxidant molecules are two fundamental components of the physiological machinery that lead to stress adaptation during plant's exposure to salinity. Since high stomatal resistance may also contribute in counteracting O₃ damages, we hypothesized that soil salinization may increase O₃ tolerance of crops. An experiment was performed with alfalfa grown in filtered (AOT40 = 0 in both years) and non-filtered (AOT40 = 9.7 in 2005 and 6.9 ppm h in 2006) open-top chambers. Alfalfa yield was reduced by O₃ (−33%) only in plants irrigated with salt-free water, while the increasing levels of soil salinity until 1.06 dS m⁻¹ reduced both stomatal conductance and plant O₃ uptake, thus linearly reducing O₃ effects on yield. Therefore a reliable flux-based model for assessing the effects of O₃ on crop yield should take into account soil salinity.     

Local to regional emission sources affecting mercury fluxes to New York lakes

Lake-sediment records across the Northern Hemisphere show increases in atmospheric deposition of anthropogenic mercury (Hg) over the last 150 years. Most of the previous studies have examined remote lakes affected by the global atmospheric Hg reservoir. In this study, we present Hg flux records from lakes in an urban/suburban setting of central New York affected also by local and regional emissions. Sediment cores were collected from the Otisco and Skaneateles lakes from the Finger Lakes region, Cross Lake, a hypereutrophic lake on the Seneca River, and Glacial Lake, a small seepage lake with a watershed that corresponds with the lake area. Sediment accumulation rates and dates were established by ²¹⁰Pb. The pre-anthropogenic regional atmospheric Hg flux was estimated to be 3.0 μg m⁻² yr⁻¹ from Glacial Lake, which receives exclusively direct atmospheric deposition. Mercury fluxes peaked during 1971–2001, and were 3 to more than 30 times greater than pre-industrial deposition. Land use change and urbanization in the Otisco and Cross watersheds during the last century likely enhanced sediment loads and Hg fluxes to the lakes. Skaneateles and Glacial lakes have low sediment accumulation rates, and thus are excellent indicators for atmospheric Hg deposition. In these lakes, we found strong correlations with emission records for the Great Lakes region that markedly increased in the early 1900s, and peaked during WWII and in the early 1970s. Declines in modern Hg fluxes are generally evident in the core records. However, the decrease in sediment Hg flux at Glacial Lake was interrupted and has increased since the early 1990s probably due to the operation of new local emission sources. Assuming the global Hg reservoir tripled since the pre-industrial period, the contribution of local and regional emission sources to central New York lakes was estimated to about 80% of the total atmospheric Hg deposition.