Costs and benefits of urban erosion and sediment control: The North Carolina experience

The EPA’s new nonpoint source pollution control requirements will soon institutionalize urban erosion and sediment pollution control practices nationwide. The public and private sector costs and social benefits associated with North Carolina’s program (one of the strongest programs in the country in terms of implementation authority, staffing levels, and comprehensiveness of coverage) are examined to provide general policy guidance on questions relating to the likely burden the new best management practices will have on the development industry, the likely costs and benefits of such a program, and the feasibility of running a program on a cost recovery basis. We found that urban erosion and sediment control requirements were not particularly burdensome to the development industry (adding about 4% on average to development costs). Public-sector program costs ranged between $2.4 and $4.8 million in fiscal year 1989. Our contingent valuation survey suggests that urban households in North Carolina are willing to pay somewhere between $7.1 and $14.2 million a year to maintain current levels of sediment pollution control. Our benefit-cost analysis suggests that the overall ratio is likely to be positive, although a definitive figure is elusive. Lastly, we found that several North Carolina localities have cost recovery fee systems that are at least partially self-financing. This article is based on research by the authors for the North Carolina Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources (DEHNR). The views are those of the research team and do not necessarily reflect the position of DEHNR.     

Is career management related to employee development and performance?

The career management process involves career exploration, development of career goals, and use of career strategies to obtain career goals. The relationship between different aspects of the career management process and employee development behavior and performance was examined in this study. Employees provided information concerning their personal characteristics, career management strategies, their manager's support for career development, and willingness to participate in development activities. Managers provided ratings of each employee's job performance and developmental behavior. Position, manager's support for development, environmental exploration, and distance from career goal explained significant variance in employees' willingness to participate in development activities and developmental behavior. Career management was not significantly related to performance ratings. Research and practical implications of the study findings are discussed.     

Scientific Gear as a Vector for Non-Native Species at Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents

The fauna of deep-sea hydrothermal vents are among the most isolated and inaccessible biological communities on Earth. Most vent sites can only be visited by subsea vehicles, which can and do move freely among these communities. Researchers assume individuals of the regionally homogeneous vent fauna are killed by the change in hydrostatic pressure the animals experience when the subsea vehicles, which collected them, rise to the surface. After an Alvin dive, we found 38 apparently healthy individuals of a vent limpet in a sample from a hydrothermally inactive area. Prompted by our identification of these specimens as Lepetodrilus gordensis, a species restricted to vents 635 km to the south of our dive site, we tested whether they were from a novel population or were contaminants from the dive made 36 h earlier. The 16S gene sequences, morphology, sex ratio, bacterial colonies, and stable isotopes uniformly indicated the specimens came from the previous dive. We cleaned the sampler, but assumed pressure changes would kill any organisms we did not remove and that the faunas of the 2 areas were nearly identical and disease-free. Our failure to completely clean the gear on the subsea vehicle meant we could have introduced the species and any diseases it carried to a novel location. Our findings suggest that the nearly inaccessible biological communities at deep-sea vents may be vulnerable to anthropogenic alteration, despite their extreme physical conditions.     

Evidence Supporting Cap and Trade as a Groundwater Policy Option for Reducing Irrigation Consumptive Use1

Thompson, Christopher L., Raymond J. Supalla, Derrel L. Martin, and Brian P. McMullen, 2009. Evidence Supporting Cap and Trade as a Groundwater Policy Option for Reducing Irrigation Consumptive Use. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 45(6):1508‐1518. Abstract: In the American West water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource. Obligations to bordering states, endangered species protection, and long‐term resource sustainability objectives have created a need for most western states to reduce the consumption of irrigation water. In Nebraska specifically, the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (NDNR) and local Natural Resource Districts (NRDs) are meeting a large part of this need by using a regulatory approach, commonly called groundwater allocation. The cost of allocation, which occurs in the form of reduced economic returns to irrigation, could be greatly reduced by using an integrated cap and trade approach. Much like environmental cap and trade programs which are used to reduce the cost of limiting environmental pollution, the trading of capped groundwater allocations can reduce the cost of limiting water use. In an analysis of a typical case in the Nebraska Republican Basin, we found that the impact of a water market to trade groundwater allocations depended on the size of the allocation and on the characteristics of the land and irrigation systems involved in the trade. Potential economic benefits from trade ranged from US$0 to US$120 per 1,000 cubic meters traded, from US$25 to US$250 per 1,000 cubic meters of reduction in consumptive use, and from US$16 to US$50 per hectare of irrigated land in the region. The highest benefits occurred at relatively high allocations, which capped withdrawals at 65‐75% of the expected unrestricted pumping level. These gains from trade would be split between buyers and sellers based on the negotiated selling price.