Making decisions about environmental management when conventional economic analysis cannot be used

A process is described for making comparative valuations of a wide range of environmental management activities when the combined social, economic, managerial, and political benefits of some (but not all) of these activities cannot be adequately described in economic terms and when budgetary constraints do not permit funding of all activities under consideration. The process accounts for subjective judgment and contains a formal rigorous decision strategy that takes the place of intuition when quantitative and qualitative values of environmental activities need to be evaluated.     

INFILTRATION AND WATER QUALITY ON RANGE SITES AT FORT STANTON,NEW MEXICO1

ABSTRACT: The hydrologic impacts of livestock grazing schemes on selected plant communities and soils at Fort Stanton, New Mexico, were evaluated. Simulated rainfall was applied to 1 m²plots. On a mesa-top, infiltration rates for a grassland livestock exclosure and a pinyon pine-juniper community closely approximated each other and were significantly greater (P = 0.10) than either a moderate continuous or a heavy continuous treatment in a grassland community. Sediment concentration from the heavy continuous treatment was more than twice that of the other treatments. Infiltration rates on the hillside site were highest in a pinyon pine-juniper community receiving short duration grazing. Infiltration for this treatment was found to be significantly higher (P = 0.10) than that of a short duration grazing treatment, but not from a rest rotation grazing treatment on grassland. The short duration grazing treatment on a grassland had the highest sediment concentration, while the rest rotation grazing on a grassland and the short duration pinyon pine-juniper treatments were found to be similar. In the bottomland site, a fertilized and unfertilized treatment showed no significant difference in infiltration or sediment concentration, although twice as many animals were present on the fertilized treatment.     

Energy use and emissions from marine vessels: a total fuel life cycle approach

Regional and global air pollution from marine transportation is a growing concern. In discerning the sources of such pollution, researchers have become interested in tracking where along the total fuel life cycle these emissions occur. In addition, new efforts to introduce alternative fuels in marine vessels have raised questions about the energy use and environmental impacts of such fuels. To address these issues, this paper presents the Total Energy and Emissions Analysis for Marine Systems (TEAMS) model. TEAMS can be used to analyze total fuel life cycle emissions and energy use from marine vessels. TEAMS captures "well-to-hull" emissions, that is, emissions along the entire fuel pathway, including extraction, processing, distribution, and use in vessels. TEAMS conducts analyses for six fuel pathways: (1) petroleum to residual oil, (2) petroleum to conventional diesel, (3) petroleum to low-sulfur diesel, (4) natural gas to compressed natural gas, (5) natural gas to Fischer-Tropsch diesel, and (6) soybeans to biodiesel. TEAMS calculates total fuel-cycle emissions of three greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane) and five criteria pollutants (volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters of 10 microm or less, and sulfur oxides). TEAMS also calculates total energy consumption, fossil fuel consumption, and petroleum consumption associated with each of its six fuel cycles. TEAMS can be used to study emissions from a variety of user-defined vessels. This paper presents TEAMS and provides example modeling results for three case studies using alternative fuels: a passenger ferry, a tanker vessel, and a container ship.     

Cleft palate: Confirmation of prenatal diagnosis by colour Doppler ultrasound

We present a case of a twin with trisomy 47,XX+i(9p) in whom the diagnosis of cleft palate was confirmed by colour Doppler imaging demonstrating abnormal fluid flow across the fetal pharyngeal bone defect. Application of this technique in cases predisposed for this congenital lesion may prove beneficial in the diagnosis of the more subtle types of isolated cleft palate.     

Environmental Values and Popular Conflict over Environmental Management: A Comparative Analysis of Public Comments on the Clinton Forest Plan

/ Public participation in environmental management decisions has frequently led to conflict. This paper examines the role of environmental values in fueling these conflicts, based on a data base and sample content analysis of written public comments solicited in 1994 regarding the highly contentious Clinton Forest Plan (also known as Option 9) proposed for management of federal forests in the US Pacific Northwest. The analysis considered whether those respondents favoring more versus less environmental protection than was offered in Option 9 held entirely different values, identifying which antagonistic values appeared to be most fundamental and where (if at all) values consensus occurred. It also compared values emanating from respondents within and outside the affected region, although few major differences were detected in this regard. Results suggest that strong values differences did exist among those preferring greater versus less environmental protection, in particular as concerned the extent, form, and spatial and temporal scope of justification of their positions, their ideas of forests, and the appropriate role of people in forest management. Disagreement concerned far more than purely environmental values: a major point of difference involved human benefits and harms of the proposed forest plan. Indeed, both sides' positions were overridingly anthropocentric and consequentialist-a values orientation that almost inevitably spells conflict in light of the commonly differentiated social impacts of environmental management decisions. Although public involvement in environmental management thus cannot be expected to lead to a clear and consensual social directive, the Pacific Northwest case suggests that viable environmental management solutions that take this range of values into account can still be crafted.KEY WORDS: Environmental values; Public participation; Clinton Forest Plan; Pacific Northwest     

地下水铀污染的原位微生物还原与固定:在美国能源部田纳西橡树岭放射物污染现场的试验

总结了美国斯坦福大学和橡树岭国家实验室等在美国能源部田纳西州橡树岭综合试验基地进行的铀污染原位微生物修复阶段性试验结果.本试验利用微生物以乙醇为电子供体还原地下水和沉积物中的六价铀为不溶解的四价铀,使之原位固定化.随后通过加入溶解氧和硝酸盐来试验微生物还原后的地下水层中还原固定态铀的稳定性.通过预处理和长期间隔注入乙醇...     

H2O2/VisUV photo-oxidation process for treatment of waterborne hazardous substances—Reaction mechanism, rate model, and data for tubular flow and flow stirred tank reactors

This paper presents the chemical reaction engineering development of the H₂O₂/VisUV photo-oxidation process for treatment of hazardous waterborne substances, that occur in groundwater, leachates, and industrial wastewater. Reaction results, on benzene (BNZ), dichlorobenzene (DCB), trichloroethene (TCE), trichloroethane (TCA), and carbon tetrachloride (CTC), have been obtained, providing engineering data and models that can be used to size full-scale equipment. A photochemical flow stirred tank reactor (pcfSTR) and a photo-chemical tubular flow reactor (pcTFR) were used in the experimental work. Two experimental discoveries were made in the course of the work: (1) conventional thermal kinetics do not apply, the rate controlling variable is the photon flux, and (2) for the photo-chemical reactors used, the pcfSTR was more effective than the pcTFR. The following sub-topics are discussed: reaction mechanism, reactor hydrodynamics, photon flux effects, typical reaction data (on benzene and trichloroethane), and rate constants.