General mathematical models for LCI recycling

Life cycle inventory (LCI) is becoming more widely used as a tool to evaluate the resource and energy use and the environmental releases associated with various products. The methodology for handling different recycling scenarios is also becoming increasingly important. Several different methods exist for handling recycling in an LCI. The method described in this paper uses mathematical models to show that the same basic equations can be used to handle a variety of recycling options for multi-product systems.     

Initial decision analysis (IDA): a participatory approach for developing resource policies

Initial decision analysis (IDA) is a microcomputer based decision-making technique that is organized so that a rational, step-by-step, procedure can be followed to use existing knowledge to develop resource policies. The IDA process provides a systematic way for participants to define their own problem and to explore jointly alternative solutions. IDA is particularly suited to resolving complex problems involving many groups with conflicting interests. IDA is illustrated with data from the US Forest Service's Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the 1985 to 2030 Resource Planning Act Program for the United States. Four policy options are evaluated: maximization of timber production, of grazing, and of wilderness, and a dominant use policy that concentrates timber management on productive sites. Policies were evaluated using a new mathematical satisficing procedure. Mathematical satisficing of simulated policy consequences showed that, for selected performance standards, current RPA policies are superior to the four alternative policies examined.     

Analytical philosophy and planning theory

This article examines the potential contribution of analytical philosophy to planning theory. In contrast to some recent discussions it takes as its starting point town planning as actually practised, and recognises the ideological framework within which, for the most part, twentieth century analytical philosophy has been conducted. It concludes that knowledge of philosophy may be of some limited use to the planning theorist.     

ON THE USE OF SEEPAGE METERS TO ESTIMATE GROUNDWATER NUTRIENT LOADING TO LAKES1

Data from a study on East Lake Tohopekaliga, Florida, indicate that the seepage meter measurement method may often overestimate nutrient contributions to lakes. Nutrient loading data from this method and a method employing lakeside piezometer nutrient data and seepage meter flows were not comparable. Seepage nutrient loading from the meter and piezometer methods comprised 39 and 18 percent of the nitrogen budget and 38 and 9 percent of the phosphorus budget, respectively, for East Lake Tohopekaliga. In terms of water, groundwater seepage accounted for only 14 percent of the total input to the lake. It is felt that some of the past studies using the seepage meter method to estimate nutrient loading may be in error due to reasons related to the enclosure of lake sediments by the meter and the accompanying anaerobic conditions which quickly result.     

Treatment of risk in environmental impact assessment

Risk assessment and environmental impact assessment have developed as separate traditions. While environmental impact assessment is a broad field that includes all activities that attempt to analyze and evaluate the effects of human and related actions on the environment, risk assessment has been concerned with the relatively well-defined regulatory problems and employs formal quantitative analysis of the probability of specific undesired events, such as cancer. Risk analytic approaches, particularly the explicit treatment of uncertainty, can significantly contribute to environmental assessments. This article discusses the type and sources of uncertainty in environmental assessments, techniques for their quantification, and ways to use uncertainty estimates to calculate probabilities of effects or probabilities of exceeding environmental standards and to determine the need for mitigation or additional research.This article was presented at the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis, Task Force Meeting on Risk and Policy Analysis under Conditions of Uncertainty, Laxenburg, Austria, November 1985.     

Construction of guilds for habitat assessment

This article outlines a procedure for developing guilds for use in habitat assessment studies. It is based on a matrix constructed around layers of vegetation and other physical features of the environment used by vertebrate species for feeding and breeding. Modifications to permit inclusion of other life requirements such as cover are discussed. Examples are used to illustrate how species are assigned to guild cells based on their use of habitat, and how the association between a species and its environment does not have to be direct to influence the species' placement within the matrix.     

The Colorado,USA, Joint Review Process: an initial evaluation of its success as a permit reform by key participants

Colorado, USA, developed the Joint Review Process (CJRP) in 1978 to coordinate the application and review of permits required for major development projects. Since then, the state has used the process on over 20 projects. This study examined whether the CJRP has achieved its primary goals—enhanced coordination of agencies, enhanced public participation, and strengthened communication between agencies and project sponsors— and several related secondary goals. The success of the process was measured through a survey of 54 key people who had been directly involved with the process. Those surveyed included federal and state agency staff, local agency managers, corporate officers, private consultants, and environmental leaders. All groups, with one exception, agreed that the process achieved its primary goals and that it should be retained. Environmental leaders were neutral about whether the process enhanced public participation and about retaining the process. The report concludes with a review of recommended improvements to and applications of the CJRP.     

External threats to ecosystems of US national parks

Activities beyond national park boundaries are now the principal source of threats to park natural resource integrity. Assessing the full impact of major threats as air and water pollution requires a long-term ecosystem-level approach in research design and execution, and park management. Failure to take such an approach renders most existing park data bases useless in the documentation of external threats. While the concept of managing national parks as ecosystems is not new, Park Service research and its organization have not provided the information necessary for such a basis of management. Quantifying the impacts on park resources due to external hydrologic regulation and air pollution is a good example of the need to employ an ecosystem approach in research. However, implementing such a program will require a fundamental change in research administration, priority setting, and conceptual approach.The first four of the articles in this special section arise from an AAAS symposium onExternal Threats to Ecosystems of the National Parks in the USA, which was convened in 1982. The articles have been revised to reflect subsequent developments in this field. The first article, by Dr. Stottlemyer, the symposium organizer, serves as an introduction to the topic. The fifth article in this special section was submitted separately, but included because it also is related to this particular topic.     

Legal considerations in challenging external threats to Glacier National Park,Montana, USA

External threats to the environmental integrity of Glacier National Park, Montana, USA, fit into three categories: adverse land use practices adjacent to the Park, air pollution, and water pollution. This article identifies and evaluates the laws that Glacier National Park officials might rely upon to protect the Park against these external threats. The article also assesses the available scientific information relating to external threats, and it identifies additional information needed to establish a legal basis for challenging the threats.     

IN SITU MEASUREMENT OF ADSORPTION AND BIOTRANSFORMATION AT A HAZARDOUS WASTE SITE1

ABSTRACT: A three well injection-production test was performed at the United Creosoting Company (UCC) site in Conroe, Texas, to estimate the effective in situ retardation factors for adsorption and to evaluate the significance of biotransformation in limiting the transport of polycydic aromatics present in the shallow aquifer. The field test was also used as a model to determine if this type of testing would be feasible at other hazardous waste sites. During the test, chloride, a non-reactive tracer and two organic compounds, naphthalene and paradichlorobenzene (pDCB), were injected into a center well for 24 hours followed by clean ground water for six days. Ground water was continuously produced from two adjoining wells and monitored to observe the breakthrough of these compounds. Data from the test were analyzed by comparing the statistical moments of the chloride and organics distributions. Retardation factors for naphthalene and pDCB were estimated to be 1.03 and 0.97 by comparison of the statistical moments. A significant loss of naphthalene and pDCB was also observed during the three well test, apparently due to biotransformation. These results suggest that biotransformation is the major process limiting the transport of naphthalene and similar compounds at the UCC site.