ISO 14001 and total cost assessment: The perfect match?

ISO 14001 offers an excellent framework for improving your environmental management system. But making it live up to its potential will depend on using the proper data-gathering and decision-making tools. And one of the best tools around is total cost assessment.© 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Miscanthus and switchgrass production in central Illinois: impacts on hydrology and inorganic nitrogen leaching

Biomass crops are being promoted as environmentally favorable alternatives to fossil fuels or ethanol production from maize (Zea mays L.), particularly across the Corn Belt of the United States. However, there are few if any empirical studies on inorganic N leaching losses from perennial grasses that are harvested on an annual basis, nor has there been empirical evaluation of the hydrologic consequences of perennial cropping systems. Here we report on the results of 4 yr of field measurements of soil moisture and inorganic N leaching from a conventional maize-soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] system and two unfertilized perennial grasses harvested in winter for biomass: Miscanthus x giganteus and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum cv. Cave-in-Rock). All crops were grown on fertile Mollisols in east-central Illinois. Inorganic N leaching was measured with ion exchange resin lysimeters placed 50 cm below the soil surface. Maize--soybean nitrate leaching averaged 40.4 kg N ha(-1) yr(-1), whereas switchgrass and Miscanthus had values of 1.4 and 3.0 kg N ha(-1) yr(-1), respectively. Soil moisture monitoring (to a depth of 90 cm) indicated that both perennial grasses dried the soil out earlier in the growing season compared with maize-soybean. Later in the growing season, soil moisture under switchgrass tended to be greater than maize-soybean or Miscanthus, whereas the soil under Miscanthus was consistently drier than under maize--soybean. Water budget calculations indicated that evapotranspiration from Miscanthus was about 104 mm yr(-1) greater than under maize-soybean, which could reduce annual drainage water flows by 32% in central Illinois. Drainage water is a primary source of surface water flows in the region, and the impact ofextensive Miscanthus production on surface water supplies and aquatic ecosystems deserves further investigation.     

210Pb-dating of a lake sediment core from Lough Carra (Co. Mayo, western Ireland): use of paleolimnological data for chronology validation below the 210Pb dating horizon

The chronologies and sediment accumulation rates for a lake sediment sequence from Lough Carra (Co. Mayo, western Ireland) were established by applying the constant initial concentration (CIC) and constant rate of supply (CRS) hypotheses to the measured ²¹⁰Pb_excess profile. The resulting chronologies were validated using the artificial fallout radionuclides ¹³⁷Cs and ²⁴¹Am, which provide independent chronostratigraphic markers for the second half of the 20th century. The validity of extrapolating the derived CIC and CRS dates below the ²¹⁰Pb dating horizon using average sedimentation rates was investigated using supplementary paleolimnological information and historical data. Our data confirm that such an extrapolation is well justified at sites characterised by relatively stable sedimentation conditions.     

A Decision Support Framework for Science-Based, Multi-Stakeholder Deliberation: A Coral Reef Example

We present a decision support framework for science-based assessment and multi-stakeholder deliberation. The framework consists of two parts: a DPSIR (Drivers–Pressures–States–Impacts–Responses) analysis to identify the important causal relationships among anthropogenic environmental stressors, processes, and outcomes; and a Decision Landscape analysis to depict the legal, social, and institutional dimensions of environmental decisions. The Decision Landscape incorporates interactions among government agencies, regulated businesses, non-government organizations, and other stakeholders. It also identifies where scientific information regarding environmental processes is collected and transmitted to improve knowledge about elements of the DPSIR and to improve the scientific basis for decisions. Our application of the decision support framework to coral reef protection and restoration in the Florida Keys focusing on anthropogenic stressors, such as wastewater, proved to be successful and offered several insights. Using information from a management plan, it was possible to capture the current state of the science with a DPSIR analysis as well as important decision options, decision makers and applicable laws with a the Decision Landscape analysis. A structured elicitation of values and beliefs conducted at a coral reef management workshop held in Key West, Florida provided a diversity of opinion and also indicated a prioritization of several environmental stressors affecting coral reef health. The integrated DPSIR/Decision landscape framework for the Florida Keys developed based on the elicited opinion and the DPSIR analysis can be used to inform management decisions, to reveal the role that further scientific information and research might play to populate the framework, and to facilitate better-informed agreement among participants.     

Field Validation of Sound Mitigation Models and Air Pollutant Emission Testing in Support of Missile Motor Disposal Activities

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Defense approved activities conducted at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) include both operational readiness test firing of intercontinental ballistic missile motors as well as the destruction of obsolete or otherwise unusable intercontinental ballistic missile motors through open burn/open detonation (OB/ OD). Within the Utah Division of Air Quality, these activities have been identified as having the potential to generate unacceptable noise levels, as well as significant amounts of hazardous air pollutants. Hill Air Force Base, UT, has completed a series of field tests at the UTTR in which sound-monitoring surveillance of OB/OD activities was conducted to validate the Sound Intensity Prediction System (SIPS) model. Using results generated by the SIPS model to support the decision to detonate, the UTTR successfully disposed of missile motors having an aggregate net explosive weight (NEW) of 56,500 lbs without generating adverse noise levels within populated areas. These results suggest that, under appropriate conditions, missile motors of even larger NEW may be detonated without exceeding regulatory noise limits. In conjunction with collecting noise monitoring data, air quality data was collected to support the development of air emission factors for both static missile motor firings and OB/OD activities. Through the installation of 15 ground-based air samplers, the generation of combustion fixed gases, hazardous air pollutants, and chlorides were monitored during the 56,500-lb NEW detonation event. Comparison of field measurements to predictions generated from the U.S. Navy’s energetic combustion pollutant formation model, POLU4WN, indicated that, as the detonation fireball expanded from ground zero, organic compounds as well as carbon monoxide continued to oxidize as the hot gases reacted with ambient air. Hazardous air pollutant analysis of air samplers confirmed the presence of chloromethane, benzene, toluene, 1,2-propadiene, and 2-methyl-1-propene, whereas the absence of hydrogen chloride gas suggested that free chlorine is not generated during the combustion process.     

Field Reliability of the Orsat Analyzer

Results from four field based collaborative tests and from one laboratory based collaborative test of the Orsat analytical procedure are discussed. The results from the five collaborative tests demonstrate that routinely using Orsat data to convert particulate emissions from combustion sources to the reference conditions of 50 % excess air and 12% carbon dioxide may introduce sizeable errors in the corrected particulate loading. Ways to improve the Orsat apparatus and increase the reliability of the data are suggested.

Also reported are the results from field and laboratory studies on the reliability of using individual carbon dioxide and oxygen analyzers of the Fyrite* type to determine stack gas molecular weight. The laboratory study, which was done using three cylinders containing mixtures of carbon dioxide, oxygen, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen of known concentration, determined that these analyzers give carbon dioxide and oxygen analyses of sufficient reliability to yield accurate molecular weights. The results of the field studies, which were done on actual flue gas samples, also support this conclusion.     

Mercury proxies and mercury dynamics in a forested watershed of the US Northeast

Although many studies focus on mercury (Hg) and methylmercury (MeHg) dynamics in streams, challenges remain in identifying the relative importance of land cover and seasonality at regulating Hg and MeHg dynamics at the watershed scale. Developing robust proxies for Hg and/or MeHg determination also remains a challenge. Our study used Hg, MeHg, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration measurements and various DOC fluorescence indices to characterize Hg and DOC dynamics in a forested watershed of the US Northeast. Principal component analysis indicated that land cover/landscape position (i.e., headwater vs. wetland-influenced area vs. lake-influenced area) explained 44 % of the variance in Hg, MeHg, DOC concentrations, and DOC quality during the snow-free season, while seasonality (i.e., air temperature and discharge) explained only 21 % of the variance in the results. Furthermore, finding a good proxy for Hg that is valid across a range of landscape positions remains a challenge; however, regression analysis indicated that the fluorescence peak Humic C (excitation?=?350 nm; emission?=?max (420–480)), which corresponds to the presence of melanoidins in water, explained 21 % of the variability in MeHg concentrations across both space and time (p?=?0.001), and thus appears to be a possible proxy for MeHg determination in our study watershed. From a management perspective, land cover modifications (lake, reservoir, and wetland) are likely to play more important roles at regulating Hg, MeHg, and DOC exports at the watershed scale than long-term changes in the climate of this region.     

DNA damage induced by ultraviolet radiation in coral-reef microbial communities

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) has been implicated in coral-bleaching processes and UVR may create stress to marine organisms by damage to DNA. Absorption of energy from UVB (280 to 320 nm) induces direct damage to DNA via cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer photoproduct-formation. We examined the extent of DNA damage created by UVR in coral reef microbial communities and whether the coral-surface microlayer (CSM) provides protection from UVR to the microorganisms found there. Diel patterns and depth profiles of UVR effects were examined in coral mucus (coral-surface microlayer, CSM) from Montastraea faveolata and Colpophyllia natans, and water-column samples of similar depths. UV-induced photodamage was determined using a radioimmunoassay specific for cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (thymine dimers). Significant photodamage was detected in water-column and CSM samples, although the level of damage in CSM samples was consistently lower than in water-column samples collected from the same depth, suggesting the presence of photoprotective mechanisms within the CSM. Diel patterns of photodamage were detected in both water-column and CSM samples, but peak damage occurred earlier in the day for the CSM samples, suggesting differences in damage and repair kinetics between the water column and CSM. The results suggest that microorganisms within the CSM are afforded some protection from UVR stress and that changes in the amount of DNA damage in these organisms may be an indicator of changing UVR stress to corals. Received: 10 January 1997 / Accepted: 15 September 1997