EIA in a risk society

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was developed and introduced in the 1960s during a time that was dominated by three key societal influences. These were the growth of modern environmental concern, the drive for more rational, scientific and objective environmental decision making and a desire for more public involvement in environmental decision making. The legitimacy of EIA, as a tool to aid decision making, lies in its ability to meet the requirements of all three demands, the chief among these being its ability to be a systematic scientific and rational approach to decision making. Yet today we live in a society that no longer accepts the rationalist model as either possible or desirable. The deference to ‘the expert’ and our trust in science and technology has steadily declined during the period of EIAs development and widespread use. Today, EIA still depends for its legitimacy on its claim to provide a systematic and scientific approach to assessments, while society has moved on. This paper examines this growing divergence and argues that it is time for a major re‐evaluation of the role of EIA in environmental decision making.     

Health effects from the nuclear fuel cycle and other sources in perspective

The data base for each process of the nuclear fuel cycle has been updated as a part of the Committee on Nuclear and Alternative Energy Systems (CONAES) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). The BNL Energy System Network Simulator (ESNS) was modified to accommodate the new data, and methodology was developed for estimating population dose and health effects resulting from atmosphere releases of radioactive materials from the nuclear fuel cycle.Estimates of population dose and health effects were made using these new CONAES emission data and the new model for three scenarios out to the year 2000: (1) no reprocessing; (2) reprocessing, 1-year cooling; and (3) reprocessing, 5-year cooling. Results indicate that radon emissions from mining and milling of uranium bearing ores will have greater impacts than any other component in the open nuclear fuel cycle. The estimated number of health effects will depend, to a large extent, on the lung model mechanism assumed to induce cancer; i.e., either the smeared or the unsmeared model. The smear model and the linear relationship predict for scenario 1, 630; for scenario 2, 949; and for scenario 3, 854 lung cancers, respectively, using the new CONAES data.Epidemiologic data from six United States counties were correlated using a new statistical model (described in the text) in order to test the validity of the lung model and the linear relationship. Results do not support the high lung cancer correlations expected from the unsmear model and the linear relationship; therefore, it is concluded that low-dose mechanisms may be different from those developed from high-dose data. The best place to look for effects of low-dose radiation may be the less developed countries because of a reduction in the noise level caused by chemical pollutants.     

CLASSIFICATION OF EVALUATION OF FLOOD FLOW FREQUENCY ESTIMATION TECHNIQUES1

ABSTRACT: The literature abounds with procedures for estimating the magnitude and frequency of floods at ungaged locations. Unfortunately, the large number of available procedures creates an awesome task for potential users of sorting and selecting a method for immediate use. The objectives of this paper are to present (1) criteria that are necessary to evaluate the usefulness of hydrologic procedures, (2) to present a classification system for categorizing the multitude of procedures that are available, (3) to summarize the findings of the literature review, and (4) to make recommendations on reporting of flood frequency estimation procedures on ungaged watersheds.     

A MODEL FOR ACHIEVING CONSISTENCY FOR COST SHARING IN WATER RESOURCE PROGRAMS1

ABSTRACT: Three basic principles of responsibility have influenced the Federal/non-Federal cost sharing rates for water resources programs (1) full payment by beneficiaries (2) exclusive Federal assumption of costs and (3) joint Federal/non-Federal sharing. The efforts to determine appropriate cost sharing rates have resulted in several hundred complex arrangements involving contributions, user charges and direct sales based on many variations of payment terms. This basic present value model was developed to determine the non-Federal cost shares which are expected to be paid for 32 different functional purposes emanating from Federal water resources programs and projects for both implementation and OMR stages. The model introduces the concept of a composite (implementation plus OMR) cost share as a focus developing appropriate cost sharing rates for the private, public and mixed outputs produced through public water resources investments. The model can be used as a focus for policy decisions on cost sharing which seek to achieve consistent and equitable cost shares for purposes provided while maintaining an efficient allocation of resources within water programs.     

DECISION ANALYSIS FOR THE RIVER WALK EXPANSION IN SAN ANTONIO,TEXAS1

ABSTRACT: The San Antonio River Walk is considered a unique tourist attraction as well as an urban rejuvenation catalyst for San Antonio, Texas. This utilization of the mile-long horseshoe bend in the downtown area of San Antonio is as successful and imaginative as can be found in the United States. Testimony is very strong from San Antonio voters and outside visitors of the great social and economic value of the River Walk. This overwhelming success has led to plans for expansion of the present River Walk. The River Walk expansion decision should not be evaluated merely on a benefit-cost ratio. It has become the recommendation of the Water Resources Council that intangible attributes such as recreational values and social impacts should be considered as well as tangible attributes such as cost. This prevailing attitude has highlighted the application of decision analysis techniques with multiattribute utility ratings. Decision analysis is a systematic solution procedure which can be used to crystallize a complicated decision problem into manageable subproblems by ranking the decision alternatives in accordance with cardinal utility values attached to their consequences. Recent advances in multiattribute utility theory allow a decision maker to weigh utility assessment over tangible and intangible attributes according to their relative importance. This insures that the intangible attributes will receive due consideration in the final decision-making.     

Recognizing hidden environmental and social costs and reducing ecological and societal damage through tax, price, and subsidy reform

Indirect, unpriced environmental and social costs of human activities in the United States amount to several trillion dollars each year. By accounting for these costs and shifting some of the tax burden from work to waste, it would be possible to protect the environment and benefit society and the economy.     

Zinc accumulation potential and toxicity threshold determined for a metal-accumulating Populus canescens clone in a dose–response study

The effect of increasing soil Zn concentrations on growth and Zn tissue concentrations of a metal-accumulating aspen clone was examined in a dose–response study. Plants were grown in a soil with a low native Zn content which was spiked with Zn salt solutions and subsequently aged. Plant growth was not affected by NH₄NO₃-extractable soil Zn concentrations up to 60 μg Zn g^?1 soil, but it was completely inhibited at extractable concentrations above 90 μg Zn g^?1 soil. From these data an effective concentration of 68.5 μg extractable Zn g^?1 soil was calculated at which plant growth was reduced by 50%. The obtained information on toxicity threshold concentrations, and the relation between plant Zn accumulation and extractable soil Zn concentrations may be used to assess the suitability of the investigated Populus canescens clone for various phytoremediation strategies. The potential risk of metal transfer into food webs associated with P. canescens stands on Zn-polluted sites may also be estimated.     

An experimental study of pleometrotic colony founding in the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta : what is the basis for association?

Many benefits and risks of cooperative colony founding (pleometrosis) have been identified, but rarely have the proximate factors that lead to association been considered. This study examined the choices queens make during the first few hours after mating, and some of the correlates of those choices. Queens had a strong affinity for preformed holes in the soil and readily used these as their initial founding chambers. This affinity was so strong that in a field experiment, the dispersion pattern of preformed holes controlled the final dispersion of colony-founding queens. Attraction to partially formed holes is thus an important cause of pleometrosis. The excavation of complete founding chambers incurred no measurable cost on the subsequent reproductive output of queens, suggesting that the primary benefit of using preformed holes is to remove the queen quickly from exposure to predation and desiccation. In the field, pairs of queens offered five equivalent preformed holes in soil were more likely to share the same hole if the holes were shallow and close together. In these experiments, queens modified preformed soil holes so that the test holes were no longer equivalent, causing the choice of queen and hole to become confounded. Laboratory experiments in plaster arenas with unmodifiable holes confirmed the field experiments: queens were more likely to share a hole when the holes were shallow than when they were deep. Because queens entering adequately deep holes seldom reemerged, this suggested that the likelihood of sharing increased with increasing contact between queens, that is, when queens were readily and frequently detected. Such contacts will also predict the future competitive environments to be experienced by incipient colonies, and may temper the tendency of queens to associate. However, experiments in which queens were exposed to high and low densities before pairing in the choice arenas failed to show an effect on the choice to join the resident queen. Queens that joined a resident queen differed in their robustness from queens that did not join. Queens choosing their own partners did no better reproductively than those assigned partners at random. Overall, this study suggests that (1) newly mated queens are under strong selection to leave the soil surface and do so by using any available holes, whether dug by another queen or of some other origin; (2) they are attracted to other queens, and are more likely to cofound as contact with the potential cofoundress becomes more frequent and (3) they choose whether or not to cofound partly on the basis of their own reproductive characteristics. Received: 20 November 1997 / Accepted after revision: 14 March 1998     

Effects of solar UV radiation on germination of conchospores and morphogenesis of sporelings in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Porphyra haitanensis</Emphasis> (Rhodophyta)

The effects of ultraviolet radiation (UVR 280–400 nm) on the germination of Porphyra haitanensis conchospores and on the growth and morphogenesis of the subsequent sporelings were investigated by culturing the released conchospores under natural sunlight from 29 September to 6 October 2005. Germination increased with time and was faster when UV-B was excluded using cut-off filters. There were significant negative effects of UV-B radiation on growth and cell division of sporelings, with decreases up to 18% for thallus length, between 6 and 18% for thallus width, up to 29% for thallus area, and between 6 and 14% for cell size as compared to PAR-controls. UV-A had a significant positive effect on morphogenesis, enhancing the formation of sporelings with cells dividing transversely; on the other hand, UV-B delayed the formation of such sporelings. We also tested the effects of solar UVR on the growth of P. haitanensis juveniles and found no significant effects. Our results indicate that UV-A has an important role in the germination and morphogenesis of the species, but on the other hand, sporelings of P. haitanensis are more sensitive to UV-B radiation than juveniles.