Engaging Economic Development Agencies in Environmental Protection: the case for embedded autonomy

This article examines the role of economic development agencies in strengthening the environmental performance of industry within rapidly industrialising East Asian economies. Three case-study examples are considered, namely, the role of the Industrial Development Board in reducing industrial pollution in Taiwan, pollution control in the palm oil industry in Malaysia, and the role of the Economic Development Board in influencing environmental performance of industry in Singapore. The concept of embedded autonomy is developed to consider the ways in which agencies of economic development can work with firms and industries while simultaneously remaining autonomous from these firms with respect to setting and enforcing performance standards. The three cases suggest that a form of policy integration that more directly integrates economic and environmental goals within agencies of economic development may be feasible, but only where there exists a strong autonomous government bureaucracy and where there is strong societal commitment to improving the environmental performance of industry.     

NUTRIENT CONCENTRATIONS IN WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT EFFLUENTS,SOUTH PLATTE RWER BASIN1

ABSTRACT: Accurate data about nutrient concentrations in wastewater treatment plant effluents are needed for river basin water-quality studies. As part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment Program in the South Platte River Basin, nutrient data were requested from 31 wastewater-treatment plants located in the basin. This article describes the types of nutrient data available from the plants, examines the variability of effluent nutrient concentrations, and discusses methods for estimation of nutrient concentrations where data are lacking. Ammonia was monitored at 88 percent of the plants, nitrite plus nitrate was monitored at 40 percent of the plants, and organic nitrogen and phosphorus were monitored at less than 25 percent of the plants. Median total nitrogen concentrations and median total phosphorus concentrations were small compared to typical literature estimates for wastewater-treatment plants with secondary treatment. Nutrient concentrations in effluent from wastewater-treatment plants varied widely between and within plants. For example, ammonia concentrations varied as much as 5 mg/L during a day, as much as 10 mg/L from day to day, and as much as 30 mg/L from summer to winter within a plant. In the South Platte River Basin, estimates of median annual ammonia and nitrite plus nitrate concentrations can be improved based on plant processes; and nitrite plus nitrate and organic nitrogen concentrations can be estimated based on ammonia concentrations. However, to avoid large estimation errors, more complete nutrient data from wastewater-treatment plants are needed for integration into river basin water quality studies. The paucity of data hinders attempts to evaluate the relative importance of point source and nonpoint source nutrient loadings to rivers.     

Conferences

Second Caribbean Conference on Science, Hazards and Hazard Management; Kingston, Jamaica, 9-12 October 1996
Mitigating the Millennium: Seminar on Community Participation and Impact Measurement in Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation Programmes; Overseas Development Institute, London, 9 October 1996     

In-situ sparging: Mass transfer mechanisms

In-situ sparging has been accepted as a method to rapidly remediate groundwater at considerably lower costs compared to remedies based on groundwater recovery alone. The success of in-situ sparging depends on effective mass transfer between air and contaminated media in the subsurface. Factors affecting mass transfer include advective airflow, diffusive transport, interphase chemical partitioning, and chemical and biological reaction rates between sparged gases and subsurface contaminants, minerals, and naturally occurring organic compounds. Understanding these factors can increase the design efficiency of in-situ sparging and assist in developing sparging systems that use gases other than air (i.e., oxygen, ozone, and methane).     

Wetland loss and substitution by the Section 404 permit program in southern California,USA

To test the effectiveness of the 404 permit program in preventing a net loss of wetland resources, 75 Section 404 projects permitted in the years 1987–1989 and located in a portion of southern California were evaluated. From this group of projects, 80.47 ha of wetlands were affected by Section 404 permits and the Army Corps of Engineers required 111.62 ha of wetland mitigation. To verify the successful completion of each mitigation project, all 75 project sites were visited and evaluated based on the amount of dead vegetation, growth and coverage, and the number of invasive species. Based on the field verification results, the actual amount of completed mitigation area was 77.33 ha, resulting in a net loss of 3.14 ha of wetland resources in the years 1987–1989. By comparing the types of wetlands lost to the types of wetlands mitigated, it is apparent that, in particular, freshwater wetlands are experiencing a disproportionately greater loss of area and that riparian woodland wetlands are most often used in mitigation efforts. The net result of these accumulated actions is an overall substitution of wetland types throughout the region. Results also indicate that, typically, large-scale mitigation projects are more successful compared to smaller projects and that successful compliance efforts are not evenly distributed throughout the region. We recommend that better monitoring, mitigation in-kind, mitigation banking, and planning on a regional or watershed scale could greatly improve the effectiveness of the Section 404 permitting program.     

Utility terrestrial biodiversity issues

Results from a survey of power utility biologists indicate that terrestrial biodiversity is considered a major issue by only a few utilities; however, a majority believe it may be a future issue. Over half of the respondents indicated that their company is involved in some management for biodiversity, and nearly all feel that it should be a goal for resource management. Only a few utilities are funding biodiversity research, but a majority felt more research was needed. Generally, larger utilities with extensive land holdings had greater opportunities and resources for biodiversity management. Biodiversity will most likely be a concern with transmission rights-of-way construction and maintenance, endangered species issues and general land resource management, including mining reclamation and hydro relicensing commitments. Over half of the companies surveyed have established voluntary partnerships with management groups, and biodiversity is a goal in nearly all the joint projects. Endangered species management and protection, prevention of forest fragmentation, wetland protection, and habitat creation and protection are the most common partnerships involving utility companies. Common management practices and unique approaches are presented, along with details of the survey.     

Inchelium: non-sustainable resource dependency

Summary In order to consider appropriate sustainable development, it is first necessary to understand the problems of developments that are inappropriate for specific population groups. Variables, such as, the culture of the group, its historical experiences, demographic and economic resources, population density, and remoteness or urban proximity should be scrutinized. This is a case study of one population group with a history of resource dependency.Inchelium is a small Native American community on the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington, USA. The construction of a large dam ended fishing in Inchelium. Changes due to the dam have led to exploitation and degradation of the community's lifestyle. Several attempts at viable alternative economic development have led to disagreements about cultural and environmental issues. Lack of sustainable development has fostered a non-viable economy. In this economy half of the employable persons are unemployed, and 80 percent are dependent upon some form of government financial and service aid.These problems are related to the effects of colonization found on all North American Indian reservations. A dependency relationship with the federal government has resulted in qualitative changes in the use of natural resources, from subsistence to extraction.Dr Pamela Elkind is Department Chairperson and Professor of Environmental Sociology at Eastern Washington University. David Lundgren is based in the Department of Sociology at Stevenson College. This paper was first delivered at the Global Forum '94 Conference in Manchester, UK.     

Comparing EQM practices of small and large companies

There is some concern in the environmental quality management (EQM) community that small and mid-sized companies do not have the technical, economic, and personnel resources or expertise to carry out significant programs of pollution prevention or waste reduction in the way that large corporations do. Thus, a very significant proportion of the economy may not be contributing to or benefiting from EQM approaches. This article begins to clarify what small and mid-sized companies that are committed to EQM can actually do and how this compares with the efforts of larger plants or plants operated as part of large multiplant corporations.     

The GaNE programme in a global perspective

This paper provides the background to this special issue, outlining the extent to which the global atmospheric nitrogen cycle has been modified by human activity and outlining the range of effects. The global total emissions of reduced and oxidized nitrogen, amount to 124 Tg N, and exceed those from natural sources (34 Tg N) by almost a factor of four showing the extent to which anthropogenic activity has taken over the global N cycle. Of the 124 Tg N, 70 Tg N is emitted in the oxidized form, largely as NO and 70% of which results directly from anthropogenic activity. The remaining 54 Tg N is emitted as NH₃, (66% anthropogenic). The enhanced nitrogen emissions are associated with a range of local, regional and global issues including, acidification, eutrophication, climate change, human health and tropospheric O₃. The paper also places the Global Nitrogen Enrichment (GaNE) research programme in the UK in a wider perspective.