INEQUITIES FOR SMALL FOOD PROCESSING PLANTS RESULTING FROM LIQUID WASTE TREATMENT REGULATIONS1

ABSTRACT: The cost of the liquid wast treatment measures required to meet federal as well as typical state and local regulations was examined for dairy processing plants of various sizes. Federal effluent standards were found to produce higher estimated capital costs per unit of raw material for smaller plants, even with relaxed requirements for smaller plants. State regulations limiting the effluent BOD₅- concentration were also found to result in inequitable costs for smaller processors. These inequities result from economies of scale and not such factors as level of process technology employed or amount of waste produced per unit of raw material. In contrast, applying an example sewer surcharge formula did not produce inequities from economies of scale.     

CONFLICTS IN WATER TRANSFER FROM IRRIGATION TO MUNICIPAL USE IN SEMIARID ENVIRONMENTS1

ABSTRACT: Conflicts caused through development of urban areas in proximity to irrigated agriculture in water-scarce regions can be minimized through the direct urbanization of irrigated lands. This shifts the water supply from one use to another on the same site rather than creating an additional use in an adjoining area. This condition has prevailed in the Phoenix region. In the Tucson region, the municipality is buying and retiring farmland in an adjacent agricultural area, for the purpose of acquiring the water right in order to transfer water to municipal use. This land purchase is necessitated by existing Arizona water law, which ties the water to the land. This method of transfer creates problems concerning how much water can be transferred per acre retired; what to do with the abandoned farmland; inequities to agribusiness and taxing entities; and loss of food crop production which have not been resolved. An alternative to the retirement of farms, applicable in the Tucson region, is to exchange treated municipal wastewater for irrigation water. While this method appears to be the least disruptive, it requires the resolution of certain institutional problems concerned with land and water management method.     

Old problems and new dilemmas: the conundrum of environmental management reform in China

ABSTRACT

Underpinning China’s severe and continuing environmental degradation is a stubborn gap between environmental regulation and regulatory enforcement at the local level. In the past, scholars have sought explanations for the causes of this implementation gap by interviewing frontline environmental officials. Due to the fact that the self-perception data used in most of those existing studies were gathered prior to 2012, the possible factors contributing to the compromised effectiveness of local environmental enforcement from 2012 onward remain largely unknown. This empirical weakness should not be overlooked, as the prevailing institutions governing China’s local environmental management practices have been experiencing many frame-breaking transformations since 2012. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with leaders of environmental law enforcement teams in all administrative districts of Guangzhou in 2017, this paper not only summarizes pervasive elements which negatively impact the current effectiveness of environmental regulatory efforts, but also provides qualitative evidence and theoretical accounts for three enforcement dilemmas stemming from reform measures taken by the central government.     

AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO VALUING WATER FROM BRUSH CONTROL1

ABSTRACT: An analytic methodology utilizing models from three disciplines is developed to assess the viability of brush control for water yield in the Frio River basin, Texas. Ecological, hydrologic, and economic models are used to portray changes in forage production and water supply resulting from brush control, and to value supplemental water produced through brush control. Site‐specific biophysical characteristics are used to simulate water yields from brush control across the watershed. Economic benefits from increased animal production for ranchers undertaking brush control are assessed. Benefits to Corpus Christi residential water consumers from ranchers' brush control activities are evaluated using the change in consumer surplus resulting from supplemental water produced through brush control. Results indicate an increase in water yield with brush control on 35 percent of the land area in the basin. However, the cost of brush control is more than the increase in returns it fosters on most range sites. Consumer surplus change for Corpus Christi residents over 25 years is zero under baseline conditions, implying subsidies for brush control in the Frio basin are not worthwhile at this time.     

ESTIMATING THE BENEFITS OF PHOSPHORUS POLLUTION REDUCTIONS: AN APPLICATION IN THE MINNESOTA RIVER1

ABSTRACT: In order to make economically efficient decisions about water quality improvements, data on both the costs and benefits of these improvements is needed. However, there has been little research on the benefits of reducing phosphorus pollution which implies that policy decisions are not able to make the comparison of costs and benefits that is essential for economic efficiency. This research attempts to ameliorate this situation by providing an estimate of the benefits of a 40 percent reduction in phosphorus pollution in the Minnesota River. A 1997 mail survey gathered information on Minnesota residents'use of a recreational site on the Minnesota River, the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, and their willingness to pay for phosphorus reductions in the Minnesota River. The random effects probit model used in this research to investigate household willingness to pay for phosphorus pollution reductions in the Minnesota River incorporates recent innovations in nonmarket valuation methodology by using both revealed and stated preference data. This model estimated annual household willingness to pay for phosphorus reductions in the Minnesota River at $140. These results may be used in combination with cost estimates to determine the economic efficiency of phosphorus clean up.     

原油指纹识别技术

为使毛细管色谱“指纹”特征应用于污染事故的鉴定,采用分辨效能高的毛细管色谱柱及原油指纹识别技术,对江苏油田９个不同地区和来源的原油进行了分析考察,测定了油品中正构烷烃及姥鲛烷、植烷的含量。实验进一步论证了：以正构烷烃轮廓特征和姥鲛烷、植烷特征峰面积比值相结合的原油鉴别方法不受进样和色谱条件的影响,具有一定的准确性和可靠性。     

The Idea of “Ethical Accounting” for a Livestock Farm

This paper presents the idea of a decision-support system for a livestock farm, called “ethical accounting”, to be used as an extension of traditional cost accounting. “Ethical accounting” seeks to make available to the farmer information about how his decisions affect the interests of farm animals, consumers and future generations. Furthermore, “ethical accounting” involves value-based planning. Thus, the farmer should base his choice of production plan on reflections as to his fundamental objectives, and he should make his final decision only after having seriously considered the various consequences for the affected parties. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

工业振动危害和控制研究观念的进展

论述了对产生振动的机械设备实施隔振,不仅能减少或消除振动对振源周围的操作者、精密仪器设备和建筑带来的危害和影响,而且能直接或间接带来很大的经济效益;从理论上和实践上重点论述了隔振能延长机械设备精密部件和其所带模具的寿命;提出了隔振当量经济效益概念。这些探讨和研究工作对隔振决策有重要的参考意义     

协调好人与自然的关系：对1998年水灾的灾害经济学思考

通过一些数据和实例,得出了我国１９９８年的水灾既是天灾,又是由人祸酿成的结论。天灾难以完全避免,而人祸却加深加重了天灾,其关键是未能协调好人与自然的关系,招致了大自然对人类的报复。如何变害为利,协调好人与自然的关系,本文从灾害经济学角度提出了一些看法。     

越境环境污染的经济学分析

越境环境污染具有损害非一致性和混合非一致性特征。从外部性原理分析了越境环境这种典型的国外外部性的基本作形式，产生原因和内部化等问题，进而探讨了博弈论在越境环境污染分析中的应用，其中包括完全合作博弈，非合作博弈以及互联博弈。