THEORY AND REALITY IN ALLOCATING FEDERAL RESOURCES TO WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT1

ABSTRACT: Federal spending on water resource development projects exceeds $10 billion annually. This paper examines the economic theory and practice on which the Federal water resource development plans are based. Existing theoretical and applied problems result in overinvestment. These include 1) no standard of value for the tradeoff of environmental objectives with economic objectives; 2) benefits based on “willingness to pay,” but beneficiaries pay only a fraction of a project's costs; 3) beneficiaries “shop around” among program purposes in order to reduce their commitments; and 4) benefit/cost (B/C) analyses are based on a discount rate, which is consistently below the Federal borrowing rate. Furthermore, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) frequently finds that the agency regulations are inadequate and result in inconsistent and questionable benefit computations. The President has proposed a series of water policy reforms, to reduce some of the apparent overinvestment in water resource development, but fundmental corrective action rests with the members of Congress.     

AN IMPLICIT APPROACH TO PRICING AGRICULTURAL WATER TRANSFERS TO URBAN USES1

ABSTRACT: The increased agricultural efficiency of the American farmer has been a substantial impetus to this nation's rapid urbanization. In many western regions where total water supplies are limited, urbanization has required the transfer of heretofore agricultural water rights to the urban use. A major problem in such transfers has been the value or price of the water. A management level model of a typical urban water system was developed to optimize water supply, distribution, and wastewater treatment alternatives. The values of agricultural transfers were determined as the cost advantages of increasing allowable reuse levels of urban effluents which imply the use of a downstream right. This procedure is justified by the economic theory of alternative cost. Results for a test application to the Denver, Colorado area indicate values on the order of $1,000 per acre-foot of transferable water depending on effluent water quality restrictions and operational policies.     

Evaluation of the available air pollution control technologies for achievement of the MACT requirements in the newly implemented new source performance standards (NSPS) and emission guidelines (EG) for hospital and medical/infectious waste incinerators

After many years of research and debate, in August of 1997 the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) and Emission Guidelines (EG) for medical/infectious waste incinerators in the United States. These new emissions and operational standards establish considerably more restrictive limitations on air emissions for medical/infectious waste incinerators and will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the over 2300 hospitals presently operating an incinerator on-site. This paper will explore the options available to these facilities, and those facilities which may be considering installation of an incinerator, relative to achieving compliance with the NSPS and EG for medical/infectious waste incinerators.     

环境影响报告书、表审批程序的探讨

为了搞好环境影响报告书、表的审批,针对环境影响报告书、表审批存在的一些具体问题,认真论证探讨了对环境影响报告书、表审批程序、标准和内容,提出了改进建议.     

21世纪的环境管理——论ISO14000环境管理系列标准

ＩＳＯ１４０００环境管理系列标准是国际标准化组织的ＴＣ２０７环境管理技术委员会制定的旨在加强环境管理的国际标准。本文论述了ＩＳＯ１４０００系列标准的由来、基本框架及内容、系列标准的特点及其作用,并对我国积极推行ＩＳＯ１４０００系列标准的状况作了全面阐述。     

Some observations on explosion development in process pipelines and implications for the selection and testing of explosion protection devices

In recent years there has been continuing interest in the potential hazards from detonations in pipelines. The interest has arisen in several instances due to the introduction of vapour recover systems, as part of measures to limit environmental emissions. These environmental pressures initially coincided with the preparation of new European-wide test procedures for explosion arrester devices and, more recently, moves to develop a new international ISO standard for the certification and approval of detonation arrester devices. It is an opportune time therefore to review current understanding of explosion development in pipelines and to consider the implications for plant design and explosion arrester selection and testing.     

低温作业对人体的危害及防寒工作服的性能评价

防寒工作服是冬季保护石油行业室外作业人员的重要措施。文章阐述了低温环境对石油行业室外作业人员身体健康的影响,列举了防寒工作服生产和检测的重要性能参数和测定方法,概括了国内外对于防寒工作服生产和检测的相关标准,展望了防寒工作服研发应用空间和发展方向,对防寒工作服的研究和配备有一定的参考价值。     

Graphical effluent quality control for compliance monitoring: What is a violation?

Demonstration of compliance with discharge (effluent) requirements suffers because Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMRs) give neither the discharger nor the regulator information on the process mean which ensures compliance. To obtain this information, a simple graphical method is presented which takes into account process variability. This technique provides quality control specifications for the monitoring data and the process itself.     

涂层划痕腐蚀试验标准的对比与分析

本文对现有标准中的涂层划痕腐蚀评价标准进行了对比,分析了各个标准对划痕腐蚀宽度测量方法差异,对比分析结果可为检测人员提供技术指导。     

Greening up: the effects of environmental standards in EU and US trade agreements

Can environmental provisions in preferential trade agreements (PTAs) foster an environmental race to the top? The ways in which different enforcement mechanisms in North–South PTAs affect the implementation of environmental standards in developing countries are examined. It is argued that environmental provisions in European Union (EU) and United States (US) PTAs will be effective in instigating policy change in partner countries, although the timing of the effect will vary significantly. Fines and sanctions in US PTAs incentivize partner countries to reform during the negotiation process. Reform in EU PTA partners is predicted to occur during agreement implementation as a result of the EU’s policy dialogue approach. Illustrative evidence is provided and the hypotheses are tested using statistical estimations of EU and US PTAs with environmental provisions on developing countries’ environmental policy reform.