Do environmental regulations disproportionately affect small businesses? Evidence from the Pollution Abatement Costs and Expenditures survey

This paper examines whether the impact of environmental regulations differs by the size of the business. We consider the net effect of statutory, enforcement, and compliance asymmetries by estimating the relationship between plant size and pollution abatement expenditures, using establishment-level data on U.S. manufacturers from the Census Bureau's Pollution Abatement Costs and Expenditures (PACE) survey and from its Annual Survey of Manufactures and Census of Manufactures. We model establishments' pollution abatement operating costs (PAOC) per unit of economic activity as a function of establishment size, industry, state, and year. Our results show that PAOC intensity increases with establishment and firm size.     

Effects of an Invasive Plant on Population Dynamics in Toads

When populations decline in response to unfavorable environmental change, the dynamics of their population growth shift. In populations that normally exhibit high levels of variation in recruitment and abundance, as do many amphibians, declines may be difficult to identify from natural fluctuations in abundance. However, the onset of declines may be evident from changes in population growth rate in sufficiently long time series of population data. With data from 23 years of study of a population of Fowler's toad (Anaxyrus [ = Bufo] fowleri) at Long Point, Ontario (1989–2011), we sought to identify such a shift in dynamics. We tested for trends in abundance to detect a change point in population dynamics and then tested among competing population models to identify associated intrinsic and extrinsic factors. The most informative models of population growth included terms for toad abundance and the extent of an invasive marsh plant, the common reed (Phragmites australis), throughout the toads’ marshland breeding areas. Our results showed density‐dependent growth in the toad population from 1989 through 2002. After 2002, however, we found progressive population decline in the toads associated with the spread of common reeds and consequent loss of toad breeding habitat. This resulted in reduced recruitment and population growth despite the lack of significant loss of adult habitat. Our results underscore the value of using long‐term time series to identify shifts in population dynamics coincident with the advent of population decline. Efectos de una Planta Invasora sobre las Dinámica Poblacional de Sapos     

齐齐哈尔市大气环境容量的测算核定

通过建立大气环境容量的数学模型测算出城区大气环境容量,以此为依据提出各功能区及各污染源污染物排放量的分配方案,达到充分开发和合理利用大气环境资源;根据现有和未来主要行业发展特点,确定控制的主要污染项目,为政府决策提供科学依据,达到为我市今后经济可持续发展服务的目的。     

分子生物学在生物强化处理环境污染物中的应用

综述了分子生物学的相关技术在生物强化处理环境污染物中的应用，主要包括：通过分子生物技术育种、筛选、构建高效降解污染物微生物菌株；提供更科学、快捷、准确多样的环境监测和环境评价技术手段；探索微生物与环境污染物间的相互关系，及微生物降解污染物的有关基因定位，相关主要技术有：核酸探针检测、DNA-DNA杂交，rRNA和rRNA基因序列分析。质粒指纹图谱分析、聚合酶链式反应（PCR）、低分子量PNA分布图及由PCR技术发展而带动的基因多态性技术，如变性梯度凝胶电泳（DGGE）、随机扩增多态性DNA技术（RAPD）等。     

三江源区水源涵养功能评估

为实现三江源区水源涵养功能评估,服务区域生态服务价值估算,从水源涵养的概念出发,解析水源涵养功能的内涵特征和表征指标,提出了三江源区水源涵养功能评估技术框架,并基于SWAT模型建立三江源区水文模型,通过年尺度、月尺度和日尺度的水文模拟,完成三江源区水源涵养功能定量评估.从水文模型校准结果来看,直门达、唐乃亥和香达3个验证站日径流量最大相对误差不超过17.0%,月径流量最大相对误差不超过13.0%;日尺度模型中直门达站模拟效率系数超过了0.6,其他两个站也超过了0.5,月尺度模型中3个验证站模拟效率系数均超过0.6以上;日尺度模型和月尺度模型验证结果均可接受,在一定程度上较好地揭示出了三江源区的水量输出过程、趋势和规律.应用该模型对水源涵养功能进行定量评估,长江流域、黄河流域、澜沧江流域水资源供给量分别可达到158.8×108、326.2×108、72.6×108 m3;考虑土地利用和植被变化对流域径流输出的影响作用,植被破坏可能导致长江流域、黄河流域和澜沧江流域地下径流量分别可能减少98.6×108、200.1×108和44.5×108 m3;在相同降水条件下,低植被覆盖会导致长江流域、黄河流域和澜沧江流域年最大流量的平均值、最大值、最小值分别增加了约80%、60%和30%.研究显示,三江源区在保障下游用水、提升径流调节能力和缓解防洪压力等方面具有突出的作用.      

一种环境质量变动影响因素分析的方法：以重庆市为例

引进了一套简明的环境质量变动影响因素分析的方法：利用Ｃｏｍｍｏｎｅｒ方程分解出人口因素，经济因素和技术因素对环境质量变动的贡献率，确定污染控制的技术类型，再采用经济产出与污染排放关系方程、工业能耗物耗变动趋势对污染控制技术类型的判定进行验证为和并以重庆市为例介绍了方法的应用。     

Well-designed environmental regulation and firm performance: Swedish evidence on the Porter hypothesis and the effect of regulatory time strategies

Using recent data on a cross-section of Swedish chemical and pulp and paper firms, this paper provides novel empirical insights into the Porter hypothesis. Well-designed environmental regulation can stimulate firms’ innovative capabilities, while at the same time generating innovation offsets that may both offset net compliance costs and yield a competitive edge over those firms that are not affected by such regulations. In doing so, we also test the alleged effectiveness of regulatory time strategies in stimulating innovation activities of regulated firms. We find evidence for the effectiveness of such well-designed regulations: announced rather than existing regulation induces innovation and some innovation offsets. Our results imply that empirical tests of the Porter hypothesis that do not account for its dynamic nature, and that do not measure well-designed regulations, might provide misleading conclusions as to its validity.     

有色金属企业环保投资对企业竞争力的影响研究——基于环境规制的调节效应与门槛效应分析

基于2014—2020年我国有色金属上市公司的数据,通过构建基准模型、调节效应模型、门槛效应模型,实证检验了企业环保投资对企业竞争力的影响。结果表明:①环保投资对企业竞争力具有显著的促进作用,引入环境规制变量后,发现其对环保投资与企业竞争力之间的关系产生了正向调节作用。②相比于我国非国有企业和西部地区,环境规制对有色金属企业环保投资与企业竞争力之间的正向调节效应在国有企业和中、东部地区企业中更加明显。③以环境规制为门槛变量进行深入分析,发现环境规制存在双重门槛效应,当环境规制大于或等于2.203这一门槛值时,环保投资对企业竞争力的促进作用才会显著。     

Hands-on assistance improves already successful pollution prevention services of the toxics use reduction institute’s laboratory

In an attempt to improve the adoption rate of the work conducted at the Toxics Use Reduction Institute Lab, a more comprehensive on-site follow-up assistance program was implemented in 2006. The effort was piloted for trichloroethylene replacement in Rhode Island in conjunction with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 1.Through hands-on workshops and on-site assistance efforts, the TURI Lab project was able to achieve an 82% reduction in TCE in a two year period. This new methodology for on-site assistance follow-up to the preexisting TURI Lab testing program has been incorporated into the work the Lab conducts for companies in Massachusetts. The Lab had an implementation rate of around 30% without on-site assistance. During the first year of the new process, the adoption rate has jumped to 80% of all companies working with the lab.     

河北省耕地保护重点区域的划分与调控

新一轮土地利用总体规划修编提出对各类、各区域用地开展统筹研究,为解决各地区的耕地问题提供了新的思路。论文以河北省为例,首先按照耕地的可持续生产能力,以县为单位依次通过设计指标体系、确定权重、数据标准化和划分重点区域对其进行定量评价,从而指出各级政府在耕地保护过程中各自应重点关注的区域;其次,分析受胁迫因素,确定划分指标,确立划分标准并划分重点区域受胁迫程度,对重点区域耕地的受胁迫程度进行了定量区分,为针对不同区域采取不同的措施提供了依据;再次,提出了调控不同级别、不同受胁迫程度区域耕地的刚性、弹性和预期指标;最后,制定了一系列措施以保障指标能够被有效地实施。