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.     

Bayes methods for combining disease and exposure data in assessing environmental justice

Environmental justice reflects the equitable distribution of the burden of environmental hazards across various sociodemographic groups. The issue is important in environmental regulation, siting of hazardous waste repositories and prioritizing remediation of existing sources of exposure. We propose a statistical framework for assessing environmental justice. The framework includes a quantitative assessment of environmental equity based on the cumulative distribution of exposure within population subgroups linked to disease incidence through a dose-response function. This approach avoids arbitrary binary classifications of individuals solely as 'exposed' or 'unexposed'. We present a Bayesian inferential approach, implemented using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, that accounts for uncertainty in both exposure and response. We illustrate our method using data on leukaemia deaths and exposure to toxic chemical releases in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.     

Compensation for “Meaningful Participation” in Climate Change Control: A Modest Proposal and Empirical Analysis

The debate over an international climate change regime has thus far focused primarily on efficiency concerns in developed countries. This paper suggests a means by which equity concerns may be addressed in the ongoing negotiations. A system of transfers is developed that is motivated by the difference between the damage caused by a country and the damage suffered by that country as a result of climate change. Illustrative calculations of the magnitude and direction of these transfers are made. We find that in general transfers flow from temperate to tropical countries but that the degree of uncertainty associated with these calculations is very large.     

Equity and nuclear waste disposal

Following the recommendations of the US National Academy of Sciences and the mandates of the 1987 Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act, the US Department of Energy has proposed Yucca Mountain, Nevada as the site of the world's first permanent repository for high-level nuclear waste. The main justification for permanent disposal (as opposed to above-ground storage) is that it guarantees safety by means of waste isolation. This essay argues, however, that considerations of equity (safer for whom?) undercut the safety rationale. The article surveys some prima facie arguments for equity in the distribution of radwaste risks and then evaluates four objections that are based, respectively, on practicality, compensation for risks, scepticism about duties to future generations, and the uranium criterion. The conclusion is that, at least under existing regulations and policies, permanent waste disposal is highly questionable, in part, because it fails to distribute risk equitably or to compensate, in full, for this inequity.     

水污染物总量分配方法研究

综述了国内外水污染物总量分配的各种方法，对我国总量分配发展方向进行了探讨。     

From open access to access by all: restating challenges in designing groundwater management in Andhra Pradesh, India

In a village-based watershed in Andhra Pradesh, India, it is increasingly difficult for users to access and extract groundwater for irrigation: a 'pumping race' is taking place. A move from groundwater development towards groundwater management is required, with a new perspective on options for change. Through a study of borewell technology and groundwater use, and considering new local developments in electricity supply and participatory resource management, the article argues that groundwater is a resource with 'instructions for use'. The technological dimensions of groundwater irrigation urge its study as a socio-technical process in order to design sustainable and equitable groundwater management.     

Marginalization by collaboration: Environmental justice as a third party in and beyond CALFED

Governance and planning of ecosystem and water management within the California Bay-Delta, a critical component of California's water economy, have been characterized by a range of innovations in collaboration and conflict resolution. Despite legal mandates to incorporate environmental justice, the California Bay-Delta Authority's (CBDA) policy-development process and the subsequent Delta Vision process have systematically marginalized the role of environmental justice in California's water policy. We suggest that environmental justice in Bay-Delta planning can be understood as a “third party” with a tenuous seat at the CALFED water management table. As such environmental justice is a useful lens through which to assess the state's broader commitments and capacities relative to equity as a planning principal and outcome. We interpret the fate of environmental justice within Bay-Delta planning as indicative of the inherent tensions between systems based on increasing market dominance and state legitimation and the values of environmental justice based on distributive, procedural, and cognitive justice. We construct a model of marginalization and environmental injustice in collaborative planning to illustrate these tensions. We draw upon experiences of members of the Environmental Justice Sub-Committee of CBDA's Bay Delta Public Advisory Committee, as well as interviews with other key environmental justice interests, and a comprehensive review of internal and public CBDA documents relating to the environmental justice program including budgets and program plans, and ethnographic field work. We conclude that by learning from the mistakes of Bay-Delta planning, a positive model of collaborative, environmental justice-based planning for water and ecosystem management is possible.     

环境公平、环境效率及其与可持续发展的关系

随着可持续发展战略的提出和实施，20世纪80—90年代产生的环境公平概念自然成为其题中之义，并成为其“中心问题”，即居于可持续发展的中心地位；之后又出现了环境效率概念。本文在介绍国内外有关研究成果的基础上进一步阐述了环境公平、环境效率的概念，并对环境公平居于可持续发展中心地位的原因进行了讨论。     

基于群决策的河流允许排污量公平分配博弈模型

为解决河流水质管理中允许排污量的公平分配问题,建立一个由排污者群体决策的博弈模型.其基本原理是在现有被普遍接受的公平分配准则基础上,排污者按照一定的顺序,根据个体利益最大化原则依次选择分配准则并获得相应的允许排污量,同时考虑所有排序方式,求取平均值作为最终分配结果.案例研究结果表明,模型综合考虑了多种分配准则,无需人为给定准则的权重,保证了分配依据和分配过程的公正,由排污者群体决策而得出最终结果,是一种较为公平合理的允许排污量分配方法.模型求解与博弈论的Shapley解法类似,计算量呈随排污者个数阶乘递增趋势.     

自然资源资产辨析和负债、权益账户设置与界定研究——基于复式记账的自然资源资产负债表框架

资源环境问题成为经济社会发展的约束性问题,成立自然资源部,探索编制自然资源资产负债表是加强自然资源统筹管理的重要举措。自然资源核算和自然资源资产负债表的编制是自然资源统筹管理的基础工作,目前国外较多自然资源核算成果建立在SEEA 2012的基础上。编制自然资源资产负债表首先由中国提出来并开展研究,但综合来看,在基础理论研究和实践方法上还处于研究初级阶段,需要进一步加强理论基础和科学方法研究。论文基于会计理论的复式记账核算理论,研究了自然资源负债和权益的生产论和自然资源循环理论基础,提出了基于资源环境承载力、相关资源功能规划、生态红线基础上的自然资源负债和权益界定标准,以及在此界定标准上设计自然资源资产负债表及其相关平衡核算。自然资源资产是指能够给人类带来直接或间接福利的自然要素总和,它不仅包括直接参与经济社会系统循环的物质和环境要素,也包括参与生态循环间接为人类带来生态服务价值的自然要素;基于自然资源资产分析,论文将自然资源资产的权益分为自然资源的生态权益和自然资源的经济权益,这样的分类也有其生态文明的伦理基础;自然资源负债的产生是由于资源过度损耗、环境污染和生态破坏,既有人为因素,也有自然因素,是经济社会为了补偿生态系统的可持续性而需要付出的经济代价。通过以上资产、负债、权益的界定,为我们设计自然资源资产负债表提供了逻辑基础。论文研究旨在设计合理的基于复式记账的自然资源过程核算,以及资源资产负债表编制账户体系设计和平衡关系理论,以期为自然资源核算和资产负债表的编制提供科学的理论基础,构建科学合理的自然资源核算理论和编制科学的自然资源资产负债表。