The effect of industry activities on public support for ‘fracking’

Research suggests that previous, current, and prospective extractive industry activities influence perceptions of new development. Studies that have drawn this conclusion, however, have usually focused on specific projects in specific communities. Here, these factors are examined on an aggregate, national scale. Combining geospatial data on extractive industry activities and survey data from a nationally representative sample (N = 1061), the influence of extractive industry activities on support for fracking is studied. While limited evidence is found for the impact of proximity to oil and gas wells or production on support for fracking, employment levels in the natural resources and mining sector in the respondent’s county and residence in an area experiencing active oil and gas development significantly increase support for fracking. The results highlight the role of spatial and community factors in shaping support for energy development.     

Biomagnification of anthropogenic and naturally-produced organobrominated compounds in a marine food web from Sydney Harbour, Australia

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and naturally-produced organobrominated compounds, such as methoxylated PBDEs (MeO-PBDEs), have been scarcely studied in the Southern Hemisphere. Yet, sources of the latter group of compounds were found in Southern regions, specifically in Australia. The environmental distribution and biomagnification potential of organobrominated compounds were therefore investigated in a representative aquatic food chain (invertebrates and fish) from the Sydney Harbour, Australia. Mean PBDE concentrations ranged from 6.4 ng/g lipid weight (lw) in squid to 115 ng/g lw in flounder. BDE 47 was the dominant congener, followed by BDE 100. Mean levels of MeO-PBDEs (sum of congeners 2’-MeO-BDE 68 and 6-MeO-BDE 47) were as high as 110 ng/g lw in tailor, with a slight dominance of 2’-MeO-BDE 68. Polybrominated hexahydroxanthene derivates (PBHDs), another class of naturally-produced compounds, were found at variable concentrations and ranged from 4.7 ng/g lw in fanbelly and 146 ng/g lw in tailor. The tribrominated PBHD isomer dominated in the samples, except for luderick and squid. The lower levels of PBDEs found in luderick from the harbour compared to those obtained from the upper Parramatta River indicated a terrestrial (anthropogenic) origin of PBDEs, while the higher levels of MeO-PBDEs and PBHDs in the samples from the harbour confirmed the marine (natural) origin of these compounds. The highest trophic magnification factor (TMF) was found for sum PBDEs (3.9), while TMFs for sum MeO-PBDEs and sum PBHDs were 2.9 and 3.4, respectively. This suggests that biomagnification occurs in the studied aquatic food chain for anthropogenic brominated compounds, but also for the naturally-produced organobromines.     

Neural network forecasting of air pollutants hourly concentrations using optimised temporal averages of meteorological variables and pollutant concentrations

The new method for the forecasting hourly concentrations of air pollutants is presented in the paper. The method was developed for a site in urban residential area in city of Zagreb, Croatia, for four air pollutants (NO₂, O₃, CO and PM₁₀). Meteorological variables and concentrations of the respective pollutant were taken as predictors. A novel approach, based on families of univariate regression models, was employed in selecting the averaging intervals for input variables. For each variable and each averaging period between 1 and 97 h, a separate model was built. By inspecting values of the coefficient of correlation between measured and modelled concentrations, optimal averaging periods for each variable were selected. A new dataset for building the forecasting model was then calculated as temporal moving averages (running means) of former variables. A multi-layer perceptron type of neural networks is used as the forecasting model. Index of agreement, calculated for the entire dataset including the data for model building, ranged from 0.91 to 0.97 for the respective pollutants. As suggested by the analysis of the relative importance of the input variables, different agreements for different pollutants are likely due to different sources and production mechanisms of investigated pollutants. A comparison of the new method with more traditional method, which takes hourly averages of the forecast hour as input variables, showed similar or better performance. The model was developed for the purpose of public-health-oriented air quality forecasting, aiming to use a numerical weather forecast model for the prediction of the part of input data yet unknown at the forecasting time. It is to expect that longer term averages used as inputs in the proposed method will contribute to smaller input errors and the greater accuracy of the model.     

生态旅游经济关系的二重性辨析

生态旅游经济关系是自然生态关系和社会经济关系的有机统一,两种关系并存于生态旅游经济复合系统中,成为生态旅游经济可持续发展的基础.但是,生态旅游经济关系在实践中出现了严重的变形,利益关系的冲突,正在使生态旅游经济越来越多地出现不和谐的现象,突破利益关系制约的瓶颈,重建和谐的生态旅游经济关系,正是解决生态危机的着眼点.因此,本文对生态旅游经济关系的二重性进行深入辨析,指出无论是生态旅游经济行为主体还是生态旅游经济过程,都具有自然生态属性和社会经济属性相统一的二重性,这些都决定了生态旅游经济关系二重性的协调统一.针对生态旅游经济关系在实践发展中的扭曲变形,只有变革传统经济学的发展观,以生态经济学和可持续发展经济学的理论为平台,对失调的生态旅游经济关系进行修正,还原生态旅游经济关系的本来面貌,即人与自然和谐、生态与经济协调、自然生态关系与社会经济关系统一的理想状态,才能实现生态旅游经济的可持续发展.     

A Review of Environmental Sociology and the Sociology of Natural Resources： Insights for the Development of Environmental Sociology in China

Environmental sociology and the sociology of natural resources are two key subdisciplines of the sociological study on the interactions between nature and human society. Previous discussion on the relationships of these two fields has largely focused on their distinctions and synthesis in western （particularly American） academia. Environmental sociology emerged as an important sociological subdiscipline in China in the early 1990s and is under vigorous disciplinary construction at present. By contrast, the sociology of natural resources is still a novel term for most Chinese researchers. This article provides a systematic review of recent literature on the relationships between environmental and natural resource sociologies, which should provide important implications for the further development of environmental sociology in China.     

Challenges to liberalism: The case of Australian energy policy

This paper considers liberal and nationalist economic policy approaches to the ownership and development of Australian energy resources (oil, gas, coal and uranium). In the two decades prior to 1983, Australia pursued economic policies in relation to its energy resources which could broadly be described as ‘nationalist’. Governments of the day intervened in development decisions in an effort to enhance the ‘national interest’. From 1983, along with the deregulation of the Australian economy as a whole, policy relating to energy resources was liberalised. Development of energy reserves henceforth occurred according to the dictates of the market. This paper argues that recent Australian energy policy initiatives reflect an increase in nationalist influences and a retreat from the liberalisation agenda that dominated energy policy making in the 1980s and 1990s. Three examples are discussed where policy has been influenced by a nationalist framework: (1) the domestic gas reservation policy in Western Australia; (2) Australian government efforts to promote a ‘value adding’ nuclear processing industry and (3) Australian Labor Party policy giving preferential financial incentives for gas to liquids projects. The re-emergence of nationalism in Australia is occurring either because policy makers now favour it as a path to energy security or in some cases because they believe that appeals to nationalism will generate political support.     

Adsorption of phenol and its derivatives from water using synthetic resins and low-cost natural adsorbents: a review

In this article, the technical feasibility of the use of activated carbon, synthetic resins, and various low-cost natural adsorbents for the removal of phenol and its derivatives from contaminated water has been reviewed. Instead of using commercial activated carbon and synthetic resins, researchers have worked on inexpensive materials such as coal fly ash, sludge, biomass, zeolites, and other adsorbents, which have high adsorption capacity and are locally available. The comparison of their removal performance with that of activated carbon and synthetic resins is presented in this study. From our survey of about 100 papers, low-cost adsorbents have demonstrated outstanding removal capabilities for phenol and its derivatives compared to activated carbons. Adsorbents that stand out for high adsorption capacities are coal-reject, residual coal treated with H3PO4, dried activated sludge, red mud, and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide-modified montmorillonite. Of these synthetic resins, HiSiv 1000 and IRA-420 display high adsorption capacity of phenol and XAD-4 has good adsorption capability for 2-nitrophenol. These polymeric adsorbents are suitable for industrial effluents containing phenol and its derivatives as mentioned previously. It should be noted that the adsorption capacities of the adsorbents presented here vary significantly depending on the characteristics of the individual adsorbent, the extent of chemical modifications, and the concentrations of solutes.     

美国对石油天然气勘探开发中废物的环境监管

石油天然气勘探开发及生产过程中会产生大量的废物,对这些废物的管理目前受到各国高度的重视。文章介绍了美国石油和天然气勘探开发中废物的监管机构、监管要求和管理实践,以期对我国油气行业勘探开发废物的环境监管有所启示。     

水泥厂煤粉制备系统袋除尘器的选型及应用

本文介绍了煤粉制备系统含尘废气的特性及治理技术的发展与应用,并从袋除尘器类型的确定、处理风量的确定、过滤风速的选取、过滤面积的计算和除尘器规格的选取等方面介绍了煤磨袋除尘器的选型,以及FGM（M）型气箱脉冲防爆袋除尘器、MMC型脉冲喷吹防爆袋除尘器和LPMC型低阻高效防爆袋除尘器在煤粉制备系统除尘中的应用推广情况。     

自然资源利用权的双重物权属性及环境保护价值

自然资源利用权从产生的途径上看应属于特许物权,从内容和功能上看应属于准用益物权,两种物权属性并不相互排斥。自然资源利用权的双重物权属性符合环境保护的价值取向和价值选择。