Impact of Risk-Based Corrective Action (RBCA) on State LUST Corrective Action Programs

Under sponsorship from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the American Society of Testing & Materials (ASTM), a nationwide study evaluated the impact of risk-based corrective action (RBCA) on the performance of state environmental cleanup programs. The RBCA process for management of affected soil and groundwater sites was originally detailed in ASTM Standard E-1 739-95, Standard Guidelines for Risk-Based Corrective Action at Petroleum Release Sites, published in 1995 and reissued in expanded form in 1998. With strong support from the USEPA, the RBCA process has been adopted by many state agencies in the U.S in an effort to improve the management of environmental cleanup efforts, as needed to address increasing case backlogs and rising costs associated with remediation of leaking underground storage tank sites. To evaluate the success of these RBCA programs, the Risk-Based Decision-Making (RBDM) Performance Assessment Study, initiated in 1997, involved detailed evaluation of five state environmental agencies that had implemented regulatory programs closely modeled on the ASTM RBCA Standard. Comparison of pre-RBCA to post-RBCA program management statistics clearly demonstrates the positive impact of RBCA in terms of faster case processing rates, reduced environmental cleanup costs, and more effective targeting of resources toward higher-risk sites.     

Environmental Impacts of Products:Policy Relevant Information and Data Challenges

The research and analysis presented in this special issue shows that the same limited number of consumption categories are consistently revealed to be responsible for the largest share of environmental impact: mobility (automobile and air transport), food (meat, poultry, fish, and dairy followed by plant‐based food), and residential energy use in the house (heating, cooling, electrical appliances, and lighting). It appears that differences in impact per euro between the product groupings are relatively limited, so it is essential to reduce the life‐cycle impacts of products as such, rather than to shift expenditures to less impact‐intensive product groupings. Furthermore, the effectiveness of expenditure on material products to improve quality of life leaves much room for improvement. Environmentally extended input‐output (EEIO) tables probably form, in this field, the most appropriate information support tool for priority setting, prospective assessment of options, scenario analysis, and monitoring. A clear benefit would result from integrating the input–output (IO) tables in the report to Eurostat of the 25 individual countries that make up the European Union (EU), with other officially available information on emissions and resources use, into a 60‐sector EEIO table for the EU. This, obviously, would be the first step toward more detailed tables. Three strategies are suggested to realize the additional, desirable detail of 150 sectors or more, each achievable at an increasing time horizon and with increasing effort: (1) developing further the current CEDA EU25 table; (2) building a truly European detailed input–output table accepting the restrictions of existing data gathering procedures; and (3) as (2), but developing new, dedicated data gathering and classification procedures. In all cases, a key issue is harmonizing classification systems for industry sectors, consumer expenditure categories, and product classifications (as in import/export statistics) in such a way that data sets may adequately be linked to input–output tables.     

Monetary Valuation of Emissions in Implementing Environmental Policy

At various levels of environmental policy making there is a demand to translate polluting emissions into monetary units. In the so-called reduction cost approach, based upon policy targets, polluting emissions are expressed in monetary terms by determination of the marginal unit reduction cost at the emission target level. This approach provides shadow prices for emissions by which it can be established whether a certain measure or technology belongs to the most efficient set of measures by which the policy targets can be reached. This article argues that, if clear (generic) government targets such as national emission reduction targets exist for an emission, shadow prices derived by this method are to be preferred to shadow prices derived by other methods for decisions at the project (implementation) level. By application of the reduction cost approach, implementation decisions can be made that are both cost-effective and consistent with government policy.     

The Importance of Spatial Effects for Environmental Health Policy and Research

Issues of spatial scale and resolution are intrinsic to efforts aimed at protecting and improving environmental health. Deciding on an appropriate policy or selecting a suitable research design implies a decision, either implicit or explicit, about spatial scale and resolution. This article looks at issues in the context of environmental health, reviews crucial problems and questions, and examines examples of spatial effects on analytical results related to causal inference, disease clustering, and analysis and interpretation of census data. The discussion focuses on the need to consider spatial issues as a key component of informed, well- reasoned decisions about safeguarding environmental health.     

Risk-Based Methodology for Pre-Evaluation of Environmental Technologies for Sustainable Revitalization of Post-Industrial Sites

Revitalization of post-industrial sites is a challenge. Holistic approaches based on integrated regional environmental management are necessary to prevent sites from becoming restricted-use liabilities. Maintaining site attractiveness and preventing ongoing environmental degradation are important aspects of sustainability in urban areas. This article describes methods for and examples of integrated regional environmental management systems. The incorporation of information on risk drivers, spatial and temporal components of exposure to various risks, and establishment of remediation and restoration priorities, allows such integrated regional management systems to provide best practices for decision-making in the context of multiple risk influences and a range of site end-uses. Methods allowing pre-evaluation of responses that correct site degradation and maximize the range of possible end uses are valuable tools for sustainable development. Evaluation of potential impacts, costs, and benefits of responses and end-use alternatives is important for achieving sustainable environmental, economic, social, and land-use objectives. Criteria for pre-evaluation of energy commitment, material requirements, and emissions to soil, water and air are considered for method development. The sample technologies were selected from databases collected from a framework of international projects.     

Ecology,Environmental Impact Statements,and Ecological Risk Assessment: A Brief Historical Perspective

Ecological risk assessment will continue to increase in importance as a conceptual and methodological basis for evaluating environmental impacts as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. Understanding the historical strengths and limitations of more traditional environmental assessments performed in support of the NEPA can facilitate the effective incorporation of ecological risk assessment into the NEPA process. Such integration will also benefit from a knowledge of the historical and continuing development of the ecological risk assessment process, as well as from a recognition of the contri butions from modern quantitative ecology and ecosystem science. Adopting a risk-based approach can improve the NEPA process by providing a framework for consistent and comprehensive ecological assessment and by providing a conceptual and methodological basis for addressing the varied uncertainties attendant to environmental assessments. The primary concern in integrating ecological risk assessment into the NEPA process is that ecological risk assessment not merely become a new name for traditional environmental impact assessments. While the integration of ecological risk assessment into the NEPA process occurs, it is important to begin to outline the next transition in environmental assessment capabilities. Operationally linking ecological risk assessment methods with formal decision models appears as a worthwhile objective in beginning this transition.     

Mars, Materials, and Three Morality Plays: Materials Flows and Environmental Policy

Although industrial ecology represents a captivating metaphor and rich repertoire of analytical tools, its impact on environmental policy has been marginal at best. This article examines the insights provided by the studies of three common materials in the US. economy-lead, arsenic, and silver-and the abilrty of such studies to illuminate some larger and looming challenges for future environmental policy. Three specific challenges are explored: the flow of materials across national borders, the increasing embodiment of emissions in products, and the dangers of unchallenged assumptions about the drivers of material flows. The article argues that industrial ecology can inform public policy but that it is time for the practitioners of industrial ecology, an applied science, to apply it in the often messy world of environmental policymaking.     

Polish Soil Quality Standards Versus Risk-Based Soil Screening Levels for Metals and Arsenic

The main objective of the study was derivation of risk-based soil screening levels (RBSSLs) under two basic exposure scenarios—industrial and residential, and their comparison with the relevant soil quality standards (SQSs), applied in Poland as remedial targets. The RBSSLs were derived from standardized sets of equations that are based on the recently updated U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's human health risk assessment methods. The article presents the results concerning 12 contaminants listed in the SQS ordinance: arsenic, barium, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, lead, tin, and zinc. Taking only the human health protection criterion into account, most of SQSs for non-carcinogenic metals under both industrial and residential scenarios seem to be too stringent if used as the remedial levels, which may lead to unnecessary remediation. On the other hand, the SQSs for carcinogenic contaminants (As, Cr^VI) correspond to cancer risk levels significantly higher than the acceptable level of 1E-06. The findings of the study may constitute the first step to justify the amendment of the Polish SQS ordinance aimed at establishing the new soil quality values based on clearly defined criteria.     

Global Environmental Change and Population Health: Progress and Challenges

Escalating global environmental change (GEC) over the past century has been driven largely by rapid industrialization, population growth, overconsumption of natural resources, and associated waste disposal challenges, as well as the inappropriate uses of technology. These changes are already having and will increasingly continue to have significant impacts on human health and well-being. How to tackle these issues is an important challenge to scientists, policy-makers, and the general public. Scientific consensus now exists that GEC and population health are linked, even though the details and mechanisms underlying this link remain to be both explicated and quantified. In this article we provide an overview of progress and challenges in the area of GEC and population health since the late 1980s, highlighting some of the main landmarks in this area and recommending directions for future research.     

Environmental Security as a Case Study in Industrial Ecology

Environmental security is the integration of environmental and national security considerations at a national policy level. It is a relatively new and still somewhat contentious concept, although in some countries, such as the United States, it is increasingly being embedded in traditional security and foreign policy institutions. It is of interest to the industrial ecologist for several reasons. First, from the methodological perspective, environmental security issues are frequently complex, multidisciplinary, and multiscalar in both temporal and geographic dimensions. They are thus good opportunities to apply existing industrial ecology tools such as industrial metabolism stock and flow studies, as well as to support the development of new industrial ecology methods. Second, environmental security offers an important case study of an important fundamental industrial ecology dynamic: the movement of environment from overhead to strategic for society. This process occurs at many different scales, from implementation of design for environment methodologies within firms to integration of environmental and trade considerations in the World Trade Organization; and it is important for the industrial ecologist to begin to understand its underlying dynamics. Finally, national security is the quintessential raison d'etre of the national state. Accordingly, the integration of environmental considerations into national security policies and institutions, using industrial ecology methodologies and patterns of analysis, is a significant validation of the field.     

Policy Strategies to Promote Eco‐Innovation

This article elaborates an integrated policy framework, including policy features and specific measures that can be implemented to mitigate the barriers to eco‐innovations. We claim that factors inhibiting the development and uptake of eco‐innovations are multifaceted and stem from different sources. This systems view, which highlights the multilayered conception of the obstacles to eco‐innovation, calls for a combination of environmental and technology policies adapted to the different barriers and characteristics of the technologies. Drawing on evolutionary economics, the article sheds light on the appropriate combinations of framework conditions and instruments that are most effective to promote eco‐innovation, considering different barriers and eco‐innovation types (process/product, mature/immature, and radical/incremental).     

A Comprehensive Material Flow Account for Lao PDR to Inform Environmental and Sustainability Policy

Modern environmental and sustainability policy that acknowledges the linkages between socioeconomic processes and environmental pressures and impacts, and designs policies to decouple economic activity from environmental pressures and impacts, requires a sophisticated and comprehensive knowledge base. The concept of industrial metabolism provides a sound conceptual base, and material flow accounting—including primary material inputs and outflows of waste and emissions—provides a well‐accepted operationalization. Studies presenting a comprehensive material flow account for a national economy are rare, especially for developing countries. Countries such as Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR or Laos) face dual objectives of improving the material standard of living of their people while managing natural resources sustainably and mitigating adverse environmental impacts from growing resource throughput. Our research fills a knowledge gap, presents a comprehensive account of material inputs and outflows of waste and emissions for the Lao PDR national economy, and applies the accounting approach for a low‐income economy in Asia. We present a material balance for the years 2000 and 2015. For this research, we used data from Lao PDR national statistics and the accounting guidelines of the European Statistical Office (Eurostat), which pioneered the use of material flow data as part of its official statistical reporting. We demonstrate the feasibility of the accounting approach and discuss the robustness of results using uncertainty analysis conducted with statistical approaches commonly used in the field of industrial ecology, including Gauss's law of error propagation and Monte Carlo simulation. We find that the fast‐changing scale and composition of Lao PDR material flows, waste, and emissions presents challenges to the existing policy capacity and will require investment into governance of changed patterns of material use, waste disposal, and emissions. We consider the data analysis sufficiently robust to inform such a change in policy direction.     

Policy planning in the Oosterschelde estuary

During the execution of the Delta project the awareness of the environmental values of estuaries was growing strongly. This awareness has led to a reconsideration of the original proposal to close off the Oosterschelde, and to an alternative view of the management of the estuarine areas and of the civil engineering structures. Now, the completed storm-surge barrier and two compartmentation dams, together with the reinforced dikes, guarantee a sufficient safety against flooding.After the decision to build a storm-surge barrier it was soon recognized that a coherent plan would be needed for the management and development of the Oosterschelde. A policy plan was accordingly produced in which the broad outlines of the policy were set out regarding the various potential uses of the estuary and the possible means of effecting them. Because of the periodic improvement and adjustment of the policy plan an environmental research programme was set up. Also, environmental research played a significant role in the decision-making processes for the completion of the barrier and the compartmentation dams as well as for the management of the storm-surge barrier.The coping-stone of the Delta Project marks the beginning of a new period in the water management of the Netherlands: the period of integrated water management.     

Distance-to-Target Weighting in Life Cycle Impact Assessment Based on Chinese Environmental Policy for the Period 1995-2005 (6 pp)

Background and Objective

. Values in the known weighting methods in Life Cycle Assessment are mostly founded by the societal systems of developed countries. What source of weights and which weighting methods are reliable for a big developing country like China? The purpose of this paper is to find a possible weighting method and available data that will work well for LCA practices conducted in China. Since government policies and decisions play a leading role in the process of environmental protection in developing countries, the weights derived from political statements may be a consensus by representatives of the public.

Methods

'Distance-to-political target' principle is used in this paper to derive weights of five problem-oriented impact categories. The critical policy targets are deduced from the environmental policies issued in the period of the Ninth Five-year (1996-2000) and the Tenth Five-year (2001-2005) Plan for the Development of National Economy and Society of China. Policy targets on two five-year periods are presented and analyzed. Weights are determined by the quotient between the reference levels and target levels of a certain impact category.

Results and Discussion

Since the Tenth Five-year Plan put forward the overall objective to reduce the level of regional pollution by 2005, the weights for AP, EP and POCP for 2000-2005 are more than 1. By comparison between the Ninth Five-year and Tenth Five-year period, the results show that the weights obtained in this paper effectively represent Chinese political environmental priorities in different periods. For the weights derived from China's political targets for the overall period 1995-2005, the rank order of relative importance is ODP>AP>POCP>EP>GWP. They are recommended to the potential users for the broader disparity among the five categories. By comparison with the weights presented by the widespread EDIP method, the result shows that there's a big difference in the relative importance of ozone depletion and global warming.

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In conclusion, the weighting factors and rank order of impact categories determined in this study represent the characteristics of the big developing country. The derived weighting set can be helpful to LCA practices of products within the industrial systems of China.

     

Toward a New Generation of Environmental Technology: The Need For Legislative Reform

Given near unanimity in the environmental and industrial communities about the need for a new generation of environmental technology, the policy process unfortunately lags behind in moving toward this objective. This article examines causes and remedies for this gap in the context of American environmental policy. U.S. environmental laws continue to be pervaded by structural biases against new technology, and the complexity of their administration exacerbates the problem. Within the last few years, several important reform initiatives have arisen from inside the regulatory community; however, these can only go so far, given the current statutory framework Congress, too long quiescent, needs to become involved. A legislative reform package is proposed consisting of four main elements: a legislative mandate that makes promotion of technological innovation an explicit environmental objective; elimination of structural features in current law that impede innovation; creation of a new framework for standard-setting and enforcement that puts every firm on a trajectory toward environmental and technological improvement; and enlisting regulation as a "demand-pull" for environmentally superior technology.     

真核细胞中基因的转录调控

叙述了真核细胞三种RNA聚合酶合成的基因的转录调控.由于真核细胞DNA含量非常大,其基因的转录调控具有以下特点：参与的转录因子多;与顺式DNA序列元件结合呈一定顺序.这反映了真核细胞中基因的转录调控是由多个转录因子间的相互作用来实现的．     

Setting Priorities within Product-Oriented Environmental Policy

To focus Danish product‐oriented environmental policy, a study applying extended input‐output analysis has been performed, identifying the most important product groups from an environmental perspective. The environmental impacts are analyzed from three different perspectives—the supply perspective, the consumption perspective, and the process perspective—differing primarily in their system delimitation. The top ten environmentally most important product groups (out of 138 industry products and 98 final consumption groups) are listed for each of the three perspectives, using both total environmental impact and environmental impact intensity as ranking principles. The study covers all substances that contribute significantly to the environmental impact categories of global warming, ozone depletion, acidification, nutrient enrichment, photochemical ozone formation, ecotoxicity, human toxicity, and nature occupation. The differences in results between the three perspectives are elaborated and their policy relevance discussed. The top ten product groups account for a surprisingly large share of the total environmental impact of Danish production and consumption (up to 45%, depending upon the perspective). This implies that product‐oriented environmental policy may achieve large improvements by focusing on a rather small number of product groups. Both imported products and products produced for export in general cause more environmental impact than products produced in Denmark for the Danish market. Especially noticeable are the export of meat and ship transport. This leads to the recommendation to include specific policy measures targeting both foreign producers and foreign markets. Because of its relatively large input of labor, public consumption is found to have a much smaller environmental impact intensity than private consumption. The results confirm results of other similar studies, but are more detailed and have lower uncertainty, due to a number of improvements in data and methodology. A short presentation of the methodology is provided as background information, although this is not the main focus of this article.     

上海市薄弱专科医院财政投入现状、挑战及对策

目的 了解薄弱专科医院的财政投入现状,探索落实倾斜政策的路径。方法 现场调研、专家咨询和深入访谈等方式。结果 上海市财政对精神卫生、传染等薄弱专科医院提高了基本建设投入比例、优先扶持科教项目、提高基本支出比例等举措,使这些医院基本实现了收支平衡和医疗服务有序开展。然而,近期基本工资制度和社会保障制度调整、医药分开等改革举措给医院带来新的挑战。结论 现行财政投入政策有一定的作用,但近期改革主要影响人力成本。建议短期内以绩效工资补偿为切入口,根据公益程度、经济运行状况等分梯度对薄弱专科医院进行补偿,同时加强公共卫生的补偿力度。     

Environmental weeds in Australia and New Zealand: issues and approaches to management

Environmental weeds are plants that invade natural ecosystems and are considered to be a serious threat to nature conservation. Australia and New Zealand, where biota with a high degree of endemism have evolved, are particularly susceptible to environmental weeds. Environmental weeds have been implicated in the extinction of several indigenous plant species, and they also threaten ecosystem stability and functional complexity. Historically, emphasis has been placed on the chemical or manual ‘control’ of weed infestations, often with little consideration of the long‐term effectiveness or the ecological consequences of such an approach. As the threat from environmental weeds is becoming more fully recognized, an integrated, strategic and ecological approach to weed management is being recommended. In both countries, systems for screening new plants before allowing entry for cultivation have been developed. For already established plants, management is conducted within a legislative and policy framework such as the Regional Pest Management Strategies that operate through the Biosecurity Act 1993 in New Zealand. Noxious weed legislation in Australia has historically focused on agricultural weeds, but some Acts are (or have recently been) undergoing revision to give greater emphasis to environmental weeds and the involvement of the community in weed management. Quarantine, legislation, research and on‐ground management are complemented by education programmes about the impact and control of environmental weeds. This paper provides an overview of the ‘tool‐kit’ needed to manage environmental weeds in Australia and New Zealand, comparing and contrasting the approaches taken in the two countries. It also provides a broad framework for the case studies that make up this special issue on the ecology and management of environmental weeds in both countries.     

Operational Eco-efficiency: Comparing Firms' Environmental Investments in Different Domains of Operation

Eco-efficiency has been established as a crucial concept for corporate environmental management. Most approaches deal with eco-efficiency on the level of the company or the product. However, given that companies have special budgets earmarked for environmental operations or investments, the question arises as to which operation within which domain is the most eco-efficient. This article presents an approach to supporting these decisions by calculating eco-efficiency on the operational level. The procedure is demonstrated using a case study of the Swiss National Railway Company. Investments and operations in the domains of energy production, landscape and nature conservation, noise protection, and contaminated soil remediation are assessed and compared. Decision-makers seeking an eco-efficient corporate investment policy will find, in this concept, a guideline for prioritizing various domains of operation as well as the operations within a domain.