Graduate

2009

Due to a history of fire suppression, a considerable portion of public lands in the United States is at risk of uncharacteristically severe wildfires. Wildfires already have detrimental impacts on the landscape and on communities in the wildland-urban interface, due to unnatural and overstocked forests. Strategies to mitigate wildfire risk include mechanical thinning and prescribed burning in areas with high wildfire risk. The material removed is often of little or no value. Woody biomass utilization (WBU) could offset the costs of hazardous fuel treatments if removed material could be used for wood products, heat, or electricity production. However, barriers due to transportation costs, removal costs, and physical constraints (such as steep slopes) hinder woody biomass utilization. Various federal and state policies attempt to overcome these barriers. WBU has the potential to aid in wildfire mitigation and meet growing state mandates for renewable energy. This research utilizes interview data from individuals involved with on-the-ground woody biomass removal and utilization to determine how federal and state policies influence woody biomass utilization. Results suggest that there is not one over-arching policy, which hinders or promotes woody biomass utilization, but rather woody biomass utilization is hindered by organizational constraints of land management agencies. However, the use of stewardship contracting shows promise for increased WBU, especially in states with favorable tax policies and renewable energy mandates. Additionally, I include policy recommendations and discussion about the possible impacts of carbon emissions regulations to WBU.

2009

As environmental problems became more complex, policy and regulatory decisions become far more difficult to make. The use of science has become an important practice in the decision making process of many federal agencies. Many different types of scientific information are used to make decisions within the EPA, with computer models becoming especially important. Environmental models are used throughout the EPA in a variety of contexts and their predictive capacity has become highly valued in decision making.

The main focus of this research is to examine the EPA’s Council for Regulatory Modeling (CREM) as a case study in addressing science issues, particularly models, in government agencies. Specifically, the goal was to answer the following questions: What is the history of the CREM and how can this information shed light on the process of science policy implementation? What were the goals of implementing the CREM? Were these goals reached and how have they changed? What have been the impediments that the CREM has faced and why did these impediments occur? The three main sources of information for this research came from observations during summer employment with the CREM, document review and supplemental interviews with CREM participants and other members of the modeling community. Examining a history of modeling at the EPA, as well as a history of the CREM, provides insight into the many challenges that are faced when implementing science policy and science policy programs. After examining the many impediments that the CREM has faced in implementing modeling policies, it was clear that the impediments fall into two separate categories, classic and paradoxical. The classic impediments include the more standard impediments to science policy implementation that might be found in any regulatory environment, such as lack of resources and changes in administration. Paradoxical impediments are cyclical in nature, with no clear solution, such as balancing top-down versus bottom-up initiatives and coping with differing perceptions. These impediments, when not properly addressed, severely hinder the ability for organizations to successfully implement science policy.

2009

The United States has lost about half of its wetland areas since European settlement, and the effectiveness of current policy approaches is often questioned. National wetland policies follow the “No Net Loss” philosophy, whereby new wetlands are created to mitigate losses of natural ones. However, research indicates this approach is resulting in the construction of sub-standard wetlands that do not function as well as the ecosystems they are intended to replace. Michigan’s wetlands are regulated by the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) under the authority of the 1972 Clean Water Act. Recent research detected many problems with the procedural process of wetland mitigation in Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula (U.P.), revealing a high percentage of cases out of compliance with document filing requirements. The majority of out-of-compliance cases involved mitigation projects by road agencies. I examined wetland mitigation sites constructed in the U.P. between 2003 and 2007, during which time the regional DEQ office experienced administrative improvements in several areas. Consistent with 2003 findings, my results indicate similar difficulties with staff shortages and follow-up monitoring of mitigation sites. My results indicate no substantial improvement regarding the submission of monitoring reports by wetland mitigation permittees to the DEQ. I also conducted assessments of 11 U.P. mitigation sites constructed between 2003 and 2006 as a result of wetland-impacting road construction projects by the state’s Department of Transportation and county road commissions. Approximately half of these sites were out of compliance with DEQ standards for invasive plant species control. At mitigation sites, I found no relationships between invasive species problems and monitoring report compliance, age of mitigation sites, or proximities to roads. My findings do however suggest that characteristics of adjacent ecosystems may be associated with the prevalence of invasive plant species at wetland mitigation sites. Policy efforts should therefore include greater attention to these details when deciding where to locate mitigation projects.

2009

Wind power is becoming an increasingly attractive method of power generation due to concerns of increasing global climate change, increasing uncertainty of future oil supplies, and energy security. While most large scale wind turbines are part of wind farms which help states meet state renewable energy standards, several colleges and universities in the United States have purchased wind turbines for financial and educational purposes. Principia College, a liberal arts college located in Elsah, Illinois, is considering installing a Vestas V-82 (1.65 MW) or another turbine of similar size. Wind velocity data from a meteorological tower located at the potential site is used to determine the economic impact a turbine would have using estimates from industry and the models IMPLAN and JEDI. Social, educational, and environmental impacts are also discussed as externalities. It is found that the project has a positive net present value for both a 20-year scenario and 30-year scenario. Assuming the project did not receive any grants, Principia College would need to have an annual return rate of about six percent on its initial investment to gain the same economic benefits.

2009

People’s perception of risk of a particular hazard positively influences the adoption of effective mitigation strategies and responses. Glacial lake outburst flooding (GLOF) has emerged as a major natural hazard in the Nepal Himalayas in recent decades. The present study explores the risk perception of people living downstream from Tsho Rolpa Glacial Lake of Nepal. It is important to understand if downstream populations are aware of the probability of a Tsho Rolpa outburst flood and perceive the risk of being flooded, at a time when experts involved in hazard assessment claim that the lake still poses a high risk, despite some mitigation works. This study reveals that the local people have a low risk perception of the Tsho Rolpa GLOF. A majority of them demonstrated dissonant risk perception. No adjustments have been adopted by the people at individual level. The low risk perception on the part of the riverine people is chiefly attributed to the cry-wolf effect of the 1997 evacuation that followed the unfounded expert prediction of a Tsho Rolpa outburst. The preliminary remediation works kept in place have created a false sense of security among the people. It seems they are living fearlessly in the hazard zone. At some places, people have moved even closer to the river channel to settle. Paradoxically, the numbing effect of the partial mitigation efforts has increased the vulnerability of the communities to a probable outburst flood.

2008

This study evaluates the effectiveness of public participation in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process in Zambia. The international community recognizes EIA as an essential cog for sustainable development. While the importance of EIA as a tool for sustainable development is beyond debate, many scholars, however, believe that its success is dependent to a large extent on the integration of effective public participation into the process, hence this study of evaluating the effectiveness of public participation in the EIA process in Zambia. Zambia is one of the countries in Sub Saharan Africa that has implemented a full EIA along with its full range of attributes, among them public participation. This study evaluates the performance of public participation using eight different environmental impact statement (EIS) documents. Based on the EIA regulations in Zambia, the this study selected ten important performance criteria attributes for evaluation, which are: adherence to the process, holding of scoping meeting, use of local language during public consultation, appropriateness of the venue used during the public consultation, inclusiveness of participation process, attendance, credibility of process, publicity of public consultation, decision tracking the public views, and criteria for approval decisions. The results of this evaluation show that EIA process in Zambia has some strengths and weaknesses. The strengths include a fully functioning legal and institutional framework, while weaknesses include lack of inclusiveness of all stakeholders in the process, incomplete data in the final EIS, and lack of credibility of the public participation process. In the conclusion section, this study identifies five areas requiring strengthening and recommends five actions required to improve the identified weaknesses.

2008

The Yaqui valley is an irrigated agricultural region in northwestern Mexico and home to the Green Revolution. Pesticides and fertilizers are increasingly used on crops where indigenous people work and live without regard to the well being of the inhabitants living within close proximity. Additionally, the community relies on a potable water supply that lacks filtration or chlorination processes and operates on a very limited timetable each day. Households must rely on storage water supplies throughout the day and during periods of water scarcities residents make use of alternative water sources. Two of the most prevalent water substitutes consist of the irrigation canals and hand-dug shallow wells. This paper draws from fieldwork in the Yaqui village of Potam based on household interviews with women on the cycle of water and health. The findings indicate biological and chemical contaminants are ubiquitous, involving several potential routes of exposure via public and domestic domains and the probability for diminished health affects all residents.