Journals
Summer 2006, Vol. 46, No. 3
Essay—Seeing Clearly: Making Decisions under Conditions of Scientific Controversy and Incomplete and Uncertain Scientific Information
Ann Clarke
In the first part of the twentieth century, the environment was viewed as a closed mechanistic system in equilibrium. Congress established many of the federal agencies or their predecessors on the Progressive Utilitarian premise of scientific management by professionals in their respective fields of jurisdiction. The potentially affected public had little opportunity to question agency decision making. By the mid-twentieth century, scientists had begun to conceive of the environment less as a mechanistic system that people could manipulate, and more as a complex, dynamic, multi-scale, and open system of which people were a part. After World War II, and in the wake of nuclear devastation, the public became more wary of the potential impacts of science and technology, and Congress began opening agency decision-making processes to public review by enacting such statutes as the Administrative Procedures Act (APA).
The Rise and Fall of the Ebro Water Transfer
José Albiac, Michael Hanemann, Javier Calatrava, Javier Uche & Javier Tapia
This article analyzes the Ebro inter-basin transfer, which was the main project of the Spanish National Hydrological Plan. The Ebro transfer was prompted by pervasive pressures, scarcity and degradation of Southeastern basins in Spain. The heated policy debate on the Ebro transfer highlights the difficulties of achieving a sustainable management of water resources because of the conflicting interests of stakeholders and regions. Alternatives to the Ebro transfer show that acceptable outcomes combine demand and supply measures. Nevertheless, implementation could be difficult, requiring compensation to farmers; otherwise, an excessive burden on farmers would be met by social opposition, leading to the failure of the measures.
An Economic Assessment of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan
Rosalind Bark-Hodgins & Bonnie G. Colby
Riparian corridors supply many environmental and aesthetic services in the arid and semi-arid regions world wide. Riparian ecosystems provide water filtering, bank stabilizing, and flood mitigating benefits, and are habitat to native birds, bats, fish, and other wildlife. The juxtaposition of lush herbaceous and treed areas with upland desert also makes these corridors an aesthetic resource. In Arizona, urban homeowners are one of the primary ‘consumers’ of the riparian corridor. Recent research demonstrates that riparian corridors are capitalized into nearby home values. Specific to this research, urban and suburban homebuyers are willing to pay high premiums to live near sections of riparian corridors that support dense, species rich and perennial-water-dependent habitat.
In this study we calculate the estimated increases in property values and property tax revenues associated with proximity to healthy urban riparian corridors. These property premiums are then compared to the estimated costs of water leases necessary to support water-dependent habitats as detailed in the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan (SDCP). The plan aims to protect open space in the Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona, specifically in Pima County. The property premiums are estimated at between $112.81M (Million) and $225.62M and generate an estimated $1.13M-$2.27M per annum in incremental property tax revenues; whereas, the annual cost of water leases to support the vegetation is $0.54M. This partial economic analysis demonstrates that urban riparian habitat preservation and restoration with the allocation of renewable water supplies can be financially self-supporting. In addition, the estimated property price premiums indicate potential benefits to modifying current well-spacing rules in Arizona.
A Comprehensive Renewable Energy Legal Framework to Lead Us into the Future
Sanya Carleyolsen
Fossil fuel dependence threatens environmental preservation, as well as the stability of our economic and social institutions. The time is ripe for a transition away from fossil fuel over-consumption and toward renewable energy deployment. This article is an analysis of current public efforts to advance renewable energy incentives and promote wide-scale deployment. Effective initiatives require coordination between public actors and policies, and a cohesive renewable energy policy strategy. Currently, governmental efforts are tangled in a complexity of actors, policies, and barriers. This analysis demonstrates that all levels of government must work together to shape a viable, comprehensive renewable energy legal framework.
Comparing Collaborative Mechanisms in Large-Scale Ecosystem Governance
Andrea K. Gerlak & Tanya Heikkila
Collaborative approaches to environmental and natural resource management are on the rise in the United States. This article examines collaborative governance in four high-profile and large-scale ecosystems: the Chesapeake Bay Program, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Fish and Wildlife Program in the Columbia River Basin, the Florida Everglades Restoration Program, and the CALFED Bay- Delta Program in California’s San Francisco Bay/ Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. We compare the governance structures of these four institutional arrangements by examining how collaboration occurs or is organized at three different levels of decision-making: constitutional, collective choice (or policymaking), and operational (or implementation). This includes an examination of governance and advisory bodies as well as organizing and monitoring implementation.
The Commerce Clause, Interstate Compacts, and Marketing Water across State Boundaries
Olen Paul Matthews & Michael Pease*
Increasing competition for scarce water resources should lead to a re-examination of constraints on water reallocation. Some constraints are "spatial" in nature and reduce the areal extent of reallocation processes. Interstate compacts are an example. Proponents of state protectionism look on compacts as a permanent allocation of water between states. A willing seller is not allowed to sell their water to a willing buyer in another state. On the other hand, the US Constitution’s Commerce Clause was designed to create an economic union that includes all states and all citizens. State attempts at economic protectionism through export bans are generally unconstitutional unless they can pass one of the limited exceptions to the Commerce Clause. One potential exception is through the use of interstate compacts. The question examined here is to what extent can interstate water compacts act as a constraint on water marketing? Allocations contained within an interstate compact should be looked on as an initial allocation of water, not a permanent one. In this article we examine the Rio Grande Compact in detail and interstate compacts in general to determine whether compacts place limits on water markets between states.
Saving Old McDonald’s Farm after South Dakota Farm Bureau, Inc. v. Hazeltine: Rethinking the Role of the State, Farming Operations, the Dormant Commerce Clause, and Growth Management Statutes
Kathryn Benz
Farm production and organization in the United States is changing, shifting from smaller, individual farms to larger, more intensive operations. This change has greatly increased environmental degradation as well as economic and social stratification in rural communities. In response to these problems, several midwestern states have adopted legislation to limit corporate farm ownership. But these statutes generally run afoul of the dormant Commerce Clause and have yet to adequately address the aforementioned conditions, as the Eighth Circuit determined in the 2003 South Dakota Farm Bureau, Inc. v. Hazeltine case. This article argues that many of the agriculturally related environmental harms have less to do with farm ownership than with the aggregation of agricultural operations. By reframing the problem, this article analyzes the Hazeltine decision and proposes a new solution: a statewide growth management regulatory scheme modeled after Vermont’s Act 250. Midwestern states concerned with addressing the problems associated with farm aggregation could adopt this solution and avoid the dormant Commerce Clause problems plaguing the current anti-corporate farming statutes.
