SABIIA - Sistema Aberto e Integrado de Informação em Agricultura (Sabiia)

Wernstedt, Kris; Hersh, Robert; Probst, Katherine N..

Supporters of the effort to link cleanups at hazardous waste sites to the sites' expected land uses claim that amending language in the federal Superfund statute to allow this may yield a number of benefits. These include rationalizing the cleanup process and decreasing cleanup costs, promoting economic development in the local communities that host Superfund sites, and helping such communities exercise more control over the cleanups. However, interviews with Superfund stakeholders and a detailed case study call into question these arguments. The current role of land use in cleanup, uncertainties about whether economic development is likely at the bulk of Superfund sites, the long-run viability of institutional controls, the willingness of communities to...

Brownfields Redevelopment in Wisconsin: A Survey of the Field

Palavras-chave: Land use; Economic development; Superfund; Land Economics/Use; Q24; Q28; R52.

Ano: 1997

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10540

Wernstedt, Kris; Crooks, Lisa; Hersh, Robert.

As the third paper in our three-part series on Wisconsin brownfields, this paper reports the results of a survey on the objectives of brownfields redevelopment, constraints to the redevelopment, the role of the state's Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and institutional controls. The 260 survey respondents include elected officials, staff from economic development and planning agencies, attorneys, private sector representatives, and professionals at nonprofit organizations. We find that: 1) respondents value both economic and environmental gains associated with brownfields redevelopment; 2) the high costs of cleanup are the principal barrier to brownfields redevelopment; 3) no single factor stands out as constraining DNR's ability to oversee cleanups;...

Brownfields Redevelopment in Wisconsin: Program, Citywide, and Site-Level Studies

Palavras-chave: Brownfields; Contamination; Hazardous waste; Regulatory reform; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q24; Q28.

Ano: 2003

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10443

In this paper, the second installment of our three-part study on the development of brownfields policy in the state of Wisconsin, we use case studies to explore the implementation of the policy at three scales: 1) two statewide initiatives, the Voluntary Party Liability Exemption process and the Sustainable Urban Development Zone program; 2) the efforts of two Wisconsin cities, West Allis and Wausau, to promote brownfields redevelopment across their neighborhoods; and 3) project-specific uses of institutional, regulatory, and financial innovations to encourage the revitalization of specific areas. Throughout the paper, we focus on the role of economic incentives, regulatory flexibility, regulatory structure, and the behavioral culture of brownfields...

Construction Minerals in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area: A Land Management Analysis

Palavras-chave: Brownfields; Contamination; Hazardous waste; Regulatory reform; Wisconsin; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q24; Q28.

Ano: 2003

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10547

Wernstedt, Kris; Cummings, Amy Mcabee.

The patchwork of government influences that shape the protection and management of construction mineral resources--sand, gravel, and crushed stone--includes statutes, regulations, guidance documents, and court decisions at the federal, state, and local level. Across the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area, both these influences and the experiences that the counties have had in managing construction mineral resources range widely. Our principal objective in this study is to discuss the mechanisms that counties use to manage such resources; the level and source of concern that local residents have with respect to construction mineral extraction operations; officials' perceptions about trends in the supply and demand for mineral resources; and the level of...

Environmental Management in the Russian Federation: A Next Generation Enigma

Palavras-chave: Construction minerals; Aggregates; Land use planning; Baltimore-Washington; Land Economics/Use; Q24; Q38; R52.

Ano: 1999

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10731

Wernstedt, Kris.

Environmental managers in Russia face severe problems, both from Soviet-era and continuing environmental degradation and due to the weakness of current institutions with responsibilities for environmental protection. This paper draws on surveys, a case study of water pollution, and workshops on Russian environmental decision-making to explore prospects for environmental improvements. Using concepts from the regulatory reform literature on next-generation environmental policies, it focuses on the use of market incentives, the construction of a civil society, and community involvement, and emphasizes that Russian nongovernmental organizations may have a particularly important role to play in improving environmental management. Solidifying their legal base,...

Flood Planning and Climate Forecasts at the Local Level

Palavras-chave: Russia; Environmental management; Non-governmental organizations; Water quality; Siberia; Transitioning countries; Next-generation environmental policies; Environmental Economics and Policy.

Ano: 2002

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10711

We examine the use of El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) forecasts for flood planning in the Pacific Northwest. Using theories of resource mobilization as a conceptual foundation, the paper relies on: 1) case studies of three communities vulnerable to flooding that have had access to long-term forecasts of ENSO conditions; and 2) analysis of data collected from a survey of nearly 60 local emergency managers, planners, and public works staff. We find that understanding the regulatory machinery and other institutions involved in using climate forecasts is critical to more effective use of these forecasts. Forecast use could be promoted by: 1) an extension service to broker climate information; 2) the identification or creation of federal authorities to fund...

Gauging the Vulnerability of Local Water Utilities to Extreme Weather Events

Palavras-chave: Flooding; ENSO; La Nina; Climate variability; Climate forecast; Natural hazards; Water policy; Resource /Energy Economics and Policy; Q2.

Ano: 2002

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10813

Hersh, Robert; Wernstedt, Kris.

Water utilities that rely on surface water may be vulnerable to future droughts and floods, a vulnerability that may be magnified by climate perturbations as well as shorter-term and, in some cases, ongoing changes in the political and regulatory environment in which utilities operate. Unfortunately, day-to-day responsibilities currently occupy most utility operators, leaving little time to plan for inherently uncertain effects. The record of actual responses to past droughts and floods can be illuminating, however, particularly when placed in the context of plausible hydrologic and institutional disruptions. This paper draws on interviews of water utility operators in the northwestern U.S. to highlight opportunities and constraints that water utilities...

Land Use and Remedy Selection: Experience from the Field - The Fort Ord Site

Palavras-chave: Water utilities; Extreme events; Environmental planning; Climate variability; Climate change; Adaptation; Resource /Energy Economics and Policy.

Ano: 2001

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10649

In September of 1994, the Army closed the Fort Ord Military Reservation, a Superfund site of some 28,000 acres located in Monterey County, California. Under the Base Closure and Realignment Act, nearly all of this land will be transferred to federal and state entities and to a number of cities of the Monterey peninsula that border the base. A good deal of this property is valuable real estate -- coastal dunes, golf courses, and barracks that can be converted to apartments or dormitories. For the beneficiaries of these property transfers the Fort Ord cleanup is a modern day gold rush that is taking place as part of a Superfund cleanup. What effect have economic development pressures had on the cleanup process and on decisions about cleanup standards? This...

Land Use and Remedy Selection: Experience from the Field - The Industri-Plex Site

Palavras-chave: Superfund; Land use; Economic development; Land Economics/Use; Q24; Q28; R52.

Ano: 1997

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10847

Wernstedt, Kris; Probst, Katherine N..

As the United States Congress debates revisions to the federal Superfund law, one of the most important topics of discussion is the degree to which cleanups at Superfund sites should be based on their expected future land use. This discussion has engaged the Superfund community for several years. Despite this apparent interest in linking cleanup with land use, however, surprisingly little analysis has been done on what role land use already plays in selecting remedies. RFF researchers have addressed the shortfall with case studies at three Superfund sites - Abex Corporation in Portsmouth, Virginia, Industri-Plex in Woburn, Massachusetts, and Fort Ord near Monterey, California - where land use has played a prominent role in the remedy selection process....

Oil and Water Don't Mix: Risk on Tap in Western Siberia

Palavras-chave: Land Economics/Use.

Ano: 1997

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10593

Wernstedt, Kris.

In common with other areas throughout the Russian Federation, western Siberia faces formidable environmental pollution, a problem that in part is the legacy of the highly centralized Soviet era when meeting production quotas was the raison d'être for many managers of economic enterprises. In this region, over the last thirty years the near singular focus on short term oil production has led to severe contamination of the area's surface and groundwater supplies, threatening both human and ecological health. At the same time, revenues from continued oil extraction may provide the means to address some of the environmental problems. In light of the struggling economy and potential political instability, however, it is particularly critical that authorities...

The Brownfield Bargain: Negotiating Site Cleanup Policies in Wisconsin

Palavras-chave: Transitional economies; Drinking water; Oil contamination; Health risk; Prioritization; Least cost planning; Russia; Siberia; Environmental Economics and Policy; I18; Q28.

Ano: 1996

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10887

Hersh, Robert; Wernstedt, Kris.

In this paper, the first part of our three-part study on the development of brownfields policy in Wisconsin, we examine the regulatory history of the brownfields policy. We start with the 1978 Hazardous Substance Spill Law, the antecedent to the brownfields regulatory reform of the 1990s, and examine the interaction of policy entrepreneurs in both the public and the private sectors that has led to innovation. We follow this by exploring the response of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to reform efforts, looking at both how it anticipated and led some of the efforts and how it addressed demands placed on it by the state legislature and executive. We then discuss the central role that the state's Brownfields Study Group has played in moving...

The Brownfields Phenomenon: Much Ado about Something or the Timing of the Shrewd?

Palavras-chave: Brownfields; Policy innovation; Regulatory history; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q24; Q28.

Ano: 2003

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10727

Wernstedt, Kris; Heberle, Lauren; Alberini, Anna; Meyer, Peter.

This paper provides an overview of the cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated properties known as "brownfields." It has three principal parts. First, we introduce the brownfields phenomenon and its drivers, drawing on the body of available empirical evidence to discuss characteristics of individual brownfield redevelopment projects. Second, we present findings from a recent study we have conducted that examines the relative attractiveness to private developers of public interventions to promote brownfields redevelopment. Third, we briefly summarize some of the problems with brownfields development and policy and propose an approach to promote wider societal benefits of brownfields development. We conclude with several broad questions about brownfields...

When ENSO Reigns, It Pours: Climate Forecasts in Flood Planning

Palavras-chave: Brownfields; Contamination; Economic development; Infill; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q24; Q28.

Ano: 2004

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10660

Recent scientific and technical advances have increased the potential use of long-term seasonal climate forecasts for improving water resource management. This paper examines the role that forecasts, in particular those based on the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, can play in flood planning in the Pacific Northwest. While strong evidence of an association between ENSO signals and flooding in the region exists, this association is open to more than one interpretation depending on: a) the metric used to test the strength of the association; b) the definition of critical flood events; c) site-specific features of watersheds; and d) the characteristics of flood management institutions. A better understanding and appreciation of such ambiguities,...