Local Environmental Officials Research Articles

Centralization of environmental administration and air pollution: Evidence from China

This paper studies how centralizing environmental administration affects air pollution in China. China launched a reform in 2016 to empower upper-level environmental protection bureaus to administer lower-level bureaus vertically through personnel control. Exploiting a stacked difference-in-differences strategy, we find that the reform significantly reduced air pollution. The effect was stronger in places where pollution was less likely to be affected by spillovers from other provinces, where local governments initially paid less attention to environmental protection, and where there was less economic importance. Further analysis shows that the reform reduced pollution by strengthening the pollution reduction incentives of local environmental officials, increasing the intensity of local environmental inspection, and promoting environmental compliance by polluting firms.

Assessing the roles of wolves and dogs in livestock predation with suggestions for mitigating human–wildlife conflict and conservation of wolves

Predation on livestock is a cause of serious and long-lasting conflict between farmers and wildlife, promoting negative public attitudes and endangering conservation of large carnivores. However, while large carnivores, especially the grey wolf (Canis lupus), are often blamed for killing sheep and other farm animals, free-ranging dogs may also act as predators. To develop appropriate measures for livestock protection, reliable methods for identifying predator species are critical. Identification of predators from visual examination of livestock wounds can be ambiguous and genetic analysis is strongly preferable for accurate species determination. To estimate the proportion of wolves and dogs implicated in sheep predation, we developed a sensitive genetic assay to distinguish between wolves and domestic dogs. A total of 183 predator saliva samples collected from killed sheep in Estonia were analysed. The assay identified the predator species in 143 cases (78%). Sheep were most often killed by wolves (81%); however, predation by dogs was substantial (15%). We compared the molecular results with field observations conducted by local environmental officials and recorded some disagreement, with the latter underestimating the role of dogs. As predator saliva samples collected from prey are often of poor quality, we suggest using mitochondrial DNA as a primary tool to maximise the number of successfully analysed samples. We also suggest adopting forensic DNA analysis more widely in livestock predation assessments as a legislative measure since misidentification that is biased against wolves can be counterproductive for conservation by enhancing conflict with society and leading to increased culling and poaching.

A radical public administration? Green radicalism and policy influence among local environmental officials in Sweden

ABSTRACTGreen radicalism among local environmental officials in Sweden is examined with the aims of theoretically elaborating on different dimensions of Green radicalism in the context of public administration, exploring the dimensionality of Green radicalism among officials, and examining the extent to which Green radicalism is associated with policy influence. Three types of Green radicalism are identified: Green ethics, Green institutional change, and Green activism. Survey data (N = 701) show that the three theoretical dimensions are present among officials, and that there is no negative association between radicalism and influence. It is primarily officials with Green activism beliefs who perceive themselves as able to influence policy. These findings suggest a need for more nuanced understanding of and further studies into the role of public administration in the quest for more radical Green reforms.

Emergency Response Planning – Does Your Plan Address a Sound Sampling, Analytical, and Quality Assurance Program?

As a result of recent highly publicized incidents, energy producers have recognized the need to place an emphasis on the preparation and planning for the services required to successfully guide the critical chemical and scientific data collection activities that are needed in response to an oil spill incident. In preparing for an emergency response, the need to develop guidance that specifies the types of samples and proper methods of collection, analyses, and documentation required when responding to an oil spill should be in place. This information can be used by responders to assess potential impact to human and ecological health; to determine fate and effect; to identify source, age, and degree of weathering; and to maximize defensibility of data. The guidance needs to span the early stages of a spill response through the subsequent stages of preservation and retention of samples. This poster will report on lessons learned on recent emergency response incidents, as they relate to collaborating efforts to help ensure that the proper processes are being followed and data quality is being maintained from sample collection through data reporting. This collaboration needs to include efforts on preparing project control documents (e.g., standard operating procedures, sampling plans, and health and safety plans) and conducting oversights of field activities for compliance with these documents; developing a laboratory program that includes laboratory auditing, data verification and validation, and proper quality control requirements; and implementing a program-wide, enterprise-level data management system. Each of these processes will help ensure that the data generated are of known and acceptable quality; the data can be used for the intended purpose; and that the data are readily available to project personnel and federal, state, and local environmental officials.

Profiling the environmental risk management of Chinese local environmental agencies

The increasing frequency and impact of environmental accidents have pushed the issue of environmental risk management (ERM) to the top of the Chinese governments’ agendas and popularized the term ‘emergency response.’ Although the boundary between environmental accidents and other types of accidents is blurred and effective ERM requires an integrated and coordinated management system, environmental risks have not been given due weight in the overall risk management framework in China. The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Environmental Protection Bureaus at various governmental levels are responsible for the management of environmental risks. In recent years, major developments have taken place within these environmental agencies, but the upward trend in number of environmental accidents has remained unchanged. This raises questions on how these organizations respond to and prevent environmental risks, which shortcomings can be indicated, and what improvements can be made in ERM. This study addresses these questions through a survey among environmental bureaus at provincial and municipal levels. The results indicate that environmental emergency response and ERM have become a major concern of local environmental officials. However, the attitudes, available resources, and organizational capacities vary among environmental agencies, which results in considerable differences in the adopted strategies and management tools. This survey is the first attempt to profile the ERM of the Chinese environmental agencies, which serves as a basis for further analysis of ERM in China.

Environmental risk source management system for the petrochemical industry

We identify environmental risk sources within the petrochemical industry with a bow-tie analysis, evaluate environmental risk sources with an integrated environmental risk assessment index, and classify environmental risk sources considering both environmental consequences and management costs. Furthermore, we develop a routine management system for environmental risk sources based on browser/server model and web-GIS technology. The system has four main functions: petrochemical enterprise registration and declaration, environmental risk source information correction and confirmation, environmental risk source evaluation and classification, and environmental risk source management. The system runs with the following sequential steps. (1) Petrochemical enterprises register and declare their environmental risk source information. (2) The registered environmental risk source information is checked, corrected and confirmed by local environmental officials. (3) The probability and intensity of environmental risk are calculated for all registered petrochemical factories. (4) All environmental risk sources are classified into high, medium and low risk sections based on their potential regional environmental and ecological impacts. (5) The system provides recommendations on the routine risk management based on empirical expert opinions. The software provides an effective tool for safety production of petrochemical enterprises and can be applied by local governments for environmental risk source management.

Representative democracy, empowered experts, and citizen participation: visions of green governing

Reforming democratic political systems to handle environmental problems is one of the key political challenges of our time. Here, I analyse how local environmental officials in Sweden perceive the shortcomings of the current political system and what reforms they deem necessary to handle key environmental problems. While green political theory tends to focus on the need to deepen democracy through increased citizen participation, analysis of survey data shows that environmental officials, even though their perceptions of the current system's shortcomings are similar to those presented in the theoretical literature, are more likely to argue for increased expert influence than for direct citizen participation. This result is not easily explained as officials seeking to expand their power, as environmental officials have more complex perceptions of their roles in democracy. The different visions of green professionals and green theory highlight the importance of deliberation on green democratic reforms, including the potentially undemocratic consequences of empowering experts.

A regional divide in sustainability performance in China: geography, governance and income

AbstractChina had accredited 320 Eco‐Communities and 72 Model Cities by 2009. This paper uses these ‘sustainable places’ and their neighbors to examine spatial variations in sustainability performance and possible causes of such variations. Data were collected through personal interviews of 186 provincial and local environmental officials and researchers, in addition to review of governmental publications. This paper finds a regional divide in sustainability performance between China's Eco‐Provinces and other provinces and between ‘sustainable places’ and other communities. Geography, governance and income are important in understanding the divide. The conventional wisdom following the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is inadequate for understanding the regional divide in sustainability performance. Sustainability studies need to be expanded to pay more attention to geography and governance, not just income. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Incentives for solving the scrap tire problem through existing markets

The nature and causes of the scrap tire problem are examined from the viewpoint of the discipline of economics rather than a technological perspective. State governmental responses to the problem and commonly proposed remedies are briefly reviewed and the nature of the tire market's failure to prevent the scrap tire problem is examined in order to gain insight into effective and efficient corrections, without involving direct governmental participation in funding of recycling, market development and technology selection. Those functions remain in the private sector. The role of government suggested is the traditional one: that of setting the market “rules of the game”. A completely market-based mechanism involving a tire disposal fee that remains wholly in the private sector is developed for dealing with new scrappage and a method is suggested by which to calculate a cost-effective disposal fee. This article will be of interest to state and local environmental officials concerned with the tire problem and who wish an understanding of the fundamental causes of the problem.

White House Report Boosts Alternative Fuels

A recently issued White House report has come down squarely on the side of alcohol fuels as a way to combat air pollution economically. It was released late last month by an interagency task force headed by Vice President George Bush. In its report, the task force concludes that alternative fuels can help achieve potentially significant reductions in emissions—in many cases at little or no additional cost over conventional fuels. The alternative fuels include methanol, ethanol, methyl tert -butyl ether (MTBE), and compressed natural gas. For state and local environmental officials in areas that are not expected to reach prescribed national ambient air quality standards by the Dec. 31, 1987, deadline, the Bush task force report could be a welcome life preserver. Currently, ozone levels in 76 metropolitan areas exceed the national standards. And 80 of them can't meet carbon monoxide standards. For some time, these officials have been weighing options to avoid the stiff ...