4/20- stormwater, oil spills, + hydraulic fracturing

Question 1

green infrastructure issues

Answer 1

likely a problem maintaining the infrastructure over time

Question 2

Would green infrastructure have emerged spontaneously from municipal action without federal intervention?

Answer 2

sometimes it’s from people in the community that want to see a healthier community, but USUALLY it comes from a response to federal government rulings
Counterfactuals
*Regional municipality-driven emergence of GI:
–Possible, but two empirical issues stand out:
1) Learning & transaction costs
2) Still no monetary incentive for upstream municipalities
*Spontaneous emergence of GI for non-monetary gains:
–Idea: political constituent pressures drive demand for GI
–Where does demand come from? Sewers = low
salience…(smell?)
Conclusion to GI
*Conclusion: Low Impact Development/GI is a
top-driven process of innovation and urban
greening, within a nested game
–Somewhere between purely centralized and
purely decentralized governance
–Venue of policy: Federal mandates driven by
nationally organized interests; municipal
actions driven by local activists

Question 3

examples of green infrastructure

Answer 3

green roofs, parking, streets + alleys, rainwater harvesting, rain gardens, downspout disconnection, planter boxes, bioswales, permeable pavements, urban tree canopies, land conservation

Question 4

supply vs waste

Answer 4

*Water supply is separate issue from waste
–Often managed by same agencies
–Not usually viewed as holistic system

Question 5

Theoretical Framework

Answer 5

*Two-level nested game
1) Municipality-game
2) Multi-jurisdictional-game

Question 6

1) Municipality-game

Answer 6

in the 2 level nested game in a theoretical framework
–CPR dilemma: rapid influx of stormwater
–Solution: CSO (cost to municipality: trivial)

Question 7

2) Multi-jurisdictional-game

Answer 7

in the 2 level nested game in a theoretical framework
–CPR dilemma: water contamination caused by
CSO
–Solution: Permits, fines, mandates (cost to
municipality: nontrivial)

Question 8

Sources of funds and construction for GI

Answer 8

Varied:
–Compare a sewer utility to a parks department
–Compare a City Council to a sewer utility

Question 9

environmental politics of energy

Answer 9

concerns TRADE OFFS between policy options with no clear ‘winner’
–Air scrubbers imply water sludge
–Is nuclear power preferable to oil?
–Is wind preferable to natural gas?
–Is natural gas preferable to mountain top removal?
one solution usually pushes off cost to somewhere else

Question 10

Jimmy Carter and the nuclear plant

Answer 10

nuclear engineer in the war- fixed a confidential nuclear issue in Canada

Question 11

Wind farm energy trade-off example

Answer 11

In Scotland, over 5 mil trees cut down for wind farm development, and less than 1.6 mil have been replanted to replace them

Question 12

cause for civilization’s energy supply shifts

Answer 12

economic reasons!
Wood -> peat -> whale oil -> kerosene -> coal -> oil -> natural gas->???

Question 13

1st major oil spill

Answer 13

Exxon Valdez- off Gulf of Alaska (Prince William Sound)
– there was pushback for oil drilling in the area because the town relied on fishing
– when the spill happened, the town faced complete economic collapse
– did not receive a significant payoff after the event
– 25 years later, herring are still not at fishable levels, while other fish are (herring are key prey for plenty of other sea organisms)- there aren’t enough young herring to replace the adults of the population

Question 14

Policy Change Post-Exxon Valdez

Question 15

grandstanding