Environmental Justice in Salt Lake County
Environmental justice refers to the extent to which environmental issues raise concerns about unequal distribution of benefits or harms and concerns about exclusion from participation in decision-making regarding those issues. This study examines the current state of environmental justice in Salt Lake County, Utah with regard to the distribution of air, water, and solid hazardous waste pollution. It finds a very strong relationship between the number of pollutant sites and the size of the minority population in zip codes within the county, concludes that this is likely to be a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and recommends that the Utah DEQ implement aggressive "Regulatory flexibility" policies that will reduce pollutant emissions in minority communities below the minimums required by the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
A Guide to Research Methods in Environmental Justice Project Analysis
Identifying and remedying environmental injustices requires an effective base of information and tools for sound analysis. By relying on methods commonly used in social science and public health, those involved in environmental justice disputes can move toward fact-based debates and collaborative models for conflict resolution. This guide summarizes methods with emphasis on the problems of operationalizing and measuring variables as well as selecting the appropriate statistical and qualitative tools for environmental justice.
Political Opposition to Wild and Scenic River Suitability Determinations in Utah Bureau of Land Management Proposed Regional Management Plans
.pdf file Wild and Scenic Rivers Suitability Designation Process Review
.pdf file Wild and Scenic Rivers Map
The Bureau of Land Management released six Resource Management Plans for Utah during the summer of 2008. These plans included recommendations for designation of Wild and Scenic Rivers, a high priority for the Utah Rivers Council. Very few eligible rivers were proposed for WSR designation, and the council was concerned that the process may have been unduly influenced by local government opposition and may not have fully considered the environmental effects of designation. This project analyzed the plans and associated documents that determined the regulatory standards for WSR designation, the basis for their applications to the Resource Management Plans, and the extent to which political opposition from state and local government influenced BLM's decisions. It also produced several maps for use in the Utah Rivers Council's advocacy and publicity programs.
Effects of the Blue Canyon Wind Farm on Avian Populations in Southwest Oklahoma
The environmental effects of renewable energy development present one of the most significant problems to local planners. Wind power promises to significantly increase the production of energy from renewable sources, but substantial growth in this area may also pose significant potential threats to bird populations. Recent research on this point is ambiguous, and provides little to guide planners. This study analyzes the effects of one case, the Blue Canyon Wind Farm in Southwest Oklahoma, on local avian populations using GIS-analyzed data from the Audubon Society Christmas Bird Counts and Fish and Wildlife Service Breeding Bird Surveys. This study finds that there are no statistically significant threats from such facilities to regional avian populations. The data suggests the further hypotheses that the effects of wind farms are primarily localized, and that in some circumstances wind farms may actually improve habitat by excluding humans and grazing animals from most of the environment. Key concerns for wind power planning should thus be the adequacy of facility, design careful attention to habitat, and the potential for partnership with rather than conflict between conservation organizations and power companies in the planning process.
Environmental Justice in Transportation Planning
One of the major concerns in urban planning since the 1990s has been environmental justice. This exercise is designed to teach students how to evaluate the environmental justice implications of planning projects. Students must propose a freight transportation corridors for the City of Lawton, Oklahoma chosen from among three possibilities. Using ArcGIS-developed maps of the routes and affected populations, the students must consider the effects of the corridor proposals on the community with reference to cost, pollution, and hazardous materials risk. Students evaluate distributive effects with respect to both disadvantaged groups and property rights.
Congressional Oversight of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Implementation of the Endangered Species Act
Understanding the effective implementation of public policy demands understanding how legislatures exercise oversight over the agencies responsible for that implementation. This lecture uses the implementation of the Endangered Species Act by the Fish and Wildlife Service to show that oversight takes place through much more subtle techniques than is commonly understood. These techniques include bureaucratic anticipation in response to public statements, the development of administrative procedures bias toward those outcomes preferred by Congress, and the use of "fire alarm" hearings in response to specific concerns from constituents.
