EM205: The Politics of Managing the Environment

Unit 4

Any questions before we begin?

ReadingsDiscussion BoardSeminarStart looking ahead to mid-term project

Write a preliminary assessment of environmental policymaking at the federal, state, and local levels with respect to your selected environmental issue. Include the following elements in your assessment:

Summarize the environmental issue you selected.Select three pertinent articles published in

scholarly or legal journals. Write a one-paragraph summary of each article and provide an appropriate citation.

Select three newspaper articles that address your selected environmental issue. Write a one-paragraph summary of each article and provide an appropriate citation.

Write a preliminary assessment of environmental policymaking at the federal, state, and local levels with respect to your selected environmental issue. Include the following elements in your assessment:

Summarize the environmental issue you selected. Identify three web sites that you consider to be credible

sources of information on your selected environmental issue and identify two additional web sites that seem to be presenting biased information. Provide a synopsis of what you learned by visiting each web site and explain why you found the information available on the site to be credible or not. Has the site been recently updated? Who provided the information? Are citations to other sources provided?

Based on the material you have found, discuss the development of environmental policymaking with respect to your selected issue. How did federal, state, and local policy develop with respect to your issue? Did outside forces (e.g., events, stakeholders) influence the development of that policy? Is the policy being reconsidered? Should it be? Remember to include appropriate citations.

In addition to fulfilling the specifics of the assignment, a successful proposal must also meet the following criteria:Paper Length should be 5-7 pages, excluding cover

page and references page: double-spaced 10-12 point font (Ariel, Courier and Time Roman acceptable).

Assignment should follow the conventions of Standard American English (correct grammar, punctuation, etc.).

Writing should be well ordered, logical and unified, as well as original and insightful

Your work should display superior content, organization, style, and mechanics

Appropriate citation style should be followed.Please submit your Midterm Project to the Dropbox.

Any questions?

Definition:A tool that evaluates the

likelihood that adverse ecological effects may occur or are

occurring as a result of exposure to one or more stressors

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RISK =Magnitude of

Adverse EcologicalEffects

XProbability of Adverse

Ecological Effects

DDT

Habitat

Loss

A risk does not exist unless two conditions are satisfied:

1. The stressor has the inherent ability to cause one or more adverse effects

2. The stressor co-occurs with or contacts an ecological component long enough and at sufficient intensity to elicit the identified adverse effect

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Exposure Receptor

RISK

Hazard

Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA)Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA)

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Both HHRA and ERA share the same overall framework but differ in the specific technical tools used in the assessment; ERA is the focus of this lesson; HHRA will not be covered

Risk Assessment: The process of determining risk

Receptor: The organism(s) or ecological resource(s) of interest that might be adversely affected by contact with or exposure to a stressor

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Stressor:Any physical, chemical or biological entity

that can induce an adverse effect Adverse ecological effects encompass a wide

range of disturbances ranging from mortality in an individual organisms to a loss of ecosystem function

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Exposure:The process by which a stressor is

delivered to a receptor Exposure is a result of the magnitude and

form of a stressor in the environment, coupled with the presence of the receptor

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Risk Management: The process of decision making and action that attempts to minimize risk

Risk Communication: The expression of the measured or predicted risk (e.g., public meetings)

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Problem Formulation

Effects Assessment Exposure Assessment

Risk Characterization

Risk Management

Risk ManagerLiaison

Risk ManagerLiaison

Risk Communication

Consensus-based planning processCommunication between risk assessors

and government agenciesClear decision criteriaCommunity (i.e., stakeholder) involvementConcentrates on key contaminants,

pathways, and receptors

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1. Problem Formulation

2. Exposure Assessment

3. Effects Assessment4. Risk

Characterization

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Co-occurrence between a stressor

and an ecological component

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1. What receptors are exposed to the stressor(s)?

2. What are the significant routes of exposure?

3. What are the exposure concentrations?

4. What is the exposure duration?

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5. What is the frequency of exposure?

6. Are there any seasonal or climatic variations likely to affect exposure?

7. Are there any site-specific geophysical, physical and chemical conditions affecting exposure?

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Stressor source and releaseStressor transport and fateExposure pathwaysReceptor exposure quantification

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Four elements must be present for an exposure pathway to be complete:

source or release of the stressor

transport to a point of contact contact absorption

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Fish or other aquatic receptors - route of exposure may be:

water (ingestion and dermal)food (ingestion)sediment (ingestion and dermal)

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Mammals and birds - route of exposure may be:water (ingestion and dermal)food (ingestion)sediment (incidental ingestion)

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Measured: on site water, sediment, biota concentrations

Modeled: on concentrations, degradation rates, mass balance; uses physical/chemical properties of stressors to predict

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The end product of the exposure assessment is an estimation of

the environmental concentration of each contaminant of concern

to which each receptor of concern is exposed

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1. Problem Formulation2. Exposure Assessment3. Effects Assessment4. Risk Characterization

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Increased enzyme activity20% reduction in fish populationAccumulation of a contaminant in tissuesStatistically significant decrease in

fecundity50% fish mortality in an acute toxicity test

Which ones are important?

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Describes the relationship between the stressor(s) and the receptor(s)

Is used to link a contaminant to a biological response

Information sources about effects:

LiteratureLaboratory studiesField studies

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Physiological responses (e.g., enzyme induction)

Individual integrators (e.g., survival, growth)

Population and community level (e.g., abundance or community structure)

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Causality: the effect is clearly a result of the exposure

Concentration-Response Relationship: the response should increase as concentration or exposure increase

Quantification of Effects: observed adverse effects can be measured in a reproducible way

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The endpoint of the effects assessment is the highest exposure concentration for each stressor that

does not result in unacceptable ecological effects to each receptor

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1. Problem Formulation

2. Exposure Assessment3. Effects

Assessment4. Risk Characterization

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The final phase of the ecological risk assessment

Estimates the magnitude and probability of effects

Integrates other risk assessment components (i.e., exposure and effects assessments)

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Risk characterization involves three steps:1. Calculation of risk estimate2. Description of uncertainty associated with

the estimate3. Interpretation of the ecological significance of the risk estimate

Risk characterization can be done on a qualitative or quantitative basis

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There are a number of different ways to calculate the risk estimate

One of the simplest and most straightforward way is to use a hazard quotient

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Uncertainty analysis identifies and quantifies uncertainty

Major sources of uncertainty: Definition of scope Information and data Natural variability Error

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Identifies and quantifies uncertainty in problem formulation, analysis, and risk characterization

sensitivity analysis probabilistic modeling (e.g., Monte

Carlo) professional judgement

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The output of the uncertainty analysis is an evaluation of the impact of the uncertainties on the overall assessment

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Ecological risk summary:summarizes results from the risk

estimation and discusses uncertaintiesrisk estimate confidence expressed

through weight-of-evidence discussionidentify additional analyses or data that

might reduce uncertainty of risk estimates

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Interpretation of ecological significance:places risk estimates in context of

anticipated effectscritical link between risks and

communication of resultsrelies on professional judgementconsiders the nature of effects, spatial and

temporal patterns of effects, and potential for recovery

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Involves two components:Liaison with risk assessors to ensure that

the assessment is comprehensive (e.g., all potential receptors)

Determination of what to do with the risk assessment results - what course of action should be or not be taken

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Risk assessor presents results to risk manager (e.g., government agency)

Liaison reduces chance of results misinterpretation

Risk assessor works with risk manager to develop mitigative measures

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Start with scientific information from the risk assessment

Integrate other relevant informationeconomic constraintssocietal concerns

Evaluate risk management options Identify most appropriate course of action

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Unacceptable Risk

Acceptable Risk

Risk reduction

measuresshould be

implemented

MAGNITUDE

FR

EQ

UE

NC

Y

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Risk of small amounts of halomethanes being produced from drinking water chlorination OR

Public health risk from pathogenic organismsin non-chlorinated drinking water

It provides the quantitative basis for comparing and prioritizing risks

It provides a systematic means of improving the understanding of risks

It acknowledges inherent uncertainty, making the assessment more credible

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It estimates clear and consistent endpoints It provides a means for the parties making

environmental decisions to compare the implications of their assumptions and data

Risk assessment separates the scientific process of estimating the magnitude and probability of effects (risk analysis) from the process of choosing among alternatives and determining acceptability of risks (risk management)

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Any questions?

Any other thoughts, etc.?

For this week’s seminar, students will be talking about risk assessment and risk management. Even if a threat is understood, to what level should it be remediated? For instance, should a threat be removed entirely? Prior to seminar, read the press release issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency about its plans to assess the risk posed by dioxin, which contaminates a site in Michigan (See link below).

A portion of the seminar will involve a hypothetical public meeting. Your instructor will be the EPA representative.

Those students whose first name begins with the letters A through K will be residents who live near the dioxin-contaminated site.

Students whose first names begin with the letters L through Z are executives at the chemical company responsible for cleaning up the site.

Both sides should come prepared to discuss their preferred outcome for the site and they should be ready to ask questions of the other side and of EPA.

Ok,those students whose first name begins with the letters A through K are the residents who live near the dioxin-contaminated site.What are your thoughts?How do you see the issue?What do you want to have done?

Ok, students whose first names begin with the letters L through Z, you are the executives at the chemical company responsible for cleaning up the site.What are your thoughts?How do you see the issue?How are you going to fix the problem?How much is too much?

So what do both sides want from the EPA?Are the desired outcomes mutually exclusive,

or can a compromise be reached?What role, if any, should the EPA play in this

process?

Any questions before we finish?

If time, Lexis or APA PowerPoint…

Remember that next week is Labor Day, we will not have seminar.

Thanks everyone for coming! Have a great night!!!