The Cost of Developing Site-Specific Environmental Regulations: Evidence from EPA's Project XL

The flagship of the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulatory reinvention initiative, Project XL has been touted as a ‘regulatory blueprint’ for a site-specific, performance-based pollution control system. But widespread complaints about the costs of the program beg the question of whether the costs of tailoring regulations to individual facilities are manageable. To address this question, this paper presents original survey data on a sample of 11 XL projects. We find that the fixed costs of putting in place XL agreements are substantial, averaging over $450,000 per firm. While stakeholder negotiations are widely cited as the principal source for these costs, we find that they actually arise mainly from interaction between participating facilities and the EPA. Moreover, EPA management problems are perceived by our survey respondents as having inflated project development costs. Finally, we find that the key factor that explains differences in costs across XL projects is the scope and complexity of the project proposal. These findings suggest that Project XL favors large firms that can afford to pay significant project development costs, that EPA management problems must be resolved to reduce costs, and that there may be a significant economic bias against complex and innovative proposals—precisely the type of proposals that Project XL was designed to foster in order to improve the efficiency of the regulatory system.

Wet atmospheric generation apparatus

The invention described relates to an apparatus for providing a selectively humidified gas to a camera canister containing cameras and film used in space. A source of pressurized gas (leak test gas or motive gas) is selected by a valve, regulated to a desired pressure by a regulator, and routed through an ejector (venturi device). A regulated source of water vapor in the form of steam from a heated reservoir is coupled to a low pressure region of the ejector which mixes with high velocity gas flow through the ejector. This mixture is sampled by a dew point sensor to obtain dew point thereof (ratio of water vapor to gas) and the apparatus adjusted by varying gas pressure or water vapor to provide a mixture at a connector having selected humidity content

Glistens with Nectar

“To glisten with nectar”—to allude to the title of the artists’ book associated with this project — conjures up an image of moisture-laden, seductive abundance, like a carpet of winter snow shimmering in sunlight. However, it is not sunlight that informs this project, but the hours of darkness on the subantarctic islands. Plant evolutionary biologist Janice Lord studies the insects that visit the megaherbs endemic to this region during the night and investigates their prospects as plant pollinators. Megaherbs, with their large leaves and brightly coloured flowers, are a group of herbaceous perennial wildflowers that have adapted to survive the extreme weather conditions on the islands. An insect of particular interest to Lord is the nocturnal Campbell Island wētā, Notoplectron campbellensis, belonging to the orthopteran family Rhaphidophoridae that includes the cave wētā, an insect endemic to New Zealand

Sediment source fingerprinting as an aid to large-scale landscape conservation and restoration: A review for the Mississippi River Basin

Reliable quantitative information on sediment sources to rivers is critical to mitigate contamination and target conservation and restoration actions. However, for large-scale river basins, determination of the relative importance of sediment sources is complicated by spatiotemporal variability in erosional processes and sediment sources, heterogeneity in sediment transport and deposition, and a paucity of sediment monitoring data. Sediment source fingerprinting is an increasingly adopted field-based technique that identifies the nature and relative source contribution of sediment transported in waterways. Notably, sediment source fingerprinting provides information that is independent of other field, modeling, or remotely sensed techniques. However, the diversity in sampling, analytical, and interpretive methods for sediment fingerprinting has been recognized as a problem in terms of developing standardized procedures for its application at the scale of large river basins. Accordingly, this review focuses on sediment source fingerprinting studies conducted within the Mississippi River Basin (MRB), summarizes unique information provided by sediment source fingerprinting that is distinct from traditional monitoring techniques, evaluates consistency and reliability of methodological approaches among MRB studies, and provides prospects for the use of sediment source fingerprinting as an aid to large-scale landscape conservation and restoration under current management frameworks. Most MRB studies reported credible fingerprinting results and found near-channel sources to be the dominant sediment sources in most cases, and yet a lack of standardization in procedural steps makes results difficult to compare. Findings from MRB studies demonstrated that sediment source fingerprinting is a highly valuable and reliable sediment source assessment approach to assist land and water resource management under current management frameworks, but efforts are needed to make this technique applicable in large-scale landscape conservation and restoration efforts. We summarize research needs and discuss sediment fingerprinting use for basin-scale management efforts with the aim of encouraging that this technique is robust and reliable as it moves forward

Developing a cultural competence assessment tool for people in recovery from racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds: the journey, challenges and lessons learned.

In 1997, Maryland implemented a new managed care mental health system. Consumer satisfaction, evaluation and cultural competency were considered high priorities for the new system. While standardized tools for measuring consumer satisfaction were readily available, no validated, reliable and standardized tool existed to measure the perception of people from minority groups receiving mental health services. The MHA*/MHP* Cultural Competency Advisory Group (CCAG) accepted the challenge of developing a consumer assessment tool for cultural competency. The CCAG, composed of people in recovery, clinicians and administrators used their collective knowledge and experiences to develop a 52-item tool that met standards for validity and reliability. Consultation from a researcher helped to further develop the tool into one possessing tremendous potential for statewide implementation within Maryland's Public Mental Health System. Recognizing the limitations of the study and the need for further research, this instrument is a work in progress. Strategies to improve the instrument are currently underway with the Mental Hygiene Administration's Systems Evaluation Center of the University of Maryland and several national researchers

Impact of Deferring Critically Ill Children Away from Their Designated Pediatric Critical Care Unit: A Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: The impact of deferring critically ill children in referral hospitals away from their designated pediatric critical care unit (PCCU) on patients and the healthcare system is unknown. We aimed to identify factors associated with deferrals and patient outcomes and to study the impact of a referral policy implemented to balance PCCU bed capacity with regional needs. METHODS: We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study of admissions to a PCCU following inter-facility transport from 2004 to 2016 in Ontario, Canada. RESULTS: Of 10,639 inter-facility transfers, 24.8% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 23.5-26.1%) were deferred during pre-implementation and 16.0% (95% CI: 15.1-16.9%) during post-implementation of a referral policy. Several factors, including previous intensive care unit admissions, residence location, presenting hospital factors, patient co-morbidities, specific designated PCCUs and winter (versus summer) season, were associated with deferral status. Deferrals were not associated with increased mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Deferral from a designated PCCU does not confer an increased risk of death. Implementation of a referral policy was associated with a consistent referral pattern in 84% of transfers