82 research outputs found
Banking on offsets: a political ecological and eco-geomorphic analysis of Section 404 compensatory stream mitigation banking in Illinois and Missouri
No full text"No net loss goals play a major role in U.S. environmental policies. No net loss policies are championed as ways to simultaneously allow economic development and protect the environment. One such example is Section 404 of the U.S. Clean Water Act. Section 404 is administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ('the Corps') and the Environmental Protection Agency. Section 404 pertains to the dredging and filling of jurisdictional streams and wetlands nationally. Section 404 oversight is triggered when an applicant—such as a land or highway developer—proposes to fill or dredge a stream or wetland as a part of their development project. As a part of their project, the applicant must mitigate their overall impact by avoiding additional impacts, minimizing any impacts that occur, and compensating for their impacts by providing a commensurate amount of ecological function to a stream or wetland elsewhere. Since 2008, federal regulation prefers that compensatory mitigation for stream impacts is provided by a stream mitigation bank: a segment of stream or river that is enhanced, restored, or conserved to replace lost or damaged functions. Thus, rather than compensating sites on a project-by-project basis, federal guidelines prefer that compensation occurs prior to impacts on larger sites that can offset multiple impacts within the same watershed.
This dissertation examines the process through which the St. Louis Corps commensurates impacts and mitigation to streams in Illinois and Missouri. Commensuration, the comparison of different objects or qualities using a common metric, is fundamental to implementing no net loss policies. This is because the amount of compensation required to mitigate impacts is measured using district-defined measures of stream credits. A stream credit is an abstract unit of value that is supposed to represent the total function of a stream. Each Corps district is responsible for developing their own method and criteria for defining the criteria and value of stream credits. These methods are called stream mitigation methods. Federal guidelines urge Corps districts design stream mitigation methods to assess stream impacts based on stream functions, rather than merely exchanging impacts and compensation using stream length or area (i.e. non-functional measures).
This dissertation contributes to three bodies of literature. First this dissertation contributes to practical studies of Section 404 compensatory mitigation by demonstrating significant hurdles to implementing in-kind compensatory stream mitigation banking nationwide. Second this dissertation contributes to the literature on stream and watershed management by demonstrating the applicability of the concept of stream naturalization to regulatory-based stream management. Third this dissertation contributes to the literature on the sociology of measurements and environmental compensation by testing theories of the constraints and drivers of measurement standardization. Using the framework of a sociology of translation, this dissertation shows that while methods are design with users in mind, the expectations of users is structured by a broader social context within which methods are created (i.e. the St. Louis Corps regulatory program).
The primary contribution of this dissertation is its explanation of how and why the St. Louis Corps implements no net loss goals by using non-functional metrics and non-functional commensuration systems. This dissertation shows the social factors that come into play to structure these outcomes. The result is that no net loss is achieved only numerically in Illinois and Missouri: while stream credits may balance, the actual functional conditions of streams remain uncompensated and unexamined. This dissertation is composed of four separate analyses. Each analysis provides additional insight into the logics and subsequent biophysical outcomes of Section 404 compensatory stream mitigation banking regulators and participants in Illinois and Missouri.
First, this dissertation explains the social dynamics involved in creating a standard method for assessing and evaluating stream function in Illinois and Missouri by Section 404 regulators and ecological experts. Previously unexplored, this contribution is achieved by analyzing the process by which the St. Louis Corps organizes and creates district-specific stream mitigation methods in Illinois and Missouri. The primary finding of this analysis is that the St. Louis Corps develops stream mitigation methods in Illinois and Missouri with the overall goal of ensuring that non-experts can use the methods rapidly. Thus, the Illinois and Missouri stream mitigation methods are not based on stream functions and therefore do not ensure no net loss of stream functions. Instead, the Illinois and Missouri stream mitigation methods are visual, activity, and physical-based assessments of impacts and mitigation.
Second, this dissertation follows a St. Louis Corps district regulator as he evaluates a Section 404 permit and assesses a proposed stream impact site using the Illinois stream mitigation method. Using participant observation, this analysis highlights the various comparisons that regulators make when commensurating stream impacts and potential stream mitigation. The primary finding of this section of the dissertation is that Corps regulators use individual discretion and personal preferences when assessing the value of stream impacts using the mitigation methods. This interpretive flexibility is rooted in the fact that the Illinois stream method is not prescriptive. Rather than requiring specific steps to assess the functional impact of a Section 404 activity, the method only requires visual assessment of physical channel conditions to discern the overall ""impact"" of a Section 404 project.
Third, this dissertation investigates how St. Louis regulators and mitigation bankers plan and design stream mitigation banking sites. In Illinois, along with elsewhere in the Midwestern U.S., stream mitigation banks provide stream credits through riparian corridor enhancement rather than in-channel stream work. Thus, stream credits are generated using work that is out-of-kind with impacts. Interviews with mitigation bankers and a St. Louis regulator reveal the underlying causes of this out-of-kind relationship. A primary finding of this analysis is that St. Louis regulators favor generating a larger pool of stream credits even if they are not generated using in-channel work. Without riparian work counting as stream credits, there would not be any stream credits available at mitigation banks in Illinois since stream mitigation bankers are hesitant to conduct in-channel work. St. Louis regulators allow out-of-kind stream credit work at mitigation banks because they are pressured by federal guidelines to encourage mitigation bankers to develop more mitigation banks. As a result, the preferences for mitigation bankers to essentially conduct wetland mitigation work and call it stream mitigation work becomes representative of how stream credits are generated at mitigation banks in Illinois and elsewhere in the Midwest.
Finally, this dissertation compares the geomorphic and water quality characteristics of impact sites and a mitigation banking site. Stream mitigation banks in Illinois exclusively generate stream credits through riparian corridor enhancement. Thus, mitigation banking sites are not in-kind with impact sites that include in-channel impacts. However, since riparian corridor work supposedly benefits in-channel habitat, there is interest in understanding whether or not riparian corridor banking sites generate non-compensatory mitigation benefits to the in-channel area. Using cross-sectional surveys, sediment analysis, watershed delineation, water quality measurements, and riparian corridor area comparisons, the fourth analysis in this dissertation compares four impact sites and their ""off-setting"" mitigation banking site stream. Findings from this analysis suggest that there are likely negligible non-compensatory mitigation benefits generated to the in-channel area from riparian corridor mitigation work based on the variables measured in this study."Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2018-08-01The student, Alex Peimer, accepted the attached license on 2016-07-06 at 11:09.The student, Alex Peimer, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2016-07-06 at 11:20.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2016-07-07 at 13:44.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #9779 on 2016-11-10 at 12:24:55Made available in DSpace on 2016-11-10T18:39:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
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Previous issue date: 2016-07-07Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 95456
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Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD systemU of I Only Restriction Lifted for Item 95456 on 2018-11-11T10:15:32Z
[Photograph 2012.201.B1223.0346]
No full textPhotograph used for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company. Caption: "WAYNE E. SWEARINGEN, Alex W. MccOY ass ociates, Inc., Tulsa, Okla., is co-author, with Arnold C. Hayden, of a paper titled "Developments in Northern Part of the Anadarko Basin.
Navigating the Inside-Outside: Explorations of Exile and Silence in Alex Miller’s Landscape of Farewell.
No full textExploration of landscape in Australian literature has been more often than not concerned with the land as backdrop for a heroic quest, or—more commonly—an entity to be wrestled with, conquered and /or subjugated. The landscape has always had a strong, sometimes silent presence in Australian writing, but notably that presence and/or silence has been (largely) imbued with differing degrees of horror, fear, or the “dark” side of the human subconscious or experience. Criticism of Australian literature has also tended to focus on investigating these aspects. In this paper, the work of notable Australian author Alex Miller is the focus, in particular his novel Landscape of Farewell, and the ways in which this work arguably expresses a fundamental shift in the discourse and interpretation of Australian rural landscape, and specifically the relationship between the land and its white inhabitants. This relationship, as argued in the following paper, hinges on the landscape possessing, in Miller’s work, a sense of Being—even a “spiritual” level of personification; and those who journey/quest through (and into) the Space-as-Being reach a point, not of conquest of the land, but of relinquishment of the Self to the land’s right to (and this state of) Being. Inherent in the exploration of these aspects exists, potentially, possibilities of reconciliation and redemption with white Australia’s (often) brutal, colonial past
A Trumpet Player’s Performance Guide of Three Selected Works for Trumpet, Cello, and Piano
No full textThis document explores, in detail, three works for trumpet, cello, and piano. These works were performed on a chamber recital before the writing of this document. The three selected works are Statements, Commanding by Robert J. Bradshaw, Elegy by Alex Shapiro, and Trio for Trumpet, Violincello, and Piano by Eric Ewazen. This document focuses on the musical performance of these three works, ways to prepare specific sections, and issues the author and his trio experienced during the preparation of these works. To the author’s knowledge, no previous documents have explored these three works. The field of study focusing on the chamber ensemble of trumpet, cello, and piano is also notably lacking. The author hopes that this document will bring more awareness to these three works as well as this specific ensemble in general
Excerpt: From \u27Raki\u27 by B. Wongar
No full textThis passage from B. Wongar’s new novel, Raki, comes from Chapter Eleven. It depicts in a surrealistic manner the forced movement and destruction of Serbian peasants during World War II. Through the novel\u27s dual narrative, parallels are drawn between the persecution of the Aboriginals in Australia and that of the Serbs in Yugoslavia. What emerges is neither political nor polemic but an imaginative work that examines humankind\u27s tyranny over its fellow humans — a condition that knows no historical or national bounds. B. Wongar states in the Author\u27s note that the Serbian parts of the novel are historically factual. Because the Serbs are generally known today, after the dissolution of Yugoslavia, as the region\u27s villains, the sympathetic treatment accorded them in this novel may not be fully appreciated. However, Alex N. Dragnich points out in his book, Serbs and Croats, The Struggle in Yugoslavia (1992), that 500,000 to 700,000 Serbs were killed by the Croats and Germans during World War II. Once the Germans invaded Yugoslavia, the Croats cooperated and set out to fulfill their stated policy toward the Serbs: One-third we will kill, one-third will be driven out of Croatia, and one-third we will convert to Catholicism.
Whatever the political or historical background of Raki, the universality of human suffering emerges in powerful tones
Fiscal constraints, collection costs, and trade policies
No full textThat free trade allows economies in an ideal world to achieve the greatest possible welfare is one of the few undisputed propositions in economics. In reality, however, free trade is rare. The author argues that many developing countries intervene in trade at least partly to raise revenues, and that episodes of trade liberalization are often linked to tax reform. The author proposes a formal model to explain why developing countries rely disproportionately on tariffs for government revenues, when tax reforms are expected, and under what conditions trade liberalization will take place. The model uses the simple concept of the fixed costs involved in tax collection. When fiscal needs are limited, and the infrastructure to monitor, administer, and collect taxes is not well-developed, it is optimal for governments to rely on a handful of easy-to-collect taxes, which generally includes trade taxes. When fiscal needs expand, theexcess burden on the tax base grows rapidly, and tax reform becomes necessary. Tax reforms reduce reliance on the existing tax base, often allowing the statutory tax rate to be lowered. This is a form of trade liberalization when it involves the trade sector. The author defines trade liberalization in a somewhat unconventional way: only reductions in the rates at which the trade sector is taxed, are considered trade liberalization. Tariffication of quotas, normally considered a form of trade liberalization, is treated as tax reform (expanding the tax base). The author tests this hypothesis empirically, first through three historic case studies (Bolivia, Jamaica, and Morocco) and then through systematic econometric analysis. She constructs a set of panel data for 38 developing countries for 1980-92, using the statutory tariff rates published by UNCTAD. She uses empirical tests to isolate the cause of trade liberalization. The results support her hypothesis: tariff rates are positively related to fiscal shocks, and negatively associated with episodes of tax reform.Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Economic Theory&Research,Municipal Financial Management,Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Economic Theory&Research,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,National Governance
A necessary fiction: The ritualisation of stakeholder practices in New Zealand cinema
No full textThis thesis argues that stability of the concept ‘national cinema’ is located in the discursive positioning of individual films in such a way that they are connected to a national ‘common ground’, one which is ritually accessed via engagement with media such as cinema. This positioning, however, is not quantifiable and may not be identified as arising from any particular production practice, dimension of popularity, theme, style, characteristic of production personnel, and so on. By synthesising the work of several theorists and applying this synthesis to a selection of films, a framework of ideas (around the ritualised ‘flagging’ of the national via the expression of stakeholder interests) is applied to cinema in New Zealand. In particular, an ideoscape is ultimately mapped as a result of applying this framework of ideas. The normative assumptions of national cinema are examined in this way and found to be lacking despite the weight that the term ‘national cinema’ continues to have
Why it Remains Difficult for Remote Cardiologist to Obtain the Locus of Control for Ambulatory Health Care Conditions Such as Congestive Heart Failure?
No full textThis is an open-access article distributed
under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original author and source are credited
ALT-C 2011 Abstracts
No full textThis is a PDF of the abstracts for all the sessions at the 2011 ALT conference. It is designed to be used alongside the online version of the conference programme. It was made public on 1 September, with a "topped and tailed" made live on 2 September
Book Reviews
No full textThe Hand that Signed the Paper (Helen Darville) (Reviewed by Pearl Bowman, New York)The Sitters (Alex Miller) (Reviewed by Ray Willbanks, University of Memphis)The White Garden (Carmel Bird) (Reviewed by Nicholas Birns, New School for Social Research)She\u27s Fantastical: The first anthology of Australian women\u27s speculative fiction, magical realism and fantasy (Lucy Sussex and Judith Raphael Buckrich, eds.) (Reviewed by Catherine Miner, Boston)The Orchard Thieves (Elizabeth Jolley) (Reviewed by Barbara Milech, Curtin University)Eat Me (Linda Jaivin) (Reviewed by Nick Smart, College of New Rochelle)BattleAxe: Book One of the Axis Trilogy (Sara Douglass) (Reviewed by Kelly Burkhouse, Jamestown, New York)The Grass Sister (Gillian Mears) (Reviewed by Felicity Plunkett, University of Tasmania)Emerald Blue (Gerald Murnane) (Reviewed by Jeff Richardson, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology)Scream Black Murder (Philip McLaren) (Reviewed by Jane Paznik-Bondarin, Manhattan Community College)Camille\u27s Bread (Amanda Lohrey) (Reviewed by Jane Emery, Stanford University)Millennial Fables (Peter Porter) (Reviewed by Paul Kane, Vassar College)All Souls (Daniel Keene), Good Works (Nick Enright), The Family (Jill Shearer) and Composing Venus (Elaine Acworth) (Reviewed by Alexandra Cromwell, New York)Dead White Males (David Williamson) (Reviewed by Dennis Carroll, University of Hawaii)EcCentric Visions: ReConstructing Australia (Gaile McGregor) and Territorial Disputes: Maps and Mapping Strategies in Contemporary Canadian and Australian Fiction (Graham Huggan) (Reviewed by Philip O\u27Neill, Penn State University)Prophet from the Desert: Critical Essays on Patrick White (John McLaren, ed.) (Reviewed by Graeme Sharrock, University of Chicago)Australian Contemporary Drama (Dennis Carroll) (Reviewed by Brian Kiernan, University of Sydney)Nuanua: Pacific Writing in English Since 1980 (Albert Wendt, ed.) My Cow Comes to Haunt Me: European Explorers, Travellers, and Novelists Constructing Textual Selves and Imagining the Unthinkable in Lands and Islands Beyond the Sea, from Christopher Columbus to Alexander von Humboldt (Norman Simms) (Reviewed by Juniper Ellis, Vanderbilt University)Edge of the Sacred: Transformation in Australia (David J. Tacey) (Reviewed by John Boe, University of California at Davis) (AUTHOR) (Reviewed by AUTHOR)Chinese Whispers: Cultural Essays (Nicholas Jose) and The Five Foot Road: In Search of a Vanished China (Angus McDonald) (Reviewed by Fiona Giles, New York)Jandamarra and the Bunuba Resistance (Howard Pedersen, with Banjo Woorunmurra) (Reviewed by AUTHOR)Us Mob. History, Culture, Struggle: An Introduction to Indigenous Australia (Mudrooroo) (Reviewed by Susanna Braun-Bau, Bonn, Germany)One Land, One Nation: Mabo-Towards 2001 (Frank Brennan) (Reviewed by Murray S. Martin, Windsor Locks, Connecticut)Aphrodite and the Others (Gillian Bouras) (Reviewed by Wendy Goulston, Empire State College)A Migrant\u27s Story: The Struggle of an Italian-Australian, 1920s-1960s (Osvaldo Bonutto) (Reviewed by Darren DeFrain, Western Michigan University)No Casual Traveller: Hartley Grattan and Australia-U.S. Connections (Laurie Hergenhan) (Reviewed by Herbert Jaffa, New York University
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