The University of Massachusetts Amherst

Category: Environmental policy

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Environmental policy Events Grants Social inequality & justice

Inaugural Five College Public Policy Resident to Focus on Environmental Justice

Environmental justice champion Nia Robinson will kick off the Five College collaborative public policy practitioner residency program this semester. Robinson will spend the first two weeks of March on the campuses of each of the five colleges, offering lectures, participating in panel discussions and leading teach-ins.

The Social Justice Public Policy Practitioner-in-Residence program was created to offer Five College students and faculty opportunities to engage with and learn from individuals who have hands-on policymaking experience. By offering occasions to interact with those who have chosen lives of service, the residency program will help students imagine careers of their own that might advance the common good.

Robinson is the first of the program’s four residents, who were chosen for their commitment to social justice and their tireless efforts to effect change through policy reform. She co-authored A Climate of Change: African Americans, Global Warming and a Just Climate Policy in the U.S. and currently serves as the environmental justice representative for SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective.

While a resident, Robinson will be hosted by the Population and Development Program at Hampshire College, to which she has long-standing ties. Robinson has spoken several times at the annual conference held at Hampshire that focuses on reproductive rights as one strand of the broader social justice tapestry. And last fall, she helped organize a national climate justice convention co-hosted by the Population and Development Program, SisterSong and the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Katie McKay Bryson, assistant director of the Population and Development Program, said she and her colleagues were “excited by the opportunity to nominate Nia Robinson for this residency because of the innovative way that she approaches the intersections between environmental and climate challenges, reproductive health and racial justice. She lives these connections herself, and so can make them come alive for other activists and students.”

The residency program is one component of the Five College Public Policy Initiative, a collaboration that includes the UMass Center for Public Policy and Administration (CPPA). This budding partnership aims to enhance collaboration among Five College faculty and students who are interested in curricula, research and outreach related to public policy. The residency program was made possible by a generous grant from Five Colleges, Incorporated, with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

CPPA is the hub of interdisciplinary public policy research, teaching and engagement at UMass Amherst. Its faculty and alumni are effective policy leaders, from the local to the global levels, in addressing topics such as family and care policy, environmental issues, emerging technologies, social inequalities and governance. The CPPA program is the 2011 recipient of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration’s Social Equity Award, created to honor a public administration, affairs or policy program with a comprehensive approach to integrating social equity into its academic and practical work.

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Environmental policy Student news

CPPA Student Researches Agricultural Potential for Biochar in Western Massachusetts

As the effects of climate change become more severe and the science behind global warming becomes undeniable, academics across many disciplines and professionals from diverse fields are all examining ways to mitigate the negative impacts to Earth and to mankind. Graduate student Nataliya Kulyk is among those, and she’s helping to bridge the gap between academic research, hands-on practice and government regulation.

Kulyk is a second-year student in the Master of Public Policy and Administration (MPPA) program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Center for Public Policy and Administration (CPPA). She has been working with professors in the anthropology, public policy, chemistry and economics departments, as well as with staff at the New England Small Farm Institute and members of the Pioneer Valley Biochar Initiative, to explore the potential applications of biochar and its policy implications.

This carbon-rich product is created by slowly heating organic matter such as wood, leaves or manure, with little oxygen. Biochar’s primary function is as a soil additive. The porous charcoal-like substance helps water and nutrients stay in the soil. In addition, biochar sequesters carbon in the earth, which ultimately plays a role in minimizing greenhouse gas emissions.

“You’re taking carbon from the atmosphere and putting it into the ground. It’s like coal mining in reverse,” says Richard Stein, an emeritus professor of chemistry at UMass who has been working closely with Kulyk, the Pioneer Valley Biochar Initiative and the New England Small Farm Institute.

Farming cultures have used biochar for centuries, and modern scientists have studied it for decades. Only recently, however, has biochar started receiving widespread attention in the United States and other developed countries as a soil fertility method and as a potentially significant part of mitigating global warming.

Stein admits that the scientific research on biochar is far ahead of the market studies and economic models. Enter Kulyk. For several months now she has been studying local farmers’ awareness of and attitudes toward biochar, in addition to exploring the policy implications of a robust biochar industry. Stein says he hopes that Kulyk and others will be able to provide substantial background research on the economics of producing biochar, as well as the demand from area farmers for the substance. With strong quantifiable data, Stein says, others can start marketing and selling biochar successfully — and producing it sustainably.

Given the eventual potential for large-scale sales, Kulyk warns that a mature biochar industry would need to be closely monitored. “It is crucial for the policy community to take a proactive stance on biochar and provide practitioners with a solid biochar regulatory framework,” says Kulyk.

Her research this semester and beyond could help lay some important foundation stones for this emerging industry.

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Environmental policy Faculty Research

Ash Co-PI for $360,000 NSF Grant

Michael Ash, associate professor of economics and public policy, is the co-principal investigator for a $360,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study environmental justice in the United States.

Ash and co-PI James Boyce (professor of economics) are co-directors of the Corporate Toxics Information Project at the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) and will use the grant to employ EPA data for better understanding socioeconomic and geographic exposure to industrial toxic releases in the U.S.

Additional information about the grant is available through the UMass press release and additional information about the Corporate Toxics Information Project is available at the PERI website.

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Environmental policy Faculty Honors & Awards

Ash Profiled by CSBS

Michael Ash, associate professor of economics and public policy, is the subject of a recent faculty profile by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.  Check it out!

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Environmental policy Faculty Research Policy Viewpoints Public Engagement Project

Brandt Addresses Costs of Biomass

In a May 19, 2011, letter to the Springfield Republican, Sylvia Brandt (resource economics and public policy) questions the findings of a recent report about the impacts of a proposed biomass energy plant in East Springfield.

The report, produced by consultants hired by Palmer Renewable Energy, claims that the proposed plant will not harm public health.  Brandt, a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Council on Clean Air Compliance, argues the opposite, noting that the plant will greatly increase local pollution through higher emissions from the large-scale burning of wood and  increases in truck traffic.

Brandt cites EPA data suggesting that emissions from the plant could be anywhere from 4 to 16 times higher than that reported by the Palmer Renewable Energy consultants.

Also, according to Brandt’s calculations, “the cost of the health effects from the traffic alone would be approximately $1.53 million a year.”

Brandt calls for more extensive review of the proposed plant, noting that “[it] violates all principals of environmental justice to forgo an independent study.”

Brandt’s letter to the editor can be read in full here.

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Environmental policy Events PAGC

Sierra Club’s Mark Kresowik to Discuss Coal Alternatives

Mark Kresowik, Northeast Director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, will visit the UMass Amherst campus on Thursday, February 24, to discuss his organization’s efforts to promote alternatives to coal-fired power plants. The talk, which takes place at 1 p.m. in Gordon Hall 302-304, is sponsored by the Policy and Administration Graduate Council (PAGC) of the Center for Public Policy and Administration (CPPA). Drew Grande, Beyond Coal coordinator for Massachusetts, will join Kresowik for the talk.

Kresowik and Grande will discuss the role of coal-fired plants in producing a range of problems nationally and locally. For example, air toxics such as mercury, arsenic, and lead are by-products of coal burning and known threats to public health, contributing to problems ranging from childhood asthma to cancer and birth defects. Coal-powered plants are also estimated to contribute up to 30% of the pollution leading to climate change. In Massachusetts, coal burning plants are the state’s largest air polluters.

An important premise of the Beyond Coal Campaign is that smarter energy solutions also make good economic sense. Kresowik and Grande will talk about these smarter energy solutions, as well as the recent policy successes of the Beyond Coal Campaign.

This talk is free and open to the public. For additional information, contact Peter Vickery (pvickery@admin.umass.edu) or go to www.masspolicy.org.

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Environmental policy Student news

Vickery explores options for ‘moving past coal’

CPPA graduate student Peter Vickery and Richard S. “Dick” Stein, Emeritus Goessmann Professor of Chemistry at UMass Amherst are researching whether or not it is possible to retain the financial benefits of the coal-fired power station at Mount Tom while also eliminating associated environmental problems. The two authored their ideas in “Moving Mount Tom past coal” in The Republican this week.

A transition to an environmentally conscious power station is possible, according to their research, say Stein and Vickery. They propose elected officials start talking with GDF Suez, the company that owns the Mount Tom power station, about a step-by-step process for transitioning the facility away from coal to a cleaner source of energy. Forming a broad-based coalition of community organizations, labor unions, farmers, and small businesses seems the best way to start this conversation.

Stein and Vickery cite Xcel Energy’s repowered Riverside plant in Minneapolis, MN, as a successful example of a coal-powered plant being transformed into a natural gas-powered facility brought on by a state legislation in 2001. A similar law in Colorado caused the state “to replace their old coal-fired power stations with natural gas and renewable energy sources.” Even here at UMass Amherst coal has been pushed out by the use of natural gas and much more efficient machinery to power heaters all across campus.

These examples prove that the technology exists for such a transformation. But what about all of the jobs and tax revenue that comes from the coal industry? Not all questions can be answered at this time, but Vickery and Stein’s final words demonstrate that a sense of urgency is still key for progress:

We do not pretend to have all the answers. We just believe that the time to start the conversation with GDF Suez is sooner – while the plant is open – rather than later, when the company has already made the decision to close it down. By opening the dialogue now, citizens can exercise some control over the outcome. The alternative is to wait and hope for GDF Suez to forget its shareholders and focus on what’s best for Western Massachusetts. That is not much of an option.

For the complete article, visit The Republican here.