Summer Semester Workshop Final Briefings Held August 13, 2008

The Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy students met on Wednesday, August 13^th for their final workshop briefings. The workshop final briefings are the culmination of semester-long projects on a proposed but not yet enacted state, federal, or local environmental or international agreement, with an emphasis on the scientific issues. Students are required to submit reports explaining the environmental science aspects of a management problem as well as pose a solution to the scientific and technological challenges involved in passing the law to political decision makers who are not scientists.

This summer, students worked on a variety of topics, ranging from climate change to global warming and wildlife survival, and solar energy. Guided by their faculty advisors, students explored the complex scientific issues surrounding these proposed agreements. Five faculty members worked with the student teams this summer. Kathy Callahan, the former EPA Deputy Regional Administrator of Region 2, worked with the Twenty-First Century Water Commission Act of 2008. Steve Cohen, the Director of the MPA-ESP program and Executive Director of the Earth Institute, advised the team looking at climate change adaptation. Tanya Heikkila is an Assistant Professor at SIPA and a researcher for the Earth Institute and advised the team addressing the Coastal Louisiana Ecosystem Restoration. Working with the team on the Global Warming Wildlife Survival Act was Matthew Palmer, Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology.  Andrea Schmitz is the Director of Environment, Health, and Safety at ConEdison, and worked with the team examining solar energy research.

“The Summer Workshop is about the process of learning how to translate science and analysis into operational environmental policy,” said Director of the MPA-ESP Program Steve Cohen during his introduction of the Briefings. “During the Summer Workshop briefings, students focused their attention on communicating a lot of information in a very short time.  They learn to focus their work within the constraints of proposed legislation—even if there are parts of a bill they don’t like, they learn to work with it. Our students learn how to communicate these lessons to policy makers and how to do what American political scientist Aaron Wildavsky termed, ‘speaking truth to power’.”

The presentations provided a summary of the legislation or international agreement—major goals and provisions of the statute or agreement—and provided details on the history and scientific dimensions of the environmental problem being addressed.  The following is a description of the five student projects presented during this summer’s final Workshop briefings:

H.R.2774 Solar Energy Research and Advancement Act of 2007
Faculty Advisor:  Andrea Schmitz

The Solar Energy Research and Advancement Act of 2007 supports the research, development, and commercial application of solar energy technologies.  Specifically, the bill directs the Secretary of Energy to study methods to integrate concentrating solar power into regional electric transmission systems and to bring this power to growing electric power load pockets across the country.  The Workshop group is exploring the problems with current power sources such as coal; issues such as the exposure to heavy metals and run-off from mines and the polluting air emissions of coal burning energy plants.  The bill proposes an alternative to coal and other pollution emitting energy sources.  The Solar Energy Research and Advancement Act of 2007 aims “to support the research, development, and commercial application of solar energy technologies.” Since the midterm briefing on July 16^th, the Workshop group has been analyzing the proposed solution of solar energy and learning to describe the science and applicability of the energy source to potential investors and policymakers.

S.2204 Global Warming Wildlife Survival Act
Faculty Advisor: Matthew Palmer

Professor Palmer’s Workshop group is spending this semester learning about the Global Warming Wildlife Survival Act.  This bill “requires the Secretary of the Interior to establish a national strategy for assisting wildlife populations and habitats in adapting to the impact of global warming.”  The bill aims to assist wildlife in adapting to climate change through research and creating new coping strategies for impacted species.  The goals of the bill center around imperiled species; enhancing the monitoring of current and prospective programs, guiding restorative efforts with its newly established advisory board, establishing corridors for wildlife, reducing threats that are not related to climate, and improving the management wildlife. The group also outlined the breadth of why this act is so critical: economic interest, ecological impact, and moral commitment.  The group has studied habitat protection and restoration, the management of migration corridors, relocation of species, and the monitoring programs that are being developed and implemented through this Act.

Title VII of the Water Resources Development Act:
Coastal Louisiana Ecosystem Restoration
Professor Heikkila

The focus of Tanya Heikkila’s Workshop this summer is to examine Title VII of the Water Resources and Development Act of 2007.  This act calls for the restoration of the Coastal Louisiana Ecosystem, namely wetlands, swamps and marshes, with the aim of protecting the local populations from the threat of storm surge and land loss, as well as modifying the existing flood control structures and channels.  These human-made altercations to the landscape have severely affected the coastal hydrology and deltaic cycle in the region, leaving the population dangerously exposed to storms.  By restoring the ecosystem to a more natural state the group hopes to ultimately protect and preserve a unique and vital economic region.  The group’s work has been to examine the Title VII legislation, identify the problem outlined in the legislation and discover and clearly convey the science behind the problem.

S 2355  The Climate Change Adaptation Act
Faculty Advisor: Steven Cohen

Professor Cohen’s Workshop group is studying The Climate Change Adaptation Act, examining this climate change legislation and the environmental problems addressed in it. The Workshop’s emphasis has been on the impact of climate change on coastlines.  The cohorts have also focused on understanding why government action is needed and what plans the government has developed and implemented.  The Act is designed to assess impacts of climate change, ensure that the U.S. is fully prepared for these impacts, and focus on adaptation to climate change.  The Act presents a variety of important impacts ranging from ocean acidification to shifts in the hydrological cycle. The key environmental problems identified in the legislation range from those affecting the oceans and coast lines to the effects of severe weather and storms. About 50% of Americans live within 50 miles of coastline, areas of heightened vulnerability to climate change.  While natural disasters are already common in coastal areas, climate change has increased the risks of these. Natural ecosystems have been severely affected: wetlands have shrunk and disappeared.  But climate change in coastal regions also impacts human infrastructure like roads, bridges, and subways through flooding, scouring and salinity.  Due to the magnitude of climate change impact, The Climate Change Adaptation Act was designed to assess and prepare for the impacts of climate change at a national level, provide funding for research and assessments, establish a Grant program to support Coastal States’ plans, and develop a National Strategic Plan for Climate Change Adaptation every five years.  The Workshop has analyzed the proposed solution and the science behind it and to predict and learn scientific issues and controversies that are related to the problem and its solutions.

S. 2728 Twenty-First Century Water Commission Act of 2008
Professor Kathleen Callahan

Professor Callahan’s group has spent the semester learning about the bill to establish the Twenty-First Century Water Commission.  This Act, sponsored by Senator Johnny Isakson, aims to study and develop recommendations for a comprehensive water strategy to address future water needs. Water quantity and quality are of such concern because climate change causes droughts and flooding.  Water is needed to support the four greatest human demands: electricity production, agricultural needs, industrial needs, and residential needs.  The Workshop group has learned that seemingly unrelated social trends – baby-boomer retirement, relocation choices – are amplifying already problematic scenarios of climate change by increasing demand in dryer areas.  Pollution can also increase in areas where flooding occurs intensified by larger, less frequent single-event rainfalls.  Suburban expansion also impacts the quality and quantity of available water.

The bill proposes to establish a commission to develop a national water strategy that will address water quality and quantity issues the United States faces and will face over the next 50 years.  The commission’s purpose is to study and project future supply, demand of freshwater in the U.S., and produce a comprehensive water-use strategy.  The group has now analyzed and discussed the Act, explored the science behind the proposed solutions, predicted issues and controversies, and tracked the program’s success.

To view the archives of Workshop Final Briefings, presentations, and reports, please go to www.columbia.edu/cu/mpaenvironment/pages/wksp.html.  For more information on the MPA-ESP program, please contact Louise Rosen, Associate Director of the MPA-ESP Program and, at 212.854.3142 or via email at lar46@columbia.edu.