Research Reports

Forests are vital to the health of the Chesapeake Bay. Policy makers and the public are now recognizing the role the Bay's forests play in helping to maintain water quality, air quality, watershed health and resilience, living resources, economic productivity, and the region’s quality of life. The new Chesapeake Bay Agreement signed in June 2000 commits Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay Commission, and federal agencies to take actions that will "promote the expansion and connection of contiguous forests" in the Bay watershed.

Following the 1999 study, ELI began work on the second phase of its research which focused on whether a collaboration between EPA and the public libraries could serve to increase capacity of communities to participate in EPA activities.

This study examines two NRDA cases -- contamination of the Hudson River with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and the 1993 Tampa Bay oil spill -- and identifies public participation strategies that DAC may choose to implement for future NRDA efforts.

This article, which originally appeared in the July 21, 2000, issue of Environment Reporter, examines the current "end-of-pipe" methods of reducing NOx emissions and suggests that a better method would be investing in new, combined cycle natural gas plants, cogeneration and efficiency gains. The second approach would not only reduce NOx emissions but other pollutants as well.

Paying landowners not to pollute, providing free technical advice, and relying on voluntary adherence to BMPs has proven to be an incomplete strategy in many cases. Gradually, states are turning to enforceable mechanisms – including discharge prohibitions, direct enforcement of water quality standards, pollution abatement orders, required operating practices, nuisance and misdemeanor prosecutions, and civil and administrative penalties -- to supplement other approaches.