News

A seminar by Dr. Eric Edwards
Friday, April 22 at 3:10pm in UI Hubert room 27

ABSTRACT
We present a lobby model to explain the adoption and persistence of seemingly costly environmental  policies relative to the likely benefits generated. The arguments of the model are illustrated by water  trade restrictions for mining firms in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. The area is one of the driest  in the world but also the world’s top copper producer. Due to regulation of access to local water in  the region, firms have begun using desalinated water at a cost of up to $19,542 per m3/day while agricultural  water trades at median price of $343 per m3/day. We explore how governmental maintenance of environmental  and indigenous water supplies through restrictions on water trades causes these large price differentials.  We provide a simple framework that explains how this type of policy can be supported under reasonable  assumptions about lobbying. Interest group lobbying, limited information to unorganized general citizens  about policy costs and benefits, and their associated distribution can lead to strong regulation, even  when the protected environmental areas and agricultural populations are small and isolated. Differencein-  difference modeling of sector prices indicates that after an abrupt increase in regulatory denials,  prices diverged in a manner consistent with the lobbying model. Using market price and desalination  cost data, policy costs are estimated at $6.15 billion dollars or approximately $350 per citizen, which  may or may not equate to perceived general benefits.

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ANAND JAYAKARAN, PH.D., PE
Associate Professor and LID Specialist

The talk will focus on the transformation of hydrologic processes associated with land use change, and how engineering using ecosystem-centric principles could lead to the better management of surface runoff in urbanizing watersheds. Ani will outline some of his work and those done by colleagues at three spatial scales, as well as relating past efforts to current work that promote the use of Low Impact Development techniques in the state of Washington.

Date: Monday, November 2, 2015
Place: Sloan 175
Time: 4:10 p.m.—5:00 p.m.

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Thursday, November 5th, University of Idaho is hosting a panel discussion consisting of:

(1) David Doeringsfeld, the Lewiston Port Manager
(2) Linwood Laughy, a local Citizen activist, author and historian
(3) John McKern, a Retired U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Fish and Wildlife Biologist
(4) Patrick Wilson, a Professor of Natural Resources at the University of Idaho
(5) Todd Myers, the Environmental Director of The Washington Policy Center
(6) Rebecca Miles, the Executive Director of the Nez Perce Tribe

The discussion will be moderated by Professor of Law & Coordinator of the Natural Resources and Environmental Law Program, Barbara Cosens.

When: Thursday November 5, 2015 at the
Where: University of Idaho College of Law, Courtroom
Meet and greet with refreshments: from 5 to 5:30 p.m.
Panel discussion: from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.
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“A hybrid multiscale framework for subsurface flow and reactive transport simulations”

Dr. Tim Scheibe, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Date: Monday, October 12, 2015
Place: Sloan 175
Time: 4:10 p.m.—5:00 p.m.
 Flyer

• Wednesday, 8 April 2015
• Lighty 405, 2-3pm
• Washington State University, Pullman

Sponsored by The Center for Environmental Research, Education and Outreach

Throughout history, humans have relied on rivers for a variety of uses including transportation, food, water for drinking and irrigation, renewable energy, and recreation. River channels also form the physical basis for riparian ecosystems with flow and sediment processes in the channel coevolving with flora and fauna. This process often leads to a state of dynamic equilibrium where the channel is essentially stable in form. Both anthropogenic activities and natural events may alter flow and sediment dynamics in the channel, disrupting this equilibrium. Disruptions may be due to direct or indirect impacts and often have significant environmental effects. Direct impacts occur within the channel and include channelization, instream structures, and gravel mining. Indirect impacts occur outside of the channel and alter the magnitude and timing of water and sediment delivery to streams. Examples of indirect impacts include changes in land use or climate. Hydraulic geometry, or regime equations, is a tool to relate hydrologic variables to channel form. While this concept is more than 50 years old, regional regime equations now form the basis of many stream restoration projects. This presentation revisits the concept of hydraulic geometry and investigates new applications. Using example data, it is demonstrated how hydraulic geometry clarifies the physics underlying fluvial processes as well as predicts generalized changes in channel form.

Dr. Petrie is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at WSU.  His research focuses on rivers and sediment transport and the impact of hydropower operations on river morphology and ecology.