Workshops

Presentations

MPA Environmental Science and Policy, Spring 2004 Final workshop briefings.

April 21, 2004
Dag Hammarskjold Lounge, 6th Floor, International Affairs Building
9:00 AM-10:50 AM

The capstone class of the SIPA and Earth Institute MPA in Environmental Science and Policy is a client-driven workshop project. These projects are
semester long projects with 10-11 students and one faculty member per project.

The projects began will be completed by April 30 and result in a formal briefing and a formal written report for each client. The MPA program at SIPA has been doing projects like these since 1982. This semester's projects focus on environmental and sustainable development issues here in the New
York region.

Workshop Project Summaries Master of Public Administration Program in Environmental Science and Policy

1) An Analysis of the Brownfields Initiative In EPA Region 2 · Faculty Advisor: Steven Cohen

The re-development of Brownfields, which are abandoned, idled or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or development is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination. This comes in the form of site assessment funding, voluntary clean-up program development funds, Quarterly Pilot meetings in NY and NJ, partnerships in innovative approaches, as well as Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot grants, Inter-Agency Work Group & Showcase Communities, Clean-up Revolving Loan Fund Pilot grants, and Job Training & Development Pilot grants.
Students describe the amount and form of public participation that has taken place in a sample of pilot projects. In addition, they interview a sample of participants and decision makers at five of the older brownfield projects to identify the local community impact of brownfield development, as well as analyze a small sample of the new brownfield sites to identify lessons from the older sites that can be applied to these new sites.

2) UN Division of Sustainable Development: sustainable development criteria used in the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) · Faculty Advisor: Prof. Bruce Chadwick

To reach the goals of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), one of three "flexibility mechanisms" within the Kyoto Protocol, and the only control mechanism applicable within developing countries. Its two specific goals:

I) reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; and II) furthering sustainable development within the "host" developing country.

Students interview a cross section of developing country governments, prepare sample case studies, and, to the extent possible, prepare an evaluation of some of the existing criteria and offer practical recommendations for countries currently developing them.

This resulted in a report to survey and document the current status of the
sustainable development criteria employed in developing countries for DM.

3) Waterkeeper Alliance Mercury Control Policy Research and Development ·Faculty Advisor: Prof. Tanya Heikkila · Waterkeeper Alliance is planning to devise a mercury control policy for waterways (i.e. governing mercury emission) that ultimately could be submitted to an international body such as the UN Environment Programme for consideration. This policy would address tying together issues for mercury control using all the available data, control technologies and existing regulatory policies.

Students are asked to conduct research (scientific background and problem assessment) and make recommendations to assist the organization in developing this public policy for mercury control.
Scientific background includes (i.e.) a review & assessment of current studies on mercury air emissions and of ecological and human health impacts of mercury contamination as well as assessments of current levels of contamination in global waterways.

4.) Environmental Defense Fund's (EDF) Living Cities Program: Analysis of
Congestion Pricing to reduce traffic in Lower Manhattan · Faculty Advisor:
Prof. Tanya Heikkila · Task: To evaluate the impact of modified pricing policies on Manhattan's congested roadways.

Students are asked to conduct research in three key areas to help this program:

I) Identify alternative pricing mechanisms for roads and bridges coming into Manhattan that would reduce traffic congestion, such as time of day tolling; and assess the potential impacts and benefits of such pricing policies, particularly on the quality of life and health of New York's residents.

II) Research and identify the best available technologies for
implementing congestion pricing policies in Manhattan. And,

III) conduct a comparison of other road pricing policies, such as London's recent efforts to impose fees on motorists driving into the central district.