Jonathan P. Deason

Water policy in the United States: a perspective

Lessons learned from the evolution of US water policy over two centuries of rapid population growth, economic expansion and urban development may shed light on promising approaches to issues in other areas of the world. An explanation of the major philosophical and legal underpinnings of water quantity and water quality policies that have evolved in the US federal-state system is presented. Other areas of the world may benefit from mistakes made during the evolution of US water policy in the areas of institutional reform, improved processes for conflict resolution, and increased use of modern planning and decision making procedures.

Integrated Planning Framework for Urban River Rehabilitation

In 2002, 2005, and 2006, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army entered into memoranda of understanding to implement the Urban Rivers Restoration Initiative (URRI). The URRI is a collaborative process where numerous agencies and stakeholders having different values, interests, and responsibilities come together to agree on actions to restore urban rivers. Much of the literature on collaborative planning addresses topics such as appropriate stakeholder representation, and securing and facilitating participation in planning over time. Less attention is paid to another key to successful collaborative planning processes: utilization of a common planning framework. A common planning framework will help collaborators to develop a shared understanding of the factual basis needed to define the nature and scope of problems and the merits of possible solutions. This paper identifies how the analytical frameworks of the principal URRI participating agencies (U.S. Army Corps of ...

Restoring contaminated urban rivers using an intergovernmental, public‐private approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe a new approach to restoring rivers in the USA that have been contaminated with hazardous substances.Design/methodology/approach – Both primary and secondary data and information were used. Primary data and information were gathered through interview processes with subject‐matter experts involved in restoration of contaminated rivers in the USA.Findings – Many urban rivers around the world contain severely contaminated sediments that adversely affect aquatic life and limit recreational and economic uses. It has been estimated, for example, that as many as 100 million tons of contaminated sediments are deposited annually in the waterways of Europe.Originality/value – The recently developed approach to restoring urban rivers in the USA might be usefully adopted for use in other industrialized nations around the world.

Applying an ecosystem services approach to supplemental environmental projects

This paper defines an ecosystem services approach to guide stakeholders through the major steps of the Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) programme of the US Environmental Protection Agency and state environmental offices. The SEP programme is focused on implementing ‘environmentally beneficial’ projects that compensate the environment and the community for adverse effects of violations of environmental regulations. A literature review reveals that the federal programme is greatly under-used by violators despite its enormous opportunities to enhance the human-environment relationship. The SEP programme shares major commonalities with ecosystem service concepts and these can be leveraged to define a structured framework, wherein ecosystem services can play a key role for formulating, evaluating, selecting, implementing and assessing SEPs. Concepts set forth in this paper represent a first step towards mainstreaming an ecosystem services approach in the SEP programme. Further research is needed to assess the applicability of the framework to different categories of SEPs.

Analysis of MCDM methods output coherence in oil and gas portfolio prioritization

This research paper aims at developing a triplex multi-criteria decision model to achieve an optimum allocation of resources to a portfolio of oilfields based on a number of criteria that pertain to the oilfields’ technical and contextual characteristics. It also offers an approach for validating the prioritization results generated by the methods used through a two-dimensional test that compares the internal and external prioritization stability of three multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods against a conventional Intuitive approach. The MCDM methods used include Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Preference Ranking Organization METHod for Enriched Evaluation (PROMETHEE), and Technique of Order Preference Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). The internal and external consistency testing results are outlined in nine possible scenarios through which a conclusion is derived confirming the competitive advantage of MCDM methods.

RESEARCH ARTICLE: Determination of Solar Energy Transition Potential of Department of Defense Facilities and Nontactical Vehicles: An Application of Multicriteria Decision Theory Modeling and Simulation Approaches

The United States (US) Department of Defense (DoD) offers a great opportunity to implement solar energy solutions across its US bases. It is the single largest energy consumer in the federal government and has sufficient land requirements to implement solar energy solutions. By implementing solar energy solutions across its bases in the US, the DoD will be able to realize benefits such as meeting federal policies and mandates, reducing energy intensity from fossil fuel resources (including foreign oil), reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and improving national security and mission readiness. This report describes the current DoD energy landscape for its facilities and nontactical (fleet) vehicles, DoD benefits of implementing solar energy technologies, and research methods and results that will help realize these benefits through the development of a decision model that will augment the implementation of solar energy technologies on DoD bases.