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An Effectiveness Revolution in Environmental Management
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| Presenter(s):
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| Matt Keene, United States Environmental Protection Agency, keene.matt@epa.gov
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| Andrew Pullin, University of Wales, a.s.pullin@bangor.ac.uk
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| Abstract:
Since the initial exposure of environmental crises in the latter half of the 20th Century the environmental community has exploded into a huge and diverse number of organizations and disciplines that invest enormous resources in a comprehensive portfolio of approaches to 'solving' environmental problems. A powerful and growing demand for evidence that demonstrates the effectiveness of the environmental community has led to the increasing number and sophistication of initiatives focused on collecting evidence and making determinations of effectiveness. However cultural, political and financial obstacles persist and the effectiveness of the environmental community remains unclear. We assess the evolution and current state of the environmental community, our knowledge of the effectiveness of its interventions and examine how far we are from an effectiveness revolution in environmental management.
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Evaluation of the Prevention of Accidental Chemical Releases During Natural Disasters
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| Presenter(s):
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| William Michaud, SRA International Inc, bill_michaud@sra.com
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| Abstract:
Evaluation of programs aimed at preventing low probability, high consequence events is both challenging and necessary - challenging because the events of interest are scarce, and necessary because the cost of failure is high. This paper will describe an approach deceloped to help evaluate the impact of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Risk Management Program (RMP) on preventing accidental chemical releases during natural disasters. The approach builds on previous research conducted using data collected during the first decade of the RMP program as well as the concepts conveyed in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD's) guidance on safety performance indicators. The paper will describe the analysis of the effect of exposure to natural disasters on accident prevalence and severity, the use of logic modeling to identify alternatives for establishing causation, and recommendations for an approach to provide useful feedback for the management of the RMP program.
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