Environmental Policy Program¹
at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies

The Environmental Policy Program is a major research and training program that has the objective of enhancing the quality of environmental policy in the state, the nation and throughout the world. The program carries out scholarly research projects and provides policy advice to the government and private sectors. A joint program with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory is operative, and faculty are exchanged on a regular basis.

A new collaboration was established in the early summer of this year between Albany State University and GSU with the inauguration of the Flint River Regional Water Planning and Policy Center. The venture included the creation of a new Graduate program in Water Resources Management and Policy at ASU.

Other activities of the environmental policy program include the experimental economics laboratory, a water resources policy center, an air quality program and a pollution prevention program. It maintains a field of experimental economics for graduate students in the program. The Environmental Policy Center is directed by Ronald Cummings.

In This Page

• Programs
• Projects
• The Environmental and Experimental Economics Laboratory
  • Sponsored Events
    • Activities and Visitors
    • Portable Experimental Economics Laboratory
    • Portable Experimental Economics Laboratory Activities
    • Speakers and Other Visitors to the Lab
• Flint River Water and Planning Policy Center
  • Events
  • Visitors

Programs

Water Resources Policy Program. Ronald Cummings and Peter Terrebonne. The Water Resources Policy Program provides research and policy analysis on water resource management issues for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division.

Air Quality Program. Ronald Cummings, Laura Taylor and Mary Beth Walker. The Air Quality Program provides research and policy analysis for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division. In order to comply with federal regulations, the Partnership for a Smog-Free Georgia (formerly the Voluntary Ozone Action Program at GSU) was designed to implement a reduction in ground level ozone accumulations caused by the steady increase in commuter traffic.

Pollution Prevention Program. Ronald Cummings, Laura Taylor, and T. Lynn Smith

The Scrap Tire Management Program for Georgia continues to examine and implement policies for long term prospects for an economically and environmentally viable scrap tire recycling industry. Products from scrap tires are used for road building, septic drainage fields, playgrounds, and landscaping, with room for growth in civil engineering uses of tire products. A relatively young industry, the demand for recycled tire products will continue to grow in the future, benefitting processors, producers, and the State of Georgia.

The Brownfields Project assists policymakers with new ideas in the economic management of revitalizing toxic industrial sites. The project uses a unique database of commercial and industrial properties in Atlanta to quantify the reduced economic potential of brownfields and their possible spillover effects onto surrounding properties in the most comprehensive manner possible, and to disseminate this information in a manner that is accessible to policy makers, community leaders, and all stakeholders.

Joint Research with the Army Environmental Policy Institute. Continuation of analysis of legislative issues, environmental issues, and legal issues centering around chemical demilitarization.

Joint Research with the Centers For Disease Control, Atlanta. Support for information exchange and partnering initiatives with the Chemical Demilitarization Branch of the National Center for Environmental Health.

Joint Research with Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Continuing experimental economics research in investment strategies and compliance behaviors with Adjunct Professor David J. Bjornstad.

Joint Research with Albany State University. Development of training programs in Experimental Economics and Natural Resource Management.

South Africa/Botswana. Development of training programs in Experimental Economics and Natural Resource Management for universities and governmental agencies.

Projects

Research Support for the Flint River Policy Center. Georgia Research Alliance. Ronald G. Cummings. Conduct the research necessary to develop expertise in the design and administration of water policies relevant for the conditions of water scarcity that exist in Georgia. ($275,000).

Meeting Georgia's Needs for Expertise in Water Policy. Georgia Department of Community Affairs. Ronald G. Cummings. Support for the development of a center of excellence with relevant expertise that can serve as the nucleus for expanding programs of teaching and research in water policy for Georgia. A collaborative program with the agricultural community in the Flint River Basin, Albany State University Graduate School and Georgia State University. ($750,000).

POWRE Program. Susan Laury. An experimental economics study on charitable giving. National Science Foundation. ($23,800).

Intergovernmental Personnel Agreement with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ronald G. Cummings. Fosters cooperation and the free exchange of ideas between the Chemical Demilitarization Branch of the National Center for Environmental Health and Georgia State University on issues relating to federal and state environmental programs, partnering initiatives, and public outreach issues. ($72,108).

Continuing Policy Analysis: Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division. Ronald G. Cummings. Upward trends in population growth in Georgia and the Southeast are expected to continue. The economic opportunities are a boon to the State of Georgia, however expansions in population place increasing strains on the State's natural resources. Environmental issues related to water become increasingly complex with increased recreation, agriculture and urbanization. Economic analysis related to air quality and emissions control help the State develop cost effective controls for State Implementation Plans. ($252,000)

Partnership for a Smog-Free Georgia: GA Dept. of Natural Resources. Ronald G. Cummings. Continuation of the two year Traffic Monitoring Program. Developed a wide-ranging set of alternative measures that relate to the effects on traffic patterns in the 12-county non-attainment area from the State's voluntary emissions reduction program. ($940,338)

Scrap Tire Management: GA Dept. of Natural Resources. Ronald G. Cummings. Focus on the clean-up of scrap tire piles has evolved to growing recognition of the careful management of the scrap tire industry to avoid future accumulations of scrap tires, implementing policies for an economically viable industry. ($165,200; $32,797)

Software and Data Library for Experiments, Simulations, and Archiving. Ronald G. Cummings. National Science Foundation Subcontract with the University of South Carolina to build, maintain and evaluate a new kind of digital library, a "Web-Lab Library," to link experimental economists and experimental sociologists into a single knowledge network. ($72,900)

Maintaining AEPI's Legislative Communications: Army Environmental Policy Institute. Ronald G. Cummings. Continuation of support for information exchange and partnering initiatives. Develops cost effective State Environmental Legislative Monitoring Program and interactive website. ($63,431)

Comprehensive Plan to Manage Environmental Information (AEPI). Ronald G. Cummings. Department of Defense and Army Environmental Policy Institute. Communications analyst for support of developing community and university partnerships in examining Army Policy. ($109.860).

Estimation of Economic Impacts of Brownfields in Urban Areas. Laura Taylor. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (93,000)

Development for new and continued funding:

Flint River Water Planning and Policy Center. Joint program with Albany State University. ($1.1 million/year.)

University of Pretoria, South Africa. Development of an experimental economics laboratory to serve the needs of Southern Africa. ( proposed: $5 million over 5 years).

The Environmental and Experimental Economics Laboratory

With support from the Georgia Research Alliance, The Environmental & Experimental Economics Laboratory is a state of the art facility unique to the Southeast. It functions as a research center to assist in determining valuations for environmental damages, assessing market values for non-renewable resources and projecting future economic resource needs. Its primary use is for studies that focus on critical behavioral relationships between policy rules, individual perceptions of the incentives associated with these rules, and outcomes. Ronald Cummings is the Director of the Environmental & Experimental Economics Laboratory.

The lab provides a facility for research and teaching in the areas of environmental regulation compliance, non-market valuation, the transition to the use of markets, and collective decisions in the management of environmental resources. Critical policy questions concern the response of individuals to proposed policy initiatives. Through the laboratory users gain insights into the impact of the use of markets for the trading of emissions and the extent of compliance with environmental regulations. The laboratory also allows evaluation of methods of obtaining individual valuation of environmental resources. For example, in the area of Fiscal Policy, it provides a means of testing the behavioral aspects of various programs designed to enhance tax compliance and of investigating the conditions under which voluntary contributions will be successful in providing collective goods.

Sponsored Events

Activities and Visitors

Economic Experiments

Presentations to Visitors

The Portable Environmental and Experimental Economics Laboratory

The Portable Laboratory consists of 15 Pentium notebook subject stations, a notebook server and portable hubs. With travel cases designed specifically to transport the facility, staff can easily conduct laboratory experiments at sites throughout the world. Work is currently underway to translate experiments into a variety of languages.

The Lab traveled this year to the University of Knoxville in Tennessee; the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.; the University of Pretoria in South Africa; the University of Botswana in Gaborone, Botswana; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C.; and Albany State University, Albany, Ga.

Portable Lab Activities:

Speakers and other Visitors to the Lab

Flint River Water and Planning Policy Center

The mission of the Flint River Regional Water Plannand and Policy Center is to provide leadershipo in the design and implementation of policies affecting water use in the Flint River Basin. The Center will help meet the demand for qualified water resource professionals in the face of growing worldwide water scarcity. Jerry Usry is Executive Director of the Flint River Water Planning and Policy Center.

Events

• Inauguration of the Center, June 28, 2000.
• House Natural Resource Committee Hearing and GACDS Water Conservation Tour, August 23-25, 2000
• Southwest Georgia Water Leadership Summit, Albany State University, October 31, 2000

Visitors to the Flint River Water Planning and Policy Center

• Ambassador Andrew Young, keynote speaker, Inauguration, June 28, 2000.
• Representative Richard Royal
• Representative Bob Hanner
• Representative Winfred Dukes
• Representative Tom McCall
• Napoleon Caldwell, Georgia Environmental Protection Division
• Michael Cassidy, President, Georgia Research Alliance
• Senator Michael Meyer von Bremen
• Lt. Governor Mark Taylor
• Senator Zell Miller
• Representative Terry Coleman
• Representative Jeanette Jamieson
• F. Graham Liles, Jr., Executive Director, Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission
• Mr. Harold Reheis, Director, Georgia Environmental Protection Division
• Dr. James Kundell, Policy Director, University of Georgia River Basin Science & Policy Center
• Dr. Stephen Draper, Georgia Water Policy Analyst, Clean Water Initiative Task Force
• Dr. Virgil Norton, Manager, Upper Republican River Natural Resources District, Nebraska
• Liz Blood, Southwest Georgia Task Force member
• Bob Kerr, Director, Georgia Environmental Protection Division, Pollution Prevention Division