Environmental Policy Program¹
at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies

The Environmental Policy Program is a major research and training center that has the objective of enhancing the quality of environmental policy in the state, the nation and throughout the world. Engaged in scholarly research projects focused on water resources conservation and environmental natural resources management, the Program has provided policy advice to the government and private sectors since 1993.

The Program has established collaborative partnerships with other universities and organizations that include those established between the Program and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, as well as the University of New Mexico. The Program’s water resources consortium, the Georgia Water Planning & Policy Center include partnerships with Albany State University (Flint River Water Planning & Policy Center), Georgia Southern University (Coastal Rivers Water Planning & Policy Center) and Georgia State University (North Georgia Water Planning & Policy Center housed in the Environmental Policy Program). Each university center includes a research training program and a Graduate Program in Water Resources Management and Policy. Combined, the regional centers form an objective statewide institution of water resource think tanks to assist in leading the State’s water planning, research and education efforts.

Other activities of the Environmental Policy Program include the Experimental Economics Laboratory, an air quality program and a pollution prevention program. It maintains a field of experimental economics for graduate students. Ronald G. Cummings is the Program's Director, and Laura Taylor is Associate Director.

In This Page

• Programs
• Projects
• The Environmental and Experimental Economics Laboratory
• Georgia Water Planning and Policy Center

Programs

Water Resources: North Georgia Water Planning & Policy Center. This year’s focus was directed towards water quality and pollution prevention issues through the development of an offset-banking program for Atlanta’s metropolitan area. The center provides research and policy analysis on issues facing Atlanta and North Georgia for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division, policy makers, businesses and stakeholders. Through its collaborative and broad based effort with its sister institutions at Albany State University and Georgia Southern University, some of Georgia’s most difficult water management issues are addressed. Examples include: the effect urban growth has upon water quality and quantity; irrigation and cropping for Georgia’s agribusiness sector under drought conditions; the preservation of endangered mussels in the Flint River; and factors that affect the preservation of the Floridan Aquifer.

Pollution Prevention Program. 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 Georgia Southern University. Continued development of academic and continuing education programs in Water and Natural Resources Management with the Coastal Rivers Water Planning and Policy Center.

Joint Research with Albany State University. Continuation of development of graduate and certificate training programs in Water and Natural Resources Management.

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

Sponsored Projects

Agricultural Water Policy Research Center. Ronald G. Cummings. Research and development for water planning center in southeast Georgia to assist stakeholders who rely upon the Floridan Aquifer. U.S. Department of Agriculture. May 2001-August 2002. ($341,822). Renewal for second year, August 1, 2002-August 31, 2003. ($561,000)

Innovative Water Policies. Ronald G. Cummings. Provide research and leadership in the development of processes for assessing water use preparing and implementing basin water plans for regional water planning with the Flint River Water Planning & Policy Center and throughout the state. Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission. July 1, 2001-June 30, 2002. ($187,400). Renewal for second year, July 1, 2002-June 30, 2003. ($729,000)

Auction Mechanisms. Susan Laury. Research and design of new mechanisms for water auctions during drought conditions. Georgia Department of Natural Resources. July 1, 2001-June 30, 2002. ($156,903)

Resources in the Flint River Basin. Ronald G. Cummings. Research to identify strategies and programs that might be adopted by the Flint River Regional Water Council, Inc., to reduce threats that may occur during drought periods, thereby enhancing the quality of environmental and ecological resources in the Basin. Flint River Regional Water Council, Inc. July 1, 2001-June 30, 2002. ($161,192)

E-Commerce. Ronald G. Cummings. Experimental Laboratory design for potential markets in Internet commerce. Georgia Research Alliance. July 1, 2001-June 30, 2002 ($85,000)

Game Theory and Social Interaction. Susan Laury. A "virtual collaborotory" to study game theory using Web-based economics experiments. National Science Foundation. (Renewal, 2002/2003, $43,892)

POWRE Program. Susan Laury. “Individual Motives for Giving.” National Science Foundation. ($23,800)

Impact of Insurance Markets on Biases. Susan Laury. “Risky Decision Making in the Presence of Insurance Markets.” National Science Foundation. ($36,735)

Choosing Among Risky Alternatives: An Experimental Investigation of the Impact of Insurance Markets on Biases in Decision-Making. Susan Laury. National Science Foundation. ($43,000)

Research Support for the Flint River Policy Center. 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. Georgia Research Alliance. July 1, 2001-June 30, 2002. ($275,000)

Research Support for the Georgia Water Planning & Policy Center. Ronald G. Cummings. Conduct the research necessary to support and develop expertise in the design and administration of water policy centers relevant for the conditions of water scarcity that exist in Georgia. Georgia Research Alliance. October 15, 2001-June 30, 2003. ($150,000)

Experimental Tests of Provision Rules in Conjoint Applications for Environmental Valuation. Laura Taylor (see North Georgia Water Planning and Policy Center). Funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. ($129,000)

Software and Data Library for Experiments, Simulations, and Archiving. July 1, 1999-June 30, 2003. Ronald G. Cummings. 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. National Science Foundation Subcontract with the University of South Carolina. ($72,900)

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 G. 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, a 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.

The Portable Lab

The Portable Laboratory consists of 30 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 throughout the nation and abroad. The Lab traveled this year to the University of Richmond, University of New Mexico, Albany State University, and Georgia Southern University.

Economic Experiments

• Working with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division (EPD) in March 2002, a second water permit auction was held by researchers whereby participating farmers could voluntarily sell back their irrigation permits to the EPD in an effort to preserve water in the Flint River during the 5th year of Georgia’s severe drought. March 17, 2001, marked the first voluntary water permit auction held in Georgia, also the first of its kind in the U.S.
• A second series of cross-cultural economic experiments were initiated in conjunction with the University of New Mexico with the portable lab during August 2002. Through experiments conducted with Navajo and Hispanic residents of New Mexico, Ronald G. Cummings and Paul Ferraro sought to examine if the way in which people make economic decisions depends on their cultural background and the cultural background of the individuals with whom they are interacting.

Environmental & Experimental Economics Forum
2002 Seminar Series

Activities and Visitors

Mark D. Morrison, Visiting Faculty from Charles Sturt University, New South Wales, Australia. With expertise in water resources and environmental valuation, Morrison will assist in setting the research agenda for the North Georgia Metropolitan Water Planning & Policy Center.

Georgia Water Planning and Policy Center

The Georgia Water Planning and Policy Center (GWPPC), formed in 1999 by the Georgia Research Alliance, is comprised of a three-university consortium of Georgia State, Albany State, and Georgia Southern universities. The consortium provides the institutional framework and academic expertise to proactively address the state’s water policy issues on a regional basis. The program is uniquely focused on applied water policy sciences through academic experts in law, economics, public policy & administration, and related decision sciences. A streamlined administrative staff of technical and administrative specialists coordinate the consortium’s centers, comprised of: North Georgia Water Planning & Policy Center, Georgia State University; Flint River Water Planning & Policy Center, Albany State University; Coastal Rivers Water Planning & Policy Center, Georgia Southern University. The program is not regulatory, but instead a technical resource to state policymakers. William G. (Jerry) Usry is the Center Coordinator, and Ronald G. Cummings is a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar.

Programs and Activities

Academic Program. The GWPPC consortium schools offer Graduate Degrees and a Certificate Program in Natural Resource Management made available via videoconferencing-GSAMS. The program has a special emphasis on graduating African American students in the area of water resources and economics, a group consistently underrepresented in this field. A state of the art Environmental and Experimental Economics Laboratory enhances classroom training.

The grand opening of the Georgia Water Planning and Policy Center's main offices located at the Riverfront Resource Center occurred in Albany, Ga., December 17, 2002.

A second annual Center retreat and planning session was held October 7-8 at the Evergreen Conference Center in Stone Mountain, Georgia. The sessions provided opportunities to review the progress of the centers and facilitate interaction between faculty, staff and board members from the various institutions. Presentations of ongoing research were viewed and discussed, and the year’s research agenda was planned.

Publications

NORTH GEORGIA METROPOLITAN WATER PLANNING AND POLICY CENTER

In addition to the development of an offset banking program for Metro Atlanta, this year's focus was directed towards the continued development of collaborative water centers to serve Georgia's complex needs in water resource management. As a consortium member of the Georgia Water Planning and Policy Center Organization, the center provides research and policy analysis on issues facing Atlanta and North Georgia for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division, policy makers, businesses and stakeholders. Through its collaborative and broad based effort with its sister institutions at Albany State University and Georgia Southern University, some of Georgia's most difficult water management issues are addressed. For example, studies have included the effect urban growth has upon water quality and quantity; irrigation and cropping for Georgia's agribusiness sector under drought conditions; the preservation of endangered mussels in the Flint River; actors that affect the preservation of the Floridan Aquifer; and development of an offset banking system for controlling nonpoint-source pollution in the Atlanta metropolitan area.

Projects

Experimental Tests of Provision Rules in Conjoint Applications for Environmental Valuation. (see sponsored projects)

FLINT RIVER WATER PLANNING AND POLICY CENTER

The mission of the Flint River Regional Water Planning and Policy Center is to provide leadership in the design and implementation of policies affecting water use in the Flint River Basin. Research and other activities carried out by the Albany State University water center are aimed at improving the efficiency of water use and allocation, which in turn, contribute to enhancing the short & long term economic situation in southwest Georgia and throughout the state. Virgil Norton directs the Flint River Regional Water Planning and Policy Center.

Projects

Examining the Potential Role of Small Reservoirs and Ponds for Supplementing Irrigation Sources. Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission. ($150,000; 2001-2002)

Flint River Drought Protection. Partnership with the state’s water management agency to address emergency water quantity challenges in Southwest Georgia. Another severe drought required the Georgia Department of Natural Resources – Environmental Protection Division (EPD) to invoke the Flint River Drought Protection Act for the second consecutive year. Once again, the Council and the consortium of research faculty at Albany State and Georgia State Universities responded to the challenge and assisted EPD in the suspension of some 41,000 acres of irrigated farmland in order to protect flows in the Flint River and it’s tributaries. March 2002.

Hooks-Hanner Environmental Resources Center. D. Eigenberg served as on-site coordinator and daily operations supervisor for this important new program

Irrigation Efficiency Cost Share Program. D. Eigenberg, N. Norton & V. Norton. Assist the Georgia Soil & Water Conservation Commission in developing the process, rules and regulations for the new cost share program.

Irrigation Uniformity and Efficiency. Contract with the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission to study irrigation uniformity and efficiency, and the potential to apply advancements from other countries and states to Georgia. ($68,050; 2001-2002)

Joint project with the USDA National Peanut Research Lab on Limited Irrigation. Funded by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division. ($59,506; 2001-2002)

The Potential Role of Off-Main-Stream Reservoirs and Small Ponds for Augmenting a Region’s Reliable Water Supplies. Rainfall amounts and patterns of the past few years in Georgia have resulted in significant decline in some river flows, lake surface elevations, and even groundwater levels. The impacts on water available for municipal water systems, rural household and livestock wells, and irrigation supplies has made it evident that, even in an area with usual rainfall amounts of 50’’ annually, there can be a scarcity of water. Any suggestion that the current situation is only a temporary issue that will be corrected with the return of “normal” rainfall, is shortsighted and ignores the inevitable. Growing demands for water, along with the normal weather cycles that will in the future include drought years, makes planning for improved water conservation, efficiency, distribution, and supply essential for continued economic and social progress in Georgia, especially in Southern Georgia.

Advisory Services to the Legislative Committee Examining Georgia’s Water Planning Process. The passage of SR 142 by the 2001 General Assembly put in motion a new legislative study committee to examine Georgia’s water planning process. Several faculty, staff and board members from the Council and the Georgia Water Planning & Policy Center consortium serve in advisory capacity to this body. The work of this committee has necessitated many analytical papers and briefings with officials wrestling with the complex water issues that face the study committee. A total of sixteen (16) working papers and in depth policy analyses were issued by the consortium universities tasked by the Council. Several of these works have been instrumental in changing the direction of forthcoming recommendations made by the study committee. In summary, the Council’s efforts will leave an indelible mark on the study committee’s report and will most likely have significant impact on Georgia’s water laws and policies for years to come.

Outreach and Activities

The Flint River Regional Water Planning and Policy Center engaged in numerous educational, evaluation and technical outreach activities, including:

• The Council provides leadership in the development of processes for preparing and implementing basin water plans. The Council’s Phase 1 report on the Flint River Basin Water Plan will serve as a guide for future regional basin planning efforts.
• Virgil Norton recruited metering experts from Nebraska, to educate farmers in the Flint River Basin on the methods used in Western states to quantify water usage.
• Measuring water use in agricultural settings has become an important focus in the Council’s efforts to analyze current and potential uses of existing surface and groundwater supplies. The Council’s engineers work with landowners in projects, such as implementation of flow measuring devices in order to better regulate irrigation withdrawals, so as not to impact downstream riparian users.
• Identification and evaluation of alternatives for stabilizing and enhancing annual and seasonal water supplies, such as the construction of reservoirs and small ponds which capture stream and surface run-off during periods of substantial rainfall, and which are then available during the irrigation season.
• Proposal submitted to USDA/NRI Competitive Grants Program for $193,000 project on improving water use efficiency in agriculture, under review.
• Development of a computer database for literature from throughout the world on irrigation efficiency and economic aspects of irrigation.
• Analysis of water use by industry in the Flint River Basin.

Publications

Water Talk, Volume II. Published newsletter presenting active forum of views and news relating to Georgia’s water and natural resources.

COASTAL RIVERS WATER PLANNING & POLICY CENTER

October 1, 2002 marked the second year of the Coastal Rivers Water Planning and Policy Center’s operation in southeast Georgia. The Center plays a proactive role in assessing water use issues that affect southeast Georgia and the Floridan Aquifer. An Advisory Board, and Board of Directors, was created to represent regional stakeholders and water users to help establish research goals and priorities. The project combines the efforts of Georgia State and Georgia Southern universities to establish a program of excellence in coastal water policy research and teaching. The program will focus on the design of basin water plans by utilizing the Coastal Rivers Water Policy Council to anticipate future water resource-related problems; design alternative policies that correct problems; estimate financial and non-monetary benefits and costs associated with alternative policies; and develop a consensus among farmers, industry and other stakeholders as to preferred policies. Emphasis is given to water use characteristics that are of central importance for efforts to estimate future water use as applied to the source of water, farm production cycles and cropping plans, agribusiness production cycles, seasonal changes in water uses caused by population migration and second home uses. Irrigation technology demonstration projects are being designed for willing participants to demonstrate the yield-effectiveness of alternative irrigations systems. Benjamin Thompson is the Director of the Coastal Rivers Water Planning and Policy Center.

Activities of the center included:

• The development of academic courses and continuing education programs in water management and policy taught via distance learning.
• Professor Isley served on the Governor’s Joint Water Plan Study Committee.
• Professor Fisher conducted a study on remote-sensing to determine the location of irrigation wells and withdrawal points for permitted agricultural withdrawals. The research uses Geographic Information System (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) to pinpoint their locations and is important in determining assessments of water use in southeast Georgia.
• Research is underway on the effects of in-stream flows on fisheries by Professor Fisher.