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These papers are for discussion purposes only and are not endorsed by the PC Party of Manitoba. If you would like to suggest other papers for consideration, please email us, including a link to the paper, at
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Summary of Research:
Taxation and Environment
Thinking Outside the Fence: International Land Stewardship Policy Options for...
Political leadership needed to forge environmental New Deal
Searching for the Good Life in a Carbon Neutral BC: Meeting BC’s Greenhouse...
Rescuing Lake Winnipeg with Better Public Policy: Grey water ban produces...
Power, Water and Roads Could Benefit from Smarter Pricing: Through Smart...
Water and Wastewater Treatment in Canada: Tapping into Private-Sector Capital...
Is the Answer Blowing in the Wind? Or in Government Energy Subsidies?
Cap and Trade: Reducing Pollution, Inspiring Innovation
Getting Tough on Urban Sprawl: Solutions to Meet Ontario Climate Change Targets
The Economic Valuation of Health Impacts
A Thread Down a Football Field: Why a West Side Manitoba Hydro Transmission...
Popper, Hayek, And Environmental Regulation
A Framework For Safe Drinking Water
The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change
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Taxation and Environment
Source: The Australia Institute
Article synopsis:
- Provides a general description of market mechanisms encouraging and repelling excessive energy use
- Presents rates of externality-internalization in the US and European countries, and supplies examples of economic policies, such as optional congestion fees, industrial energy taxes, the American “gas guzzler” vehicle tax, etc., that have been implemented to alleviate environmental degradation, largely in the transport sector, but also in the areas of waste reduction, land use, and water conservation, etc.
- Presents numerous current Australian taxes, excises, and other economic packages that are (intentionally or otherwise) stimulating the transport sector, the logging industry, reducing the price-competitiveness and investment appeal of renewable energy,
- Imports European or American energy conservation, land/water/waste-management mechanisms, or recommends original solutions, to realize structural shifts toward resource efficiency
Areas of focus:
- Section 8: “Priority reforms” in transport, stationary energy, urban/rural water use, land/waste/forest management – summarizes recommended reform measures (p. 41-44 text OR p. 55-58 PDF)
- Tables 1 and 2 (p. 5-6 text OR p. 19-20 PDF) and following text
- Section 3.2: “Studies of the EU” (p. 7-9 text, p. 21-23 PDF) – examples of recent European transportation/energy policies
- Table 4 (Overview of environmental taxes and charges in New England states, USA) ( p. 11-12 text)
- Pages 16-22 text OR p. 30-36 PDF: Transport/Parking
- Pages 28-29 text OR p. 41-42 PDF: Urban water – user fees and developer charges
- Section 6.3: “Land” (p. 31-32 text OR p. 45-46 PDF)
- Section 7.4: “Domestic and non-industrial waste” (p. 38-39 text OR p. 52-53 PDF)
Quotes:
“Where an additional charge, tax or levy is recommended, it is proposed that in most cases these form part of a package where any additional revenue is recycled to protect those most disadvantaged by the policy by removing regressive taxes and charges or providing rebates.”
“Summarizing the international literature on the total impact of noise, emissions
(excluding greenhouse gases), accident and congestion externalities from the transport
sector...the value of these externalities was in the range of 2.28–3.09 per cent of GDP in the countries examined...The US EPA (1997) has estimated that for every $1 spent on reducing transport emissions the community benefits by around $44 in saved health and other costs.” |
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Thinking Outside the Fence: International Land Stewardship Policy Options for the Canadian Agricultural Sector
Source: Canada West Foundation
Link: http://www.cwf.ca/V2/files/AGreportLSI.pdf
Article synopsis:
- Demonstrates international popularization of policies rewarding farmers for provision of ecological goods and services and efforts toward supporting sustainable land stewardship
- Highlights seven stewardship programs (“case studies”) in B.C., the U.S., Britain, Australia, etc.; provides background information on the causes of their creation, their structures and rules of application/participation, results to date, distinguishing innovations, and potential pitfalls. Levels and mechanisms of government involvement are explained
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Political leadership needed to forge environmental New Deal
Source: Canadian Centre for policy Alternatives
Link: http://www.policyalternatives.ca/MonitorIssues/2007/09/MonitorIssue1725/
Article Synopsis
-Discusses inadequacies in the free-market approach to energy conservation and broader environmental protection, and recommends stronger federal role in initiating eco-friendly projects and resolving attendant economic repercussions
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Searching for the Good Life in a Carbon Neutral BC: Meeting BC’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets with Fairness and Equity
Source: Canadian Centre for policy Alternatives
Link: http://www.policyalternatives.ca/documents/BC_Office_Pubs/bc_2008/ccpa_searching_for_the_good_life.pdf
Article synopsis:
- Explains variations of carbon pricing (carbon taxes, cap-and-trade, carbon quotas) and their intended effects on nonrenewable fuel costs, as well as possible repercussions for general economic equality (aboriginal and low-income communities would be disproportionately affected by increased energy charges)
- “Should we aim for an equal percentage reduction in emissions? Or an equal per person reduction? Or should emissions be reduced in line with a common per person entitlement to emit greenhouse gases?”
- Identifies transportation, expensive housing, and active forestry/oil industries as causes for increased emissions in B.C., as well as development plans at odds with meeting reduction targets
- Describes B.C.’s reduction goals in various energy sectors
- Recommends economic solutions (largely along lines of carbon pricing mechanisms) and complementary “revenue-recycling” policies to counteract negative impact on low-income populations, alleviate unemployment during transition from fossil to alternative fuels, and bolster development in other environment-friendly industries
Areas of focus:
- “Policy Options” (p. 7-8)
- “Summary of BC Government Climate Change Policy Initiatives” (p. 18-19)
- Page 25 (income inequality and vulnerable populations)
- “Carbon Pricing and Caps” (p. 27-32)
- “Urban Development” (p. 34-35) and “Electricity Generation” (p. 37-38)
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Rescuing Lake Winnipeg with Better Public Policy: Grey water ban produces worse environmental outcomes
Source: Frontier Centre
Link: http://www.fcpp.org/main/publication_detail.php?PubID=1858
Article Synopsis:
Discusses the detrimental effects of the Manitoba cottage industry’s grey-water bans on Lake Winnipeg’s algae situation
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Power, Water and Roads Could Benefit from Smarter Pricing: Through Smart Pricing We can Avoid a Tragedy of the Commons
Source: Frontier Centre
Link: http://www.fcpp.org/main/publication_detail.php?PubID=2056
Article Synopsis:
Discusses flawed subsidies for urban transport/electricity/water usage, and suggests implementing conservation-inducing price signals
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Water and Wastewater Treatment in Canada: Tapping into Private-Sector Capital, Expertise, and Efficiencies
Source: Frontier Centre
Link: http://www.fraserinstitute.org/commerce.web/product_files/WaterWastewater.pdf
Article synopsis:
- Describes the increasing threat of wastewater effluents to drinking-water safety (particularly in aboriginal communities) and poor treatment of wastewater prior to discharge due to the erosion or insufficient size of existing processing facilities
- Renewal of Canadian wastewater infrastructure requires massive investments, which will not be entirely undertaken by the public sector
- Recommends incorporating private capital investment on grounds of greater expertise, efficiency, and accountability, and invokes American examples of successful private operations
- Suggests increased federal regulatory role, including reductions in wastewater subsidies and incentives for private corporation involvement
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Is the Answer Blowing in the Wind? Or in Government Energy Subsidies?
Source: Pacific Research Institute
Link: http://liberty.pacificresearch.org/publications/is-the-answer-blowing-in-the-wind-or-in-government-energy-subsidies
Article Synopsis;
Discusses the economic and environmental potential of wind energy, the current rate of subsidies on this resource, and the necessity of removing those subsidies to prevent long-term detriment to its competitiveness
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Cap and Trade: Reducing Pollution, Inspiring Innovation
Source: Pembina institute
Link: http://pubs.pembina.org/reports/capandtrade-rpt.pdf
Article synopsis:
- Explains the cap-and-trade system, emission permits and offsets, their economic mechanisms and necessary regulation criteria
- Describes the Western Climate Initiative (between Canada and the U.S. – including Manitoba) and makes comparison with the EU Emissions Trading System and other American initiatives (including their respective purposes, auction volumes, compliance rules, etc.)
- Provides guidelines for a British Columbian cap-and-trade program
Areas of focus:
- Sections 1.2-1.4 (p. 8-11)
- Section 2.1.1: “Western Climate Initiative” (p. 12-13)
- Section 3 (p. 18-23)
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Getting Tough on Urban Sprawl: Solutions to Meet Ontario Climate Change Targets
Source: Pembina Institute
Link: http://pubs.pembina.org/reports/smartgrowth2007.pdf
Article Synopsis:
Criticizes Ontario planning policies for failure to impose adequate limitations on unsustainable urban development and to provide sufficient fiscal incentives for conservation-friendly growth, and presents existing policy and projects on the emissions-reduction front
Areas of focus:
- Sections 2.3-2.4 (p. 13-15)
- Sections 3.1, 3.3
- Table 3: Smart Growth Index Indicators (p. 24-25)
- Section 4.3: Transit Planning (p. 27)
- Sections 5.3-5.5 (p. 34-38)
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The Economic Valuation of Health Impacts
Source: John A. Dixon, World Bank
Article Synopsis:
While the health related costs of air and water pollution are recognized, calculating them exactly has always proven problematic, both from the perspective of palatability (actuarial number values on lives seem insensitive) and the difficulty of calculating quality of life, as compared simply with healthcare costs. This paper presents an approach toward assessing the costs of pollution. A rational basis for evaluating the costs of pollution to people living with pollution is crucial if sensible anti-pollution policy is our goal. A number of proposed remedies for pollution are prohibitively expensive, and since pollution prevention resources, like all others, are scarce and in much demand, it is only with a useful appraisal of the true costs of pollution that policy-makers are best able to craft affordable and effective regulations and incentives. Solid economic analysis of health outcomes can identify which environmental problems should be considered the highest priority, and help to target limited investment dollars.
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A Thread Down a Football Field: Why a West Side Manitoba Hydro Transmission Line is Bad Environmental Policy
Source: James Blatz and Robert Sopuck, Frontier Centre for Public Policy
Article synopsis:
Manitoba’s ability to generate clean and renewable energy from hydro projects is one of the province’s major assets. As Manitoba Hydro’s capacity to generate grows, so does the need for a third route for transmitting this power safely and efficiently to users in Winnipeg and beyond. The location of this line, Bi-Pole III, is a matter of some controversy. To increase the resilience of system, the third route should be located some distance away from the two existing lines.
The two major options are therefore down the east side of Lake Winnipeg (ESLW) or the west side of Lake Winnipegosis (WSLW). The ESLW route is 885 km long, while the WSLW route is more than half again as long, at 1340 km. The difference in footprint between the two routes is greater still, since a significant portion of the ESLW route runs over the Canadian Shield, and support structures can be built directly on rock, without interfering with local vegetation at all.
Another factor in choosing a new line is the efficiency of power transmission. Due to resistance in power lines, a certain amount of energy is wasted in transit, known as line loss. Line loss increases as the length of the line does. Based upon the estimated power generation once new projects come on-line, the additional loss of energy caused by choosing the WSLW route over the ESLW is 56 MW. Based upon conservative estimates, this is equivalent to the power consumption of 25 000 new homes.
There are environmental costs to this waste, as well. Since the 56 MW lost to line loss will never reach energy markets, energy from other sources, primarily coal, will fill this need. The resulting CO2 emissions that will result – that could be avoided entirely if those 56 MW reached consumers – are the equivalent of the output of 40 000 new cars on the road. |
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Popper, Hayek, And Environmental Regulation
Source: The Fraser Institute – Fraser Forum 2005 (Julian Morris)
Link: www.policynetwork.net/uploaded/pdf/popper_hayek_envreg.pdf
Article synopsis:
6 basic rules pertaining to environmental policy as it related to regulation
Regulations that seek to limit the impact of particular substances on the environment must take account of the actual impacts of those substances in the particular circumstances in which they occur.
If any of the empirical conjectures upon which a regulation is based or refuted, or better explanations provided, then that regulation should be amended
Competition for the funding of science in any field must not be restricted y the state
Regulations should not be based on assumptions about the direction of growth of scientific knowledge.
Devolve environmental regulation to the lowest level that is feasible given the particular kind of problem that is being addressed
When constructing regulations, take care to avoid harmful unintended consequences, and in particular to avoid undermining successful principles of law.
This provides a descriptive framework for the development of both scientific knowledge, moral and legal rules that help prevent the construction of inappropriate environmental regulations.
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A Framework For Safe Drinking Water
Source: Dr. Hans Peterson and Dr. Colin Fricker – Safe Drinking Water Foundation
Link: http://www.echoworld.com/B09/B0902/B0902_swatr.html
Article synopsis:
If engineers and water treatment process manufacturers have guidelines for what qualities safe drinking water should have, they can work towards finding effective solutions
There is a discrepancy between safe drinking water solutions in rural areas than in urban areas.
Problems and solutions to those problems should be looked at by using sound science rather than what is politically expedient.
Water quality issues vary by region and therefore each region may have different methods of achieving the same results.
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The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change
Source: Cabinet Office - H.M. Treasury, U.K.
Link: Full Stern Review Report
Article Synopsis:
- provides an overview of the science and the economics of climate change
- includes discussion of policies aimed at mitigation and adaptation
- describes the economic, social and environmental consequences of climate change
- analyzes the costs and benefits of actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Quotes:
"The costs of stabilising the climate are significant but manageable; delay would be dangerous and much more costly."
"Action of climate change is required across all countries, and it need not cap the aspirations for growth of rich or poor countries."
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