Economic Question

Oyster reefs, which used to line the coasts of New York and New Jersey, could have lessened the impact of Hurrican Sandy's flood damage.

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The huge amounts of water required for hydraulic fracturing all ends up as toxic waste that is completely removed from the hydrologic cycle.

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Based on trial-and-error experience, and theoretical results, command-and-control policies have proven to be the most efficient way to implement environmental regulations.

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The Clean Water Act has been widely violated for decades since its passage in 1972 due to lack of enforcement by state agencies charged with implementing it.

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The State Forest Service of CSU has been helping with the pine beetle epidemic in Colorado by buying up much of dead timber and selling the lumber.

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Economic rent is the difference in what a factor of production receives and the maximum payment required to keep it in use.

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Water mining refers to taking water out of an aquifer equal to its recharge rate.

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Riparian and prior appropriation waters law will often be inefficient, from an economic standpoint, in how they allocate water.

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Multiple Choice

Dr Steingraber's conclusion about the regulatory system that is supposed to protect our environment is that:

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The expected punishment cost is equal to

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The Millinium Ecosystem Assessment was

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With regards to ecosystem services, the key unsolved problem is

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Fill In the Blank

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Tar sands oil, mountain top removal for coal, deep sea oil drilling and fracking, according to Dr Steingraber, are all examples of

.

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Question 14 options:

The three basic types of standards that can be used in command-and-control regulations are 

, 

and 

.

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Question 15 options:

The alternate approach to environmental regulation besides command-and-control standards are

policies.

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Question 16 options:

The central task of regulators that are charged with implementing an environmental law, is to translate

language into

metrics through which the law can be enforced.

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Question 17 options:

The pattern of population growth over time by most biological species can be described by a mathematical relationship known as a

.

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Question 18 options:

Under the 1996 Sustainable Fisheries Act, if a fish species falls below

percent of its natural population, fishing must be halted until it has regained

percent of its natural population level.

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Question 19 options:

The United Nations has declared that the four categories of valuing ecosystem services are

,

,

, and

.

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Question 20 options:

TAC, with regards to catch share fishery programs, means

.

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Short Answer

For a regulator faced with setting up a new program, how is a tradable emissions market like a Wall Street IPO?

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How did the New York Times collect the large amount of information that it used to created the Toxic Water series of articles about the Clean Water Act?

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What is the basic reason that the valuing of ecosystem services provided by a renewable resource should be given a higher priority than the valuing of the profits that can be made form them?

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Hubbert's Peak, a prediction published in 1956, did what and by whom?

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Prior appropriation, with regard to Western water law, means:

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A Pigovian tax seeks to correct what?

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Longer Answer

Toxic trespass, as Dr Steingraber defines it, means what?

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Explain what are the economic arguments for using tradable emission rights. What are some of the developments that have resulted in the practice of such markets?

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Explain how marginal cost trends are likely to behave with regards to non-renewable and renewable energy sources in the foreseeable future, and how the political debate over them will impact their pricing.

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Extra Credit

Explain some of the advantages of a carbon tax over a cap-and-trade approach to curbing the production of greenhouse gases.

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