MAE 124/ESYS 103 Spring 2006

Additional Guidance for Paper 1.

Paper topic:  MAE124_Paper1.pdf


Next TA Office Hour: Monday, April 24, 4:00 pm in EBU-II Room 469.

Sample sources for information:

From the assigned reading: Dorf Ch. 8 discusses cost-benefit analysis and government regulation. Assigned reading by Portnoy for week 3 also discusses cost-benefit analysis. Week 3 readings on EPA proposed regulatory changes (EPA fact sheet) and other alternatives (Probst) show examples of issues you could explore.

Resources for the Future:  an environmental think tank that focuses on evaluating "true social costs and benefits". Check their publications for discussions of cost-benefits of environmental polcies.

The Heinz Center:  also an environmental foundation with concerns for sustainability and the environment. Some publications may be helpful.

The California Environmental Protection Agency:  California has implemented a number of policies that have not been considered nationally. This may provide some food for thought.

European Commission Environment Programme:  European policies may also provide a broader view of what can be done and how.

Frequently Asked Questions


1.  What does an EPA regulation look like?
Regulations are public documents, and you can study all of them using the EPA web site on Laws and Regulations.   "Codified Regulations" is a good subcategory if you want to track down numerous examples.

Here are details on the national clean air standards: National primary and secondary ambient air quality standards. The category on detailed primary air quality standards for sulfur dioxide shows four items with a level of detail comparable to what you might want to consider.

Here's another recent example with lots of background about how the regulation was adopted (not necessarily pertinent to this paper topic):  National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Industrial Process Cooling Towers.

The regulation that you prepare should not be more than one page in length, and it does not need to use legalistic terminology.   However, it should be specific about what government action or requirement you are proposing and how this should be implemented. 

2.  How do we use turnitin.com?
See the detailed instructions.

3.  In the example "industrial process cooling tower" regulation, there is a preamble that includes background, today's action, statutory and executive order review. Do I need to include or that?
No, you're asked to keep your regulatory language to about a page, which in the case of the example regulation means that you'd present roughly the details that appear in the "Summary". The EPA air quality standards now referenced above are probably a better guideline for what you should do.

It's true that government regulations can sometimes run several hundred pages, and that they include numerous different components. We'd like to see a clear statement of the "guts" of the regulation. What specific actions are you requiring? Detailed justification will appear in your paper.

4.  In the paper handout, there are three parts (a), (b), and (c) that need to be included in my proposal. Part (a) asks me to state the wording that I propose for the rule. Is this part a regulation, or is it simply the 3rd Congressional finding given in the handout?
Part (a) will be the separate page containing the regulation. Parts (b) and (c) will contain the justifications and will be the substance of the term paper. We ask that you focus your justifications on costs and benefits and on the 3Es, rather than considering the other types of justifications that sometimes appear in regulatory material (such as risk assessment results or Congressional mandates.)

5.  I gather from the instructions that I am to create a piece of legislation that will ensure the 3rd congressional statement. Does this mean that I am supposed to come up with a plan the ensures that the public is officially notified of all technological developments?
The 3rd finding states that the EPA is responsible for regulation regarding the promotion of new technologies. The word promotion can refer to publicity, but it can also refer to the idea of encouraging the use of new technology. Thus your plan can include actions other than just publicizing new technological developments.

I caution you that this is to be a relatively short paper, and you therefore you should choose a fairly narrow topic (and preferably one that genuinely interests you) so that you can explore it in detail in your paper. You do not need to try to solve all the US environmental regulatory problems with your single piece of regulation.

6.  It sounds as if there are really TWO papers to write. The legislation itself as well as a a self-critique of this legislation. How is that supposed to be done?
Yes, you are being asked to produce two documents, but they should be very closely intertwined. The regulation can be quite short. (Take a look at the EPA "National primary and secondary ambient air quality standards" referenced above.) We've asked you to put the regulation on a separate piece of paper just for simplicity; you can treat it as an appendix to the main body of the paper. The paper itself should focus on a well-documented analysis of the costs and benefits of your proposed regulation.

7.  How do I create footnotes? Are endnotes acceptable?
Footnotes and endnotes are both fine. Any consistent format is OK. The Chicago Manual of Style is one standard format, and you can find a detailed discussion of its usage for term papers at this University of Wisconsin writing center site.

You may also use citation methods commonly used for scientific papers, such as in line references to author and year, with a full reference list at the end. A sample reference might be "[Smith and Jones, 2006]". In this case, you should be sure to identify specific page numbers where relevant ("[Smith and Jones, 2006, p. 291]").

8.  For benefit and cost analysis, is it necessary to come up with actual estimates of dollar amounts or just general descriptive analysis? Please give me some advice about how to go about assessing benefits and costs (and of 3Es, particularly equity) of my regulation.
Chapter 8 of your textbook and the Portnoy reading for week 3 have good discussions of costs and benefits. As much as possible you should try to be quantitative, particularly for the economic factors. If you can find good ways to include equity and environmental considerations in your economic costs and benefits, that's great. You can also talk about equity and environment considerations in a qualitative way. (How would the regulation affect the environment? How will it affect lower income people? Will it have an impact on the developing world? What are possible side effects or revenge effects of your regulation?)

9.  How should web pages be cited? What types of web pages are acceptable as sources?
If you use a web page as a source, then you should cite it, providing as much standard reference information as possible: author, title, date, location, etc. Keep in mind that web pages vary considerably in credibility. In general, the most credible information comes from peer-reviewed scholarly publications (which could include electronic journals and electronic reprints posted to web pages). Researched reports (with citations) from environmental organizations are also often fairly reliable, although they may not have gone through a peer review process. Some web pages are essentially advertising brochures for a particular product, and you should probably assume that the authors are presenting a biased view of their products features. (Much material also appears in blogs, which can be interesting and provocative, but not have much real research or information behind them. We don't recommend blogs as primary research sources.)