Questions:
Question 1
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.
A) True
B) False
Question 2
The huge amounts of water required for hydraulic fracturing all ends up as toxic waste that is completely removed from the hydrologic cycle.
A) True
B) False
Question 3
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.
A) True
B) False
Question 4
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.
A) True
B) False
Question 5
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.
A) True
B) False
Question 6
Economic rent is the difference in what a factor of production receives and the maximum payment required to keep it in use.
A) True
B) False
Question 7
Water mining refers to taking water out of an aquifer equal to its recharge rate.
A) True
B) False
Question 8
Riparian and prior appropriation waters law will often be inefficient, from an economic standpoint, in how they allocate water.
A) True
B) False
Question 9
Dr Steingraber's conclusion about the regulatory system that is supposed to protect our environment is that:
A) current laws and regulations are adequate.
B) air pollution regulations are adequate, but water pollutions regulations are not.
C) the entire regulatory system is deaf to what science is saying about how polluted the environment is.
D) there is not enough scientific information for regulators to make informed decisions.
Question 10
The expected punishment cost is equal to
A) punishment cost / punishment probability
B) punishment probability / punishment cost
C) punishment probability x punishment cost
D) punishment cost + punishment probability
Question 11
The Millinium Ecosystem Assessment was
A) a report by the EPA about the potential impacts from 1,000 year weather events.
B) a survey by the United Nations about the impact of economic development on global ecosystems over the past millinium.
C) a report by the EU about the global decline in all major ecosystems on the planet.
D) a report by the United Nations about the global decline in all major ecosystems on the planet.
Question 12
With regards to ecosystem services, the key unsolved problem is
A) understanding how to value how species relate to each other within an ecosystem.
B) understanding how to value how species relate to the global ecosystem from within their local ecosystem.
C) how to place monetary value on the renewable resources within an ecosystem.
D) how to include the value of ecosystem services in a monetary economy.
Question 13
Tar sands oil, mountain top removal for coal, deep sea oil drilling and fracking, according to Dr Steingraber, are all examples of
Question 14
The three basic types of standards that can be used in command-and-control regulations are
Question 15
The alternate approach to environmental regulation besides command-and-control standards are
policies.
Question 16
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.
Question 17
The pattern of population growth over time by most biological species can be described by a mathematical relationship known as a
Question 18
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.
Question 19
The United Nations has declared that the four categories of valuing ecosystem services are
Question 20
TAC, with regards to catch share fishery programs, means
Question 21
For a regulator faced with setting up a new program, how is a tradable emissions market like a Wall Street IPO?
Question 22
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?
Question 23
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?
Question 24
Hubbert's Peak, a prediction published in 1956, did what and by whom?
Question 25
Prior appropriation, with regard to Western water law, means:
Question 26
A Pigovian tax seeks to correct what?
Question 27
Toxic trespass, as Dr Steingraber defines it, means what?
Question 28
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?
Question 29
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.
Question 30
Explain some of the advantages of a carbon tax over a cap-and-trade approach to curbing the production of greenhouse gases.