How has Oregon's land use planning system affected property values?

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837711000469

Abstract: Oregon's landmark land use planning system has been criticized for imposing large negative effects on landowners’ property values, although evidence to support these claims has been lacking. This paper examines longitudinal data for undeveloped parcels since before adoption of the planning system. The sample includes parcels under different land use regulations, and it compares Oregon to Washington. The results indicate generally that property values have increased at similar rates both inside and outside urban growth boundaries, and across parcels zoned for different uses and across state lines. The results are consistent both with theory and with other studies indicating land use regulations can have positive, neutral or negative effects.
 

Highlights:

► The effects of land use regulations on property values in Oregon are evaluated.

► “Before-and-after” data covering 35 years are examined in Oregon and Washington.

► Results find property values have risen at similar rates inside and outside urban growth boundaries. ► Results find property values have risen similarly across zoning types and state lines.
 

Many states in the USA attempt to manage urban growth so that development is directed to urban areas equipped to accommodate development, and rural lands are preserved for resource and other non-urban uses. The state of Oregon is entering its third decade of what many commentators describe as the nation's most aggressive urban growth management programme administered statewide. This article reports a recent evaluation of the effectiveness of the state urban growth management policies as they are implemented by the metropolitan Portland area. The metropolitan Portland area contains the largest population, employment and land base within a single urban growth boundary in the USA. Using primary data collection and analysis, the effectiveness of the urban growth management and resource land preservation effort is assessed. Nearly all regional development has been directed to the urban growth boundary and away from resource lands. Many problems with administration are found, however. Policy implications are suggested.

...

In Lane County Oregon data show a large difference between real per-acre property values inside and outside the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB). By 2002, this difference was $24,894 per acre. [This implies] that the UGB, by limiting development opportunities, has greatly reduced the value of parcels outside the boundary.  However, this conclusion is not necessarily warranted. While the current average value of land inside the UGB is higher than that outside, the same was true in 1965. The differences in values in 1965 cannot be due to the UGB, as it had not been designated at that time. They likely were due to locational advantages, particularly proximity to the city center. The average distance to the Eugene city center for our sample of parcels outside the UGB is more than twice that for those inside the UGB.

... 

Location relative to the UGB is a relatively coarse filter. High-density residential development is not necessarily permitted on all parcels within the UGB. Thus, we also evaluated the effects of different zoning classes. For the parcels in our sample, the highest density residential zoning category (a maximum of 14 single-family housing units per acre) was low-density residential zoning (R-1). Residential housing development is allowed on parcels zoned rural residential (RR), but at lower densities (in our sample, either 5- or 10-acre minimum lot size). Finally, exclusive farm use (E) and forest lands (F) zoning are very restrictive in terms of housing development.  For example, dwellings may be constructed on EFU land only if they are directly related to the agricultural enterprise.

...

Land with R-1 zoning has the highest average value in 2002, in large part because of its proximity to the city center. This is followed by land with RR zoning, E zoning, and F zoning. This suggests that zoning restrictions have not greatly reduced property values. Land that eventually was zoned R-1 already had the highest average per-acre value in 1965: $1266 per acre, compared to $389 per acre (RR), $504 per acre (E), and $210 per acre (F). Like parcels located inside the UGB, R-1 land tended to have locational advantages such as proximity to the Eugene city center.

We compared the growth in land values for each zoning designation relative to values prior to implementation of land use regulations. For each subsample, we took the 1965–1972 average value as the base and computed the increase in value in each period relative to that base. The highest rates of  appreciation were realized on land with F zoning. By 2002, the value of this land had grown about 200 percent more than land with the least restrictive zoning (R-1). A high growth rate was also seen on land with RR zoning. The lowest growth rate was on the developable lands (R-1 zoning).

...

In Jackson County as expected, parcels with the least restrictions on residential housing construction have the highest average values in 2005. However, the growth in average land values over the 1965–2005 period was greatest for parcels with OSR and WR zoning. The average value of parcels with OSR and WR zoning relative to their 1965 value was 1,160 percent and 1,602 percent, respectively.

For RR and EFU parcels, the 2005 value was about 530 percent of the 1965 value. Thus, properties with OSR and WR zoning appreciated more by 2005 than properties with RR and EFU zoning. A similar result was found in Lane County.

by William K. Jaeger 1, Andrew J. Plantinga 1, and Cyrus Grout 2
1. Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Oregon State University, United States; 213 Ballard Extension Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331, United States. Tel.: +1 541 737 1419.
2. INRA (French National Institute for Agricultural Research), France
Land Use Policy via Elsevier Science Direct www.ScienceDirect.com
Volume 29, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 62–72
Also see: http://arec.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/faculty/plantinga/jaeger_plantinga_grout_2011_land_use_policy.pdf
Keywords: Land use regulations; Property values; Urban growth boundaries; Land use planning

Report: "Public Lands Near Grand County Play Vital Economic Role, Tourism & Recreation Businesses Account for 44% of Private Jobs", Includes Recommendations for How Leaders Can Maximize Long-Term Returns from Nearby Public Lands

A new report shows that public lands near Grand County, Utah play a major economic role in the region, with tourism and recreation businesses accounting for 44 percent of private employment in the county; and that more than one-third of local households have a member that works in a tourism and recreation business related to public lands, while nearly two-thirds of county residents indicate that public lands are “extremely important” to their vocation.

“A significant reason for the county’s economic success stems from the diversity found today within Grand County’s tourism and recreation economy,” said Ben Alexander, the report’s author. “Moving forward, public lands will continue to play an important role for the region, and finding ways to sustain and develop new activities that appeal to a wide mixture of visitors and residents is paramount to the county’s long-term economic health.”

To conduct the report, (available at http://headwaterseconomics.org/land/reports/economic-grand-county/) Headwaters Economics, a non-profit research group based in Bozeman, examined a wide range of public lands uses, including mining and agriculture, but focused on recreation because this type of use represents the largest, most complex, and least well understood activity on public lands in the county.

The full report contains detailed analysis of Grand County employment, trends, and government revenues. For example, the study analyzed the employment impact of federal public lands, and an IMPLAN analysis shows that area BLM lands supported 2,447 direct jobs in 2007. For the National Park Service, the Money Generation Model (MGM2) shows that area national parks supported 2,181 direct jobs in 2009. (These data should not be added together.) To put this in perspective, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that in 2007 there were 6,724 total jobs in Grand County and in 2009 there were 6,687 total jobs.

The report was created after a local steering committee—including representatives from Trail Mix, Ride with Respect, Red Rock Four Wheelers, Moab Lodging Association, Moab Trail Alliance, Moab Chamber of Commerce, and local officials—asked the Grand County Council to support a study on the economic and fiscal role of public lands in the county that could be the basis for informed discussions about how to develop, protect, and manage nearby public lands so that they benefit businesses, the county, and diverse users into the future.
...
Within the wide variety of public lands uses, BLM surveys show that hiking is the most common activity on its lands, followed by biking and nature viewing. Using a tailored spending profile, IMPLAN analysis shows that hiking on BLM lands has the largest economic impact, followed by nature viewing, biking, and motor vehicle use. In addition to the economic benefits of tourism and recreation, Grand County’s picturesque and high-profile public lands and the environmental and recreational amenities they provide are closely linked to economic growth. The county, for example, has had some success attracting new residents who find the communities and surrounding public lands in the area compelling—almost a third of net population growth in the last decade resulted from in-migration. The county also has seen increases in non-labor sources of personal income, especially retirement-related income, which has boosted per capita income and added stability to the local economy.

Despite past success, future growth in Grand County cannot be taken for granted. The boom years of the 1990s when the county’s economy grew by seven percent annually have yielded to the 2000s when the economic growth rate slowed to two percent annually.

This deceleration should lead to discussion on how Grand County can best utilize public lands to remain economically competitive as its tourism and recreation economy matures. Specific issues include:

• Whether different users are crowding each other out and diminishing one another’s experience;
• The continued quality of the landscape and uniqueness of the outdoor offerings; and
• The area’s ability to compete with rivals in the outdoor recreation market that have constructed new signature trail systems or are benefiting from newly created and high profile public lands protections.

The report also includes recommendations to help ensure Grand County’s future economic health:

• Educate the public to understand better the important economic role that public lands play in Grand County, including a periodic update on the county’s economic health and trends, especially focused on tourism and recreation;
• Partner closely with public land managers on planning and decisions that impact public lands in Grand County, including supplemental work and funding to maximize the protection and return of public lands assets;
• Ensure the continued diversity of recreation options and the capacity for public lands to support a wide variety of user activities. In addition, make sure that recreation uses do not directly conflict and drive away visitors or create the impression that the county favors one form of recreation; and
• Utilize the national and international visibility created by public lands recreation—such as national parks, mountain biking, jeep events, and the Colorado River—to attract visitors or retirees with the potential to relocate and bring new businesses and wealth to the region.

“Grand County enjoys many benefits from nearby public lands,” noted Alexander. “To continue to capitalize on the competitive advantage that these lands provide, the county and local groups should work collaboratively with state and federal officials to implement policies that sustain existing uses and also anticipate future development and protection needs.”

In fiscal year 2009, area national park visitor spending contributed to an estimated $44.7 million in labor income while NPS payroll contributed another $8.8 million in labor income, resulting in $53.5 million in total labor income. To put this in perspective, total labor earnings in Grand County for 2009 were $192 million.
...
Visitors spend money on a variety of items, including hotels, restaurants, bars, sporting goods stores, gasoline, and other goods and services. Based on responses to the survey, a “spending profile” was developed for each type of recreation user of BLM lands and the economic impact on their spending was calculated. In fiscal year 2007, the economic impact of non-local BLM visitor spending was $177 million in local output and more than $64 million in labor income for Grand County.
...
A number of studies have been conducted to measure the impact of mountain biking in the Moab area. One  1998 study calculated the “consumer surplus,” which is a measure of the difference between the maximum  price a consumer is willing to pay and the actual price they do pay. They concluded that the bike trails in the Moab area “produce a high consumer surplus to the users,” amounting to between $197 to $205 per trip. The consumer surplus for the Slickrock trail alone was $8,422,800 to $8,770,300 in 1998. One of the  implications of the study is that annual visitor rates are not sensitive to fees because users believe they are getting a good deal (i.e., a high “consumer “surplus”) and an entrance fee (e.g., to the Slickrock trail) is a  small part of overall trip costs.

Another 1998 study found that the average “willingness to pay” (WTP) by a mountain biker is $1,483 (WTP is the maximum amount a person would be willing to pay for a good). The total annual use value of mountain biking in the Moab area was estimated to be $1.33 million. The authors concluded: “This value suggests that this recreation has a higher value than most other activities in the area and that public lands managers should be aware of the relative value of mountain biking as they make allocation decisions.”
...
Following the release of this and other reports on November 30, 2011 Headwarters organized more than 100 economists and academics in related fields from across the country that sent a letter to President Obama urging him to “create jobs and support businesses by investing in our public lands infrastructure and establishing new protected areas such as parks, wilderness, and monuments.” The letter, which includes three Nobel laureates, states that federal protected public lands are essential to the West’s economic future, attracting innovative companies and workers, and contributing a vital component of the region’s competitive advantage.

Additional information:

• Letter to the President and Signers
• News Release
• Summary of Analysis on Economic Impact of Protected Lands
• Annotated Bibliography of Related Peer-Reviewed Research
• Short video of Dr. Ray Rasker discussing the letter to President Obama.

Headwaters Economics http://headwaterseconomics.org/.
Press Releases dated October 31, 2011 and November 30, 2011

Environmental concerns prove to be only tiny piece of puzzle

http://www.smh.com.au/national/environmental-concerns-prove-to-be-only-tiny-piece-of-puzzle-20111208-1olg9.html
MEASURES of economic wellbeing are great at assessing the value of the land and minerals we own and mine, but poor at reflecting the other side of the coin: the cost of resource depletion and land degradation due to agriculture, mining and development.

They are worse still at capturing the cost of pollution - where it causes illness, it can actually push up the gross domestic product of the health sector - and the value people placed on loss of species and ecosystems.

On resource depletion, the Herald/Lateral Economics wellbeing index borrows a model from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which estimates the cost of land degradation based on impact on land values and yield rates.

In 2009-10, this was equivalent to $406 million. But this alone does not tell the story. The index must also reflect the value of new mineral discoveries and the cost of the exploration. Once these are factored in, it reaches $1.05 billion. While this may sound large, it is small in relative terms - just 0.1 per cent of net national income.

''If you are looking at resource depletion it has a small impact on wellbeing, and if you are looking at it quarter-to-quarter you would hardly notice the change,'' the chief executive of Lateral Economics, Nicholas Gruen, says.

This is not a universally held view. Left-leaning think tank the Australia Institute placed much greater weight on the impact of environmental damage in a report released earlier this year.

Gruen says he expects some people will be surprised by the low cost of resource depletion. ''But when you think these things through, technology keeps improving and we keep finding new resources,'' he says.

''Even if you were starting to end up with fewer reserves, the other thing that happens is we get much better at mining and processing.''

He gives the example of the central Victorian goldfields - an asset that was written off after the 19th century but where resources companies have recently returned with some success.

On climate change, the index weighs the cost and likelihood of three scenarios - that the world does nothing to cut emissions and temperatures rise by more than 5 degrees, that the increase is between 2 degrees and 3 degrees, and that the Copenhagen Accord goal of limiting warming to 2 degrees is achieved.

Estimates of the cost of each scenario are taken from the Garnaut Review; the probability of each happening from a climate models review by the United Nations Environment Programand emissions data from the International Energy Agency.

On current evidence, Lateral Economics concludes there is a 5 per cent chance of the worst-case scenario, a 70 per cent chance of 2-3 degrees warming and 25 per cent chance of less than 2 degrees. The net present value last year of the future economic damage caused by climate change was estimated at $400 million.


On environmental and ecosystem health, the wellbeing index database includes the Yale Environmental Performance Index, which assesses agriculture, forestry, biodiversity and air pollution. But, in what is likely to be a controversial assessment, the results are given no dollar weighting. .

Gruen calls it ''the Spice Girls question'': when people are asked what they ''really, really want'' in financial terms, ecosystems do not rate well.

''People say they want a clean environment and they care about air pollution. They will rally around the Franklin Dam, but if you tell them something is endangered it is hard to see any evidence of the extent to which they are prepared to pay for that,'' he says.

Related:
Nation richer, older and a little bit wiser
WELLBEING has risen even more quickly than gross domestic product, thanks to the boom in Australia's commodity export prices and big improvements in the combined knowledge of its people, according to five years of historical data from the Herald/Lateral Economics Index of Australia's Wellbeing released today. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/environmental-concerns-prove-to-be-only-tiny-piece-of-puzzle-20111208-1olg9.html#ixzz1gHtcytAj

Putting a figure on inequality adds to strength of statistical spotlight
New numbers are to the press as shiny bottle caps are to magpies. Statistics have the power to shape a debate or provide oxygen to an issue. From a major bank's survey of consumer confidence to a political party's targeted release of ''internal polling'', numbers are often used to bring publicity to a company or a cause. When even condom manufacturers use surveys to get publicity, you know what the new maxim must be: statistics sell.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/environmental-concerns-prove-to-be-only-tiny-piece-of-puzzle-20111208-1olg9.html#ixzz1gHu1ZfIH

When the Best Start in Life Turns Out to be an Early Start
HUMAN capital - the skills and know-how of our people - is the biggest positive contributor to wellbeing after net national income. The index measures it through a combination of indicators that track learning and innovation.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/environmental-concerns-prove-to-be-only-tiny-piece-of-puzzle-20111208-1olg9.html#ixzz1gHuTMK5R

Distribution of Money Makes a Big Difference
MONEY isn't everything - but it is a major driver of national and individual wellbeing.

Happy to live longer but mental illness and obesity still need to be dealt with 
IF LIFE expectancy at birth is any measure, Australians are some of the healthiest people on Earth.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/environmental-concerns-prove-to-be-only-tiny-piece-of-puzzle-20111208-1olg9.html#ixzz1gHvmPs7W

by Adam Morton
The Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au
December 9, 2011

Filling evidence gaps with expert opinion: The use of Delphi analysis in least-cost modelling of functional connectivity

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204611002738
Abstract:
Assessment of landscape functional connectivity is increasingly important for planning landscape scale conservation measures. However, measuring the functional connectivity of landscapes is challenging due to the lack of data on species landscape interactions and because connectivity is species-specific. We developed parameters for a connectivity indicator using Delphi analysis, and critically examine the use of Delphi analysis in this context. To calculate the connectivity indicator we used the following parameters: maximum dispersal distance, negative edge effects of different land cover, and relative permeability of different land cover.

Delphi is a technique designed to numerically synthesise expert opinion in data-poor environments and is based on repetitive questionnaires interspersed with controlled feedback. Three panels of experts were assembled, one covering each of three habitats of interest. Experts found the process challenging especially fixing exact numbers given the potential range of values. However, panels generally assigned higher permeability and low edge effects to semi-natural land cover classes, assigning low permeability and high edge impacts to more modified land cover. During the Delphi process we found that experts were prepared to alter their answers in response to feedback from the previous round. Participants’ answers which did change between rounds generally changed to approach the group median, and when they did, the associated confidence score was more likely to rise than to fall. After three rounds, answers were generally stable. Delphi proved a useful method to use to generate parameter values for the connectivity indicator, with the method particularly acceptable to stakeholders of the indicator project.

Highlights
► We used Delphi analysis to generate parameters for a connectivity indicator from expert opinion.
► Experts found the process challenging given the range of potential species and values involved.
► Panels generally assigned higher permeability and lower edge effects to semi-natural land cover.
► Experts did alter their answers in response to feedback, approaching the group median.
► Delphi generated broadly-accepted least-cost parameter values, in a transparent and credible way.

by Amy E. Eycott 1, Mariella Marzano 2 and Kevin Watts 1
1. Forest Research, Alice Holt Lodge, Farnham, Surrey GU10 4LH, England, UK; Tel.: +44 1420 526200; fax: +44 1420 23653.
2. Forest Research, Northern Research Station, Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9SY, Scotland, UK
Landscape and Urban Planning via Elsevier Science Direct www.sciencedirect.com
Volume 103, Issues 3-4; 30 December 2011; Pages 400-409
Keywords: Fragmentation; Biodiversity; Indicator; Connectivity; Matrix; Focal species

Measurement of agricultural total factor productivity growth incorporating environmental factors: A nutrients balance approach

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095069611001215
Abstract: This article proposes to use nutrient-orientated environmental efficiency (EE) measures to construct a nutrient total factor productivity index (NTFP). Since nutrient-orientated EE measures are consistent with the materials balance principle, NTFP index is superior to other existing TFP indexes. An empirical study on the environmental performance of an agricultural sector in 30 OECD countries from 1990 to 2003 yielded several important findings. First, these countries should be able to produce current outputs with at least 50% less aggregate eutrophying power, implying that they should have been able to substantially reduce the potential for eutrophication. Second, traditional TFP has grown by 1.6% per annum due to technical progress; however, there are lags in the responses of several countries to this technical progress. Third, environmental TFP has grown at a slower rate than traditional TFP growth due to reductions in nutrient-orientated allocative efficiency. Finally, changes in input combinations could have significantly improved environmental efficiency and productivity. These findings favor policy interventions and faster technological transfer to improve environmental performance.

Highlights
► A new environmental productivity index is developed using nutrient-orientated efficiency measures.
► Environmental TFP in OECD's agriculture has grown by 1.3% per annum during 1990–2003.
► Changes in input combinations could significantly improve environmental performance.
► Policy interventions and technological transfer could improve environmental performance.

by Viet-Ngu Hoang 1 and Tim Coelli 2
1. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane QLD 4000, Australia
2. The University of Queensland, St Lucia QLD 4072, Australia
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management via Elsevier Science Direct www.ScienceDirect.com
Volume 62, Issue 3; November, 2011; Pages 462-474
Keywords: Environmental efficiency; Environmental productivity; Materials balance; Nutrient efficiency; OECD agriculture

Learning Too Late of the Perils in Gas Well Leases

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/us/drilling-down-fighting-over-oil-and-gas-well-leases.html
After Scott Ely and his father talked with salesmen from an energy company about signing the lease allowing gas drilling on their land in northeastern Pennsylvania, he said he felt certain it required the company to leave the property as good as new. So Mr. Ely said he was surprised several years later when the drilling company, Cabot Oil and Gas, informed them that rather than draining and hauling away the toxic drilling sludge stored in large waste ponds on the property, it would leave the waste, cover it with dirt and seed the area with grass. He knew that waste pond liners can leak, seeping contaminated waste.

Americans have signed millions of leases allowing companies to drill for oil and natural gas on their land in recent years. But some of these landowners — often in rural areas, and eager for quick payouts — are finding out too late what is, and what is not, in the fine print.

Energy company officials say that standard leases include language that protects landowners. But a review of more than 111,000 leases, addenda and related documents by The New York Times suggests otherwise:
¶ Fewer than half the leases require companies to compensate landowners for water contamination after drilling begins. And only about half the documents have language that lawyers suggest should be included to require payment for damages to livestock or crops.
¶ Most leases grant gas companies broad rights to decide where they can cut down trees, store chemicals, build roads and drill. Companies are also permitted to operate generators and spotlights through the night near homes during drilling.
¶ In the leases, drilling companies rarely describe to landowners the potential environmental and other risks that federal laws require them to disclose in filings to investors.
¶ Most leases are for three or five years, but at least two-thirds of those reviewed by The Times allow extensions without additional approval from landowners. If landowners have second thoughts about drilling on their land or want to negotiate for more money, they may be out of luck.

The leases — obtained through open records requests — are mostly from gas-rich areas in Texas, but also in Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

In Pennsylvania, Colorado and West Virginia, some landowners have had to spend hundreds of dollars a month to buy bottled water or maintain large tanks, known as water buffaloes, for drinking water in their front yards....
Thousands of landowners in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Texas have joined class action lawsuits claiming that they were paid less than they expected because gas companies deducted costs like hauling chemicals to the well site or transporting the gas to market.
...
To be sure, many landowners have earned small fortunes from drilling leases. Last year, natural gas companies paid more than $1.6 billion in lease and bonus payments to Pennsylvania landowners, according to a report commissioned by the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry trade group. Chesapeake Energy, one of the largest natural gas companies, has paid more than $183.8 million in royalties in Texas this year, according to its Web site. Much of the money has gone to residents in rural areas where jobs are scarce and farmers and ranchers have struggled to stay afloat....
...
At least eight states specifically require companies to compensate landowners for damage to their properties or to negotiate with them about where wells will be drilled, even if the lease does not provide those protections.
...
Some landmen show up in poorer areas shortly before the holidays, offering cash on the spot for signing a lease. They might offer thousands of dollars per acre as a bonus to be paid shortly after the lease is signed. Royalties, which usually run between 12.5 percent and 20 percent of what the companies make for selling the gas, can mean tens of thousands of dollars per year for landowners.
...
In 2005, [Dave] Beinlich and his wife, Karen, signed a lease for $2 an acre per year for five years on 117 acres in Sullivan County in north-central Pennsylvania. They soon realized they had gotten far less money than their neighbors, so they planned on negotiating a new lease when theirs expired in 2010. A day before their lease term ended, no well had been drilled on their land, but the gas company parked a bulldozer nearby and started to survey an access road. A company official informed them that by moving equipment to the site, Chief Oil and Gas was preparing to drill and was therefore allowed to extend the lease indefinitely.

Lawyers say that drilling leases are not like other contracts. “You’re not buying a refrigerator or signing a car note,” said David McMahon, a lease lawyer in Charleston, W.Va., and co-founder of the West Virginia Surface Owners’ Rights Organization, adding that once a well is drilled, it can produce gas for decades, locking landowners into the lease terms. “With a gas lease, you’re permitting industrial activity in your backyard, and you’re starting a relationship that will affect the quality of living for you and your grandchildren for decades,” he said. Mr. McMahon and other lease lawyers say that unlike many contracts, oil and gas leases are covered by few consumer protection laws, in part because drilling has been most common in states with less regulation.
...
“When it comes to negotiation skills and understanding of lease terms, there is a gaping inequality between the average landman and the average citizen sitting across the table,” said Chris Csikszentmihalyi, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who created a Web site last year called the Landman Report Card that allows landowners to review landmen’s professionalism and tactics.

Some lawyers also say that there are major differences between what drilling companies tell landowners and what they must disclose to investors.
...
“It’s been one expense after another since our water went bad, and the company only has to cover part of it,” said Ronald Carter, 72, of Montrose, Pa. Mr. Carter and his wife, Jean, said they signed a lease in 2006 for a one-time fee of $25 per acre on their 75 acres and annual royalty payments of 12.5 percent. The Carters live on $3,500 a month, including the $1,500 per month they average in gas royalties. But they had to spend $7,000 to install a water purifier when their drinking supply became contaminated in 2009 after drilling near their property. The Carters joined a lawsuit with about a dozen neighbors ...
...
by Ian Urbina and Jo Craven McGinty
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/us/drilling-down-fighting-over-oil-and-gas-well-leases.html
The New York Times www.NYTimes.com
December 1, 2011

The Evolving Impact of the Ogallala Aquifer: Agricultural Adaptation to Groundwater and Climate

http://www.nber.org/papers/w17625 
Agriculture on the American Great Plains has been constrained by historical water scarcity. After World War II, technological improvements made groundwater from the Ogallala aquifer available for irrigation. Comparing counties over the Ogallala with nearby similar counties, groundwater access increased irrigation intensity and initially reduced the impact of droughts. Over time, land-use adjusted toward water-intensive crops and drought-sensitivity increased; conversely, farmers in water-scarce counties maintained drought-resistant practices that fully mitigated higher drought-sensitivity. Land values capitalized the Ogallala's value at $26 billion in 1974; as extraction remained high and water levels declined, the Ogallala's value fell to $9 billion in 2002.

by Richard Hornbeck and Pinar Keskin
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) www.NBER.org
NBER Working Paper No. 17625; Issued in November 2011

A cost-benefit analysis of moose harvesting in Scandinavia. A stage structured modelling approach

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.reseneeco.2011.01.001

Abstract:: A cost-benefit analysis of moose (Alces alces) harvesting in Scandinavia is presented within the framework of an age structured model with four categories of animals (calves, yearlings, adult females, and adult males). The paper aims to demonstrate the economic content of such a wildlife model and how this content may change under shifting economic and ecological conditions. Two different harvesting regimes are explored: landowner profit maximization, where the combined benefit of harvesting value and browsing damage is taken into account, and overall management, where the costs and damages of moose-vehicle collisions are taken into account as well. An empirical analysis of the Norwegian moose stock indicates that the present stock level is far too high compared with the overall management scenario, and that the composition of the harvest could be improved.

Research highlights:

► A cost-benefit analysis of moose (Alces alces) harvesting in Scandinavia is analysed.
► Four categories of animals are considered: calves, yearlings, adult females and adult males.
► It is shown that the per animal values are instrumental in determining the optimal harvesting composition.

 

by Jon Olaf Olaussen^a, Anders Skonhoft^b,  

a	Trondheim Business School, Jonsvannsveien 82, N-7050 Trondheim, Norway

b	Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Dragvoll-Trondheim, Norway

Resource and Energy Economics via Elsevier Science Direct www.ScienceDirect.com
Volume 33, Issue 3, September 2011, Pages 589-611
Keywords: Moose hunting; Cost-benefit analysis; Stage model

A choice experiment analysis for solid waste disposal option: A case study in Malaysia

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479711002787
Abstract: In Malaysia, most municipal wastes currently are disposed into poorly managed ‘controlled tipping’ systems with little or no pollution protection measures. This study was undertaken to assist the relevant governmental bodies and service providers to identify an improved waste disposal management strategy. The study applied the choice experiment technique to estimate the nonmarket values for a number of waste disposal technologies. Implicit prices for environmental attributes such as psychological fear, land use, air pollution, and river water quality were estimated. Compensating surplus estimates incorporating distance from the residences of the respondents to the proposed disposal facility were calculated for a number of generic and technology-specific choice sets. The resulting estimates were higher for technology-specific options, and the distance factor was a significant determinant in setting an equitable solid waste management fee.

by Pek Chuen-Khee 1 and Jamal Othman 
^1. The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Semenyih, 43500 Selangor, Malaysia 
^2. National University of Malaysia, 43600 UKM, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Journal of Environmental Management via Elsevier Science Direct www.ScienceDirect.com
In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 6 August 2011 
Keywords: Solid waste disposal; Willingness-to-pay; Choice experiment

Valuation of ecosystem services from rural landscapes using agricultural land prices

Abstract: Agricultural lands, primarily managed for crops and livestock production, provide various ecosystem services (ES) to people. In theory, the economic value of the service flows that can be captured privately is capitalized into land prices. This study proposes an integrative framework to characterize the ecosystem services associated with agricultural lands. Using that framework, we demonstrate how hedonic analysis of agricultural land prices can be used to estimate the private values of land-based ES. The model is estimated with data from southwestern Michigan, USA. Results suggest that ES values are associated with lakes, rivers, wetlands, forests and conservation lands in rural landscapes. Ecosystem services that support direct use values, such as recreational and aesthetic services, are likely to be perceived by land owners and capitalized in land prices. Some regulating services that provide indirect use values may be partially capitalized in a land parcel's relationship to natural resources and landscapes. Other ES from the land parcel and its surroundings are unlikely to be capitalized due to lack of private incentives, unawareness, or small perceived value. The private ES values measured in this study highlight opportunities to design cost-effective public policies that factor in the value of private benefits from agricultural lands.
Research Highlights
► Land prices can reveal the economic values of many ecosystem services.
► A new framework shows when land prices can measure ecosystem service values.
► Recreational and aesthetic ecosystem services have high value in southern Michigan.
► Surrounding landscapes and nearby water bodies add value to parcels of farmland.
► Environmental values embodied in land prices can help design conservation policy.

by Shan Malow and Scott M. Swinton; both of the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, 20 Cook Hall, East Lansing, MI, USA. Tel.: + 1 517 256 5043; fax: + 1 517 432 1800.
Ecological Economics via Elsevier Science Direct www.ScienceDirect.com
Volume 70, Issue 9; 15 July 2011; Pages 1649-1659
Special Section - Governing the Commons: Learning from Field and Laboratory Experiments
Keywords: Rural landscapes; Hedonic; Ecosystem services; Agricultural land price; Geographic Information System

The Cost of Renewable Energy Sources - The Gas is Greener

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/opinion/08bryce.html
In a June 7, 2011 New York Times op-ed Robert Bryce of the Manhattan Institute writes:

IN April, Gov. Jerry Brown made headlines by signing into law an ambitious mandate that requires California to obtain one-third of its electricity from renewable energy sources like sunlight and wind by 2020. Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia now have renewable electricity mandates. President Obama and several members of Congress have supported one at the federal level. Polls routinely show strong support among voters for renewable energy projects — as long as they don’t cost too much.

But there’s the rub: while energy sources like sunlight and wind are free and naturally replenished, converting them into large quantities of electricity requires vast amounts of natural resources — most notably, land. Even a cursory look at these costs exposes the deep contradictions in the renewable energy movement.

Consider California’s new mandate. The state’s peak electricity demand is about 52,000 megawatts. Meeting the one-third target will require (if you oversimplify a bit) about 17,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity. Let’s assume that California will get half of that capacity from solar and half from wind. Most of its large-scale solar electricity production will presumably come from projects like the $2 billion Ivanpah solar plant, which is now under construction in the Mojave Desert in southern California. When completed, Ivanpah, which aims to provide 370 megawatts of solar generation capacity, will cover 3,600 acres — about five and a half square miles.

The math is simple: to have 8,500 megawatts of solar capacity, California would need at least 23 projects the size of Ivanpah, covering about 129 square miles, an area more than five times as large as Manhattan. While there’s plenty of land in the Mojave, projects as big as Ivanpah raise environmental concerns. In April, the federal Bureau of Land Management ordered a halt to construction on part of the facility out of concern for the desert tortoise, which is protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Wind energy projects require even more land. The Roscoe wind farm in Texas, which has a capacity of 781.5 megawatts, covers about 154 square miles. Again, the math is straightforward: to have 8,500 megawatts of wind generation capacity, California would likely need to set aside an area equivalent to more than 70 Manhattans. Apart from the impact on the environment itself, few if any people could live on the land because of the noise (and the infrasound, which is inaudible to most humans but potentially harmful) produced by the turbines.

Industrial solar and wind projects also require long swaths of land for power lines. Last year, despite opposition from environmental groups, San Diego Gas & Electric started construction on the 117-mile Sunrise Powerlink, which will carry electricity from solar, wind and geothermal projects located in Imperial County, Calif., to customers in and around San Diego. In January, environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit to prevent the $1.9 billion line from cutting through a nearby national forest.

Not all environmentalists ignore renewable energy’s land requirements. The Nature Conservancy has coined the term “energy sprawl” to describe it. Unfortunately, energy sprawl is only one of the ways that renewable energy makes heavy demands on natural resources.

Consider the massive quantities of steel required for wind projects. The production and transportation of steel are both expensive and energy-intensive, and installing a single wind turbine requires about 200 tons of it. Many turbines have capacities of 3 or 4 megawatts, so you can assume that each megawatt of wind capacity requires roughly 50 tons of steel. By contrast, a typical natural gas turbine can produce nearly 43 megawatts while weighing only 9 tons. Thus, each megawatt of capacity requires less than a quarter of a ton of steel.
...
Such profligate use of resources is the antithesis of the environmental ideal.
...
by Robert Bryce, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author, most recently, of “Power Hungry: The Myths of ‘Green’ Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future.”
The New York Times www.NYTimes.comJune 7, 2011
FOR FULL OP-ED GO TO:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/opinion/08bryce.html

Prices Fall for Some Gas-Rich Shale Land

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/business/10views.html
The gas-rich land of the Marcellus shale has offered some of the hottest wildcat real estate in recent years. But if Exxon Mobil’s recent $1.7 billion acquisition is any indication, the days of eye-watering prices are over. The oil titan is paying barely half the price such acres were fetching last year, as the frenzy has shifted to Texas. Cheaper real estate may even make gas assets look appealing again.

Exxon is paying about $5,000 an acre by buying Phillips Resources and TWP, two private drillers in the Marcellus, which spans Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia. This may not seem like such a steal when compared with 2006 prices of around $100 an acre. Even so, it does suggest that energy land values are coming off the boil.

The property boom reached its peak when Chesapeake Energy doled out $17,000 an acre in early 2010, according to research from IHS. Mitsui and India’s Reliance Industries both paid $14,000 an acre in the spring of 2010. As recently as December, Exco Resources was willing to pay $9,000.

There are good reasons the froth has come out of Marcellus. Gas prices have been in the doldrums and are running about a third their 2008 peak. Meanwhile, state regulators are taking a tougher line on hydraulic fracturing, supported by a skeptical public. This has sent energy firms flocking to the oilier Eagle Ford Shale, which is now experiencing a property boom of its own. Marathon Oil paid $20,000 an acre for oil-rich land in Texas earlier this month.

But with less hype built into land values, the Marcellus is looking like a good bet again. The glut of gas that depressed prices is finally clearing. And because of its proximity to the New York market, gas from the Marcellus sells for a premium. Shell’s announcement that it is mulling a new petrochemical plant in the region suggests more demand may be on its way.
...
By Christopher Swann and Reynolds Holding
The New York Times www.NYTimes.com
June 9, 2011
FOR FULL STORY GO TO:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/business/10views.html

Wind Farms Mean Money for Sherman County, Oregon - Money Blows in to a Patch of Oregon Known for Its Unrelenting Winds - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/us/31wind.html
According to Lee Van Der Voo writing in the May 30, 2011 New York Times

It pays to live in Sherman County: $590 a year.

In this sparsely populated landscape south of the Columbia River Gorge, annual checks for that amount are local residents’ share of a windfall brought by the growing wind energy industry. In an area otherwise dominated by wheat farms, hundreds of 300-foot wind turbines now generate electricity and cash.

“Wind is the only thing that is going to save rural Oregon,” said Judge Gary Thompson of Sherman County Court, “especially since all the timber is gone and the sawmills and all that are closing down....”

The Columbia Gorge has been like an expressway for hard-blowing wind since long before the turbines arrived. ...

Sherman County, which earned $315,000 in property taxes from the first wind farm in 2002, raked in $3 million from wind farms in 2010. The bounty, while mostly flowing to the farmers who lease their land for the turbines, also benefits the public. Taxes, fees and assessments on more than 1,000 megawatts of wind turbine capacity have brought $17.5 million in nine years to a county with just 1,735 residents.

... At Sherman Junior/Senior High School in Moro, wind money paid for new computers, musical instruments, robotics equipment, portions of a greenhouse and a new teacher to instruct the most gifted of its 124 students last year.
...
Judge Thompson said the payments were intended to reward residents who have made no financial gains from wind energy development, but whose views of Mount Adams and the county’s stunning landscape now include a panorama of turbines.

“It’s modeled after a lot of Alaska compensation,” Judge Thompson said. “There are a lot of people who live in the county who are not necessarily going to benefit from the renewable energy...”

Such dividends were once unique to Alaska, where residents receive annual payments as a share of the revenue from oil flowing through the 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

Every Sherman County head of household who has owned property for more than a year qualifies to receive money. Though the county can afford more, Judge Thompson said it decided to keep the checks lower than $600 to spare two clerks from having to file hundreds of related tax forms.
...
The McCulloughs’ earn 4.1 percent of the gross revenue from 15 wind turbines on their property, or about $5,500 a year for each turbine. The payments increase over time, as land values inflated by the turbines decline with their age.

Gorge communities benefit from their nearness to power transmission lines that connect to California. Until 2010, Oregon also offered attractive incentives for wind companies, allowing tax credits of up to $11 million toward wind farms costing $20 million or more, credits that could be sold before construction for cash. Counties like Sherman also have the authority to waive millions in local property taxes, negotiating lower taxes in exchange for special fees and payments.

Critics say that the incentives are overly generous and that they take money from hard-pressed state budgets. In Sherman County, however, the arrangement has helped build a library and two new city halls, sewers and a bridge.

Residents say the biggest challenge brought by the wind industry is simple jealousy. Because the northern part of the county is windier, some farmers in the south feel shorted.

A corporation, Praise the Wind, served as the vehicle for northern farmers looking to attract wind developers. After securing the rights to blocks of land, Praise the Wind negotiated leases, building in provisions like weed control, fencing and penalties for crop damage. The corporation now manages payments and acts as a liaison with the wind companies.

... Cheryl Woods, Praise the Wind’s chief financial officer said “because it’s getting more and more expensive to farm and the margin is getting narrower and narrower.” Ms. Woods said annual royalty payments of between $5,500 and $7,800 per turbine have saved some farms.

The turbines have also meant more jobs, officials say. The Columbia Gorge Community College has retooled its electrical engineering department into a renewable energy technician program that has trained 135 students from Sherman and surrounding counties. Judge Thompson said the industry was now Sherman County’s largest employer.

By LEE VAN DER VOO
The New York Times www.NYTimes.com
May 30, 2011
FOR FULL STORY GO TO:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/us/31wind.html

An economic analysis of the possibility of reducing pesticides in French field crops

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2011.04.003
Abstract: The paper aims to study the effects of reducing pesticide use by farmers in the arable sector in France and the feasibility of a policy target of reducing pesticide use by half. The originality of the approach is to combine statistical data and expert knowledge to describe low-input alternative techniques at the national level. These data are used in a mathematical programming model to simulate the effect on land use, production and farmers' income of achieving different levels of pesticide reduction. The results show that reducing pesticide use by 30% could be possible without reducing farmers' income. We also estimate the levels of tax on pesticides necessary to achieve different levels of reduction of pesticide use and the effect of an incentive mechanism combining a pesticide tax with subsidies for low-input techniques.

With 2006 prices the model solution produced a reduction of 9% in the use of pesticides. For reductions of up to 30%, targets can be achieved without completely disrupting production systems: achieving these levels mainly necessitates a switch from “logical” agriculture (T1) toward crops managed in integrated production (T2). Beyond this level, the changes required are more substantial. To reach a target of 50% reduction, “logical agriculture” disappears almost completely and integrated production with or without changes in crop rotation becomes the dominant mode of cultivation. Organic production (T4) develops on 13% of the areas. With 2007 prices for a pesticide use reduction target of 50%, “logical” production (15%) resists best, while organic farming drops to 8%.

... For a target reduction of 50% in the use of pesticides, production drops by 12% from its current situation whereas margins drop by only 5%. This is due to the efficiency gain in the solution generated with the model. Compared to the optimized solution, margins drop by 9%.

[In the next] ... simulation, tax receipts are returned uniformly to farmers according to the size of farms. This measure is therefore neutral in terms of budget equilibrium and the full product of the tax goes back to the farmers. It compensates for the reduction in revenue caused by the tax.

... With 2006 prices, a reduction of nearly 10% is achieved with a zero tax level, as a result of a gradual reduction in the previously analysed inefficiency. A level of 16% is sufficient to produce a reduction of 20%. But the level reaches 100% for a reduction target of 30% and 180% for a target of 50%. Because of high tax rates, margins before redistribution drop steeply, 16% for a 30% target reduction in the use of pesticides, and 30% for a target of 50%. After redistribution, the drop in margins for a target of 50% is only 5% compared to the current situation and 9% compared to the optimized situation.

With 2007 prices, in order to reach a reduction of 50% the tax rate rises as high as 250%. In fact, the results of this tax with redistribution are very close to the results obtained with the previous model, which provided the optimal solution in order to satisfy the constraints for a reduction in the use of pesticides. This demonstrates that the distortions introduced by this taxation system are quite low. Compared to the solution obtained with the constraint of reducing pesticides by 50%, the taxation system is slightly more in favour of systems with low pesticide input: organic farming represents 15% (against 13% in the previous model). The drop in production is therefore slightly greater and margins are slightly lower than in the model with optimisation under constraint.

Table 7 provides the results of subsidies to organic farming combined with a tax in a scenario where €140/hectare is paid for organic farming.... The organic farming fraction increases in all situations and reaches 24% when associated with a pesticide reduction target of 50%. This has the effect of reducing the tax needed to reach such a level of pesticide use reduction. So that, with 2006 prices, the tax is only (compared to the figures obtained without organic farming subsidies) to 60% for a 40% pesticide reduction and 138% for a 50% pesticide reduction.
...
by Florence, Jacquet ^a , Jean-Pierre, Butault ^a, Laurence, Guichard ^b
a UMR Economie Publique, INRA-AgroParisTech, Grignon, France
^b UMR Agronomie, INRA-AgroParisTech, Grignon, France
Ecological Economics via Elsevier Science Direct www.ScienceDirect.com,
Article In Press Corrected Proof, Available online May 26, 2011
Keywords: Pesticide use; Policy incentive; Environmental indicators; Low-input techniques
A full free version of the paper is currently available at: http://eaae113.maich.gr/eaae120/papers/Jacquet_Butault_Guichard.pdf

Losing Ground - Washing Away the Fields of Iowa

http://www.ewg.org/losingground/report

Executive Summary
Across wide swaths of Iowa and other Corn Belt states, the rich, dark soil that made this region the nation’s breadbasket is being swept away at rates many times higher than official estimates.

That is the disturbing picture revealed by scientists tracking soil erosion in Iowa after every storm that hits the state and producing an unprecedented degree of precision in soil erosion estimates. The Environmental Working Group corroborated the scientists’ findings with aerial surveys that produced striking visual evidence of the damage.

In April 2010, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) released data estimating the rate of soil erosion on agricultural land in the United States. On the surface, the data from the 2007 National Resources Inventory (NRI) were reassuring. Erosion in Iowa averaged 5.2 tons per acre per year, only slightly higher than the allegedly “sustainable” rate of five tons per acre per year for most Iowa soils — the amount that can supposedly be lost each year without reducing agricultural productivity. Across the entire Corn Belt, erosion averaged only 3.9 tons per acre per year, according to the NRCS data.

There is compelling evidence, however, that soil erosion and runoff from cropland is far worse than these estimates suggest. Indeed, it appears that the nation is losing ground in the decades-old fight to gain control over this most fundamental and damaging environmental problem in agriculture.

In some places in Iowa, recent storms have triggered soil losses that were 12 times greater than the federal government’s average for the state, stripping up to 64 tons of soil per acre from the land, according to researchers using the new techniques. In contrast to the reassuring statewide averages, the researchers’ data indicate that farmland in 440 Iowa townships encompassing more than 10 million acres eroded faster in 2007 than the “sustainable” rate. In 220 townships totaling 6 million acres, the rate of soil loss was twice the “sustainable” level.

The aerial survey conducted by EWG in the spring of 2010 indicated that soil erosion and runoff are likely far worse than even the ISU numbers suggest, because researchers’ current models do not account for the effect of widespread “ephemeral gullies.” During heavy rains, these gullies reappear rapidly where farmers have tilled and planted over natural depressions in the land and form “pipelines” that swiftly carry away the water the earth cannot absorb.

The ISU data and EWG’s survey reinforce long-standing doubts about the very system used to describe the so-called “sustainable” level of erosion — how much soil loss the land can tolerate before it loses its ability to sustain a healthy crop. These “T values” are gauzy estimates at best, and there is substantial and growing evidence that they greatly overstate the ability of cropland to remain fertile in the face of the ravages of soil erosion and water runoff, especially at a time when a warming climate is producing ever more frequent severe storms. For lack of a better alternative, however, this report’s discussion does use T values as a point of reference.

The runoff from vulnerable farmland not only washes away soil – the fertile legacy of thousands of years of geological processes — but also carries with it a potent cargo of fertilizers, pesticides and manure that flows into local creeks and streams and eventually into the Mississippi River. Ultimately it ends up in the Gulf of Mexico, generating the notorious dead zone — a zone of depleted oxygen that suffocates marine life when it forms each year.

The accelerating soil loss is being driven by federal farm policies that encourage and subsidize sowing commodity crops on even the most fragile terrain, as well as by intense rainstorms that occur with increasing frequency as Earth’s climate warms. The recent history of severe springtime flooding across the Midwest is but the most immediate consequence of this trend, but the impact on the region’s agriculture and environment will be the greater and more lasting disaster.

Meanwhile, efforts to curb soil erosion, many of them launched under a 1985 law that temporarily produced a 40 percent reduction in erosion and runoff from the most vulnerable cropland, have faltered badly. The backsliding began in 1996 when Congress made an abortive attempt to phase out the farm subsidy program, along with its soil conservation requirements. In the end, lawmakers instead returned to plowing billions into farmers’ hands through ad hoc disaster payments, ultimately restoring the earlier farm subsidy program with a vengeance by 2002.
...

EWG’s findings are an urgent reminder that the Corn Belt’s carpet of immensely fertile soil, a resource that accumulated over millions of years before European settlers introduced organized agriculture, is not inexhaustible. From the Dust Bowl of the 1930s to the barren moonscapes of today’s Haiti and Madagascar, history is littered with evidence that what nature has provided, unwise practices and policies can rapidly squander.

Today, the soil erosion problem in Iowa and nearby states is nowhere near the scale of those historic calamities, but the data show that the situation is getting worse. Chronically underfunded voluntary conservation programs are failing to blunt the damage caused by federal policies that push farmers to plant crops fencerow to fencerow. Between 1997 and 2009, the government paid Iowa farmers $2.76 billion to put conservation practices in place. It paid out six times as much — $16.8 billion — in income, production and insurance subsidies that encouraged maximum-intensity planting, not conservation. Across the Corn Belt, the gap was even greater — $7.0 billion for conservation and $51.2 billion for income, production and insurance subsidies.
...
The $18.9 billion spent to subsidize expansion of the corn ethanol industry, along with misguided federal mandates to produce increasing amounts of ethanol, further increase the pressure to intensify production.

To turn this situation around, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) must step up enforcement of the groundbreaking 1985 farm bill provision — called conservation compliance — that required producers to take action to conserve soil in order to stay eligible for billions in farm subsidies. USDA must increase its annual inspections to determine whether producers are maintaining the required soil conservation practices and also make full use of its authority to impose graduated penalties on farmers who fail to keep the required practices in place.

In addition, EWG believes that Congress must:
* Reopen and revise all the legacy conservation compliance soil conservation plans approved and applied before July 3, 1996, requiring that they reduce erosion to a truly “sustainable” level and prevent ephemeral gully erosion on highly erodible cropland.
* Require treatment and/or prevention of ephemeral gully erosion on all agricultural land — not just highly erodible land — owned by producers or landlords receiving income, production, insurance or conservation subsidies.
* Require vegetative buffer zones at least 35 feet wide between row crops and all lakes, rivers, and smaller streams.
* Require all producers participating in existing or new crop and revenue insurance programs to meet conservation compliance standards.
* Ensure that farmers who convert native prairie or rangeland to row crops are not eligible to receive income, production, insurance or conservation subsidies on those acres.
* Adequately fund the USDA technical staff — out of funds provided for programs covered by compliance provisions — needed to plan and implement the required conservation practices and to conduct annual inspections to certify that those practices are in place.

By Craig Cox, Andrew Hug and Nils Bruzelius
Also see a New York Times www.NYTimes.com editorial based on the study at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/opinion/05thu2.html