|
|
Enron Mail |
Dear Ken,
RFF DEVELOPMENTS January 2002 e-Newsletter Happy New Year! Happy 50th Anniversary to RFF! January marks the beginning of an exciting year for RFF. The upcoming months will be filled with lots of activities, and we will continue to provide you with updates via the RFF Developments e-newsletter. Please send any questions/comments to Karin Warner at warner@rff.org. In this newsletter: 1) RFF Events & Seminars 2) RFF in the News 3) RFF New Publications 4) RFF 50th Anniversary News: RFF Reunion April 18-19, 2002 1) RFF Events & Seminars Please mark your calendars for the following: Monday, January 28 (8:45 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.) U.S. Energy Security: Traditional and Emerging Challenges (At RFF - 1616 P St., NW, Washington, D.C., 1st Floor Conference Room) Resources for the Future (RFF) will bring together leading experts from the policy, business, environmental, scholarly, and academic community to discuss traditional and emerging challenges to U.S. energy security. Among the speakers will be: *Mine Y?cel, assistant vice president, Research Department, Dallas Federal Reserve Bank *Bob Simon, staff director, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources *Barry McNutt, senior policy analyst, Office of Domestic Policy and International Affairs, U.S. Department of Energy Tuesday, January 29 (9:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.) Making Development Policy in the New Era: Priorities, Politics and Structures of U.S. Policymaking on Global Poverty and Hunger (At RFF - 1616 P St., NW, Washington, D.C., 1st Floor Conference Room) The symposium is intended to generate candid discussion among leaders in the field about how development policy is made, how it might be made better, and how the events of September 11th may have changed the political context for poverty and food security issues in Congress and elsewhere. For more information, please contact Susan Doyle at doyle@rff.org or (202)328-5038. RFF Seminars *RFF Seminar Series* RFF hosts regular lunchtime seminars every Wednesday. They are offered as an opportunity for the public and members of government, the news media, and the academic, environmental and business communities to hear about current and interesting policy topics as well as research underway at RFF and other institutions. (Attendees are welcome to bring their lunch.) Join us on Wednesdays from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at RFF: 1st Floor Conference Room or Visit www.rff.org to hear a recording of the latest seminar (typically posted within 24 hours). Now available: December 12th seminar by Terry Davies, RFF; Jay Benforado, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Mary Gade, Sonnenschein, Nath, & Rosenthal; and Paul Portney, RFF, on "Reforming Permitting" http://www.rff.org/seminar/history.htm#dec12 Upcoming Seminars: *PLEASE NOTE TWO OF THE JANUARY SEMINARS WILL TAKE PLACE ON THURSDAY *Thursday, January 10th International Environmental Assistance: Drawing Lessons From Experience Ruth Greenspan Bell, Resources for the Future Wednesday, January 16th Electricity Deregulation and the Future of U.S. Nuclear Power Richard A. Meserve, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission *Thursday, January 24th The Provision of Public Goods Under Islamic Law Timur Kuran, University of Southern California Wednesday, January 30th Promoting a Great Green Leap Forward? International and Domestic Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in China Jennifer Turner, Woodrow Wilson Center ********************************************************************** 2) RFF in the News * The Christian Science Monitor published Fellow Tom Beierle and Visiting Scholar Ruth Greenspan Bell's Op-Ed on how environmental "right to know" programs have become a casualty of the war on terrorism. * RFF President Paul Portney is featured in the Economist cover story, "Addicted to Oil." * Senior Fellow Joel Darmstadter was interviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle on energy policy issues. * Fellow Ian Parry was quoted on reforming the gasoline tax in the Washington Post. * Senior Fellow Howard Gruenspecht talked about why the U.S. is not likely to reduce its dependence on Saudi oil in interviews on ABC's Nightline and in the Weekly Standard. He also is quoted in "Driven Mad by SUVs" in Reason. ************************************************************** 3) New RFF Publications Discounting the Benefits of Climate Change Mitigation: How Much Do Uncertain Rates Increase Valuations? How can we compare the costs of greenhouse gas reduction measures taken today with the future benefits of these actions? This new report for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change challenges conventional wisdom and concludes that immediate action to address global climate change could yield significantly greater benefits in the long-run than conventional economic models suggest. Richard Newell and William Pizer | December 2001 For more information go to: http://www.rff.org/reports/PDF_files/discountbenefits.pdf Reforming Permitting The system of U.S. pollution control permitting is suffering from major defects and weaknesses; it is often fragmented and inefficient. Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the states have initiated reforms, the United States is among a dwindling number of industrialized nations that have not yet adopted an integrated approach to pollution control. Terry Davies with Robert Hersh, Aracely Alicea, and Ruth Greenspan Bell | December 2001 For more information go to: http://www.rff.org/reports/PDF_files/reformingpermitting.pdf Discussion Papers: Implementing Electricity Restructuring: Policies, Potholes, and Prospects Electricity is one of the last U.S. industries in which competition is replacing regulation. This paper reviews the technology for producing and delivering power, the history of electricity policy, and recent state and international experience. It outlines the major questions facing policymakers as they decide whether, when, and how to implement restructuring and concludes with some thoughts on the California electricity crisis and other political controversies. This paper draws upon the forthcoming book, Alternating Currents: Electricity Markets and Public Policy. Timothy J. Brennan, Karen Palmer, and Salvador Martinez | December 2001 For more information go to: http://www.rff.org/disc_papers/PDF_files/0162.pdf Is There a Rationale for Rebating Environmental Levies? Political pressure often exists for rebating environmental levies, particularly when incomplete regulatory coverage allegedly creates an "unlevel playing field" with other, unregulated firms or industries. This paper assesses the conditions under which rebating environmental levies is justified for the regulated sector. Alain Bernard, Carolyn Fischer, and Marc Vielle | October 2001 For more information go to: http://www.rff.org/disc_papers/PDF_files/0131.pdf Ancillary Benefits of Reduced Air Pollution in the United States from Moderate Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Policies in the Electricity Sector This paper considers how moderate actions to slow atmospheric accumulation of greenhouse gases from fossil fuel use also could reduce conventional air pollutants in the United States. The benefits that result would be "ancillary" to greenhouse gas abatement. Moreover, the benefits would tend to accrue locally and in the near term, while benefits from reduced climate change mostly accrue globally and over a time frame of several decades or longer. Dallas Burtraw, Alan Krupnick, Karen Palmer, Anthony Paul, Michael Toman, and Cary Bloyd | December 2001 For more information go to: http://www.rff.org/disc_papers/PDF_files/0161.pdf The Fall 2001 Resources is now available. To find out more, go to: http://www.rff.org/resources_archive/2001.htm To find out more about a member of the RFF research staff go to: http://www.rff.org/about_rff/staff_dir.htm *************************************************************************** 4) RFF 50th Anniversary News RFF Reunion to take place April 18-19, 2002 in conjunction with the Spring Board of Directors & Council Meetings. All events will be held at RFF in Washington, DC. Additional details will be forthcoming. For more details, please contact Susan Johnson Doyle at doyle@rff.org, (ph)202.328.5038, or (fax)202.939.3460 Countdown until the 50th Gala: 287 days! *************************************************************************** If you have received the RFF Developments e-newsletter and do not wish to receive it in the future, please reply to warner@rff.org. For all other inquiries regarding the RFF Developments e-newsletter or RFF in general, please reply to Karin Warner at warner@rff.org.
|