Creating National Environmental Legacy Act Information: The Double Standard

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511802591.007

6 - Creating National Environmental Legacy Act Information: The Double Standard

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012

Walter A. Rosenbaum

Edited by

Alyson C. Flournoy and

David M. Driesen

Show author details

Alyson C. Flournoy: Affiliation:
University of Florida
David M. Driesen: Affiliation:
Syracuse University, New York

Book contents

Get access

Summary

In the scientific and technical world, information and data are commonly judged on their accuracy and precision, repeatability, and, more generally, the degree to which they truthfully reflect conditions in the real world.…In political and policymaking circles, a primary criteria for good information is relevance – does it deal directly with the question at hand, does it illuminate the issue in way that points to a solution?

Robin O'Malley, Kent Cavender-Barnes, and William Clark, Environment Magazine, May 1, 2003

THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LEGACY ACT (LEGACY ACT OR Act) would create a profound transformation in national resource policy if it did no more than declare a presumptive, clearly enforceable standard for the nation's future resource management. However, implementingthe Legacy Act's substantive goals also requires the utilization of a rich and, in many respects new, information base that must be sufficiently refined to be accessible to resource managers at many government levels. The Legacy Act is grounded in the development and refinement of this distinctive data foundation. State and local governments, as well as federal resource managers, will be substantially challenged by the innovations inherent to this essential data resource. In the end, the data required by and developed pursuant to Legacy Act should meet two standards: it should be scientifically and technically credible, and it should be policy relevant.

Type: Chapter
Information: Beyond Environmental Law
Policy Proposals for a Better Environmental Future
, pp. 129 - 144

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511802591.007 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

,GAO, Better Coordination Is Needed to Develop Environmental Indicator Sets Thlat Inform Decisions, November 10, 2004, GAO-05-52, at 5. Washington, D.C.Google Scholar

,World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future 43 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987)Google Scholar

Connelly, Steve, “Mapping Sustainable Development as a Contested Concept,” Local Government 12, no. 3 (2007): 259–78Google Scholar

Carolan, Michael S., “Sustainable Agriculture, Science and the Co-production of ‘Expert’ Knowledge: The Value of Interactional Expertise,” Local Government 11, no. 4 (2006): 421–31Google Scholar

Schlossberg, Marc and Zimmerman, Adam, “Developing Statewide Indicies of Environmental, Economic and Social Sustainability: A Look at Oregon and Oregon Benchmarks,” Local Government 8, no. 6 (2003)Google Scholar

Holden, Meg, “Community Interests and Indicator System Success,” Social Indicators Research 90, no. 1 (August 2008): 641–60Google Scholar

Holden, Meg, “Revisiting the Local Impact of Community Indicators Projects: Sustainable Seattle as Prophet in Its Own Land,” Applied Research In Quality Of Life, Vol. 1, No. 1 (2006): 253–77CrossRef Google Scholar

Rees, Hubert L., Hyland, Jeffrey L., Hylland, Ketil, Colleen, S.L.Clarke, Mercer, Roff, John C., and Ware, Suzanne, “Environmental Indicators: Utility in Meeting Regulatory NeedsIces Journal Of Marine Science 65 (2008): 1381–86CrossRef Google Scholar

Ramos, Tomas Barros, “Environmental Performance Indicators for the Public Sector,” in Encyclopedia of Earth, ed. Cleveland, Cutler J. (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment, 2008)Google Scholar

,GAO, Informing Our Nation: Improving How to Understand and Assess the USA's Position and Progress, November 10, 2004, GAO-05–01, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar

,National Academy of Public Administration, Taking Environmental Protection to the Next Level: An Assessment of the U.S. Services Delivery System (Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Public Administration, 2007)Google Scholar

,The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment, Highlights: The State of the Nation's Ecosystems, 2008 (Washington, D.C.: The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment, 2008), 5Google Scholar

Shapiro, Sidney A. and Steinzor, Rena, Capture, Accountability, and Regulatory Metrics, 86 Tex. L. Rev. 1741 (2008)Google Scholar

O'Malley, Robin, Cavender-Barnes, Kent, and Clark, William, “Better Data: Not As Simple As It Seems,” Environment, 45, No. 4 (May, 2003), 10Google Scholar

Holden, Meg, “Revisiting the Local Impact of Community Indicators Projects: Sustainable Seattle as Prophet in Its Own Land,” Applied Research In Quality Of Life, 1, No 2 (April, 2006), 264Google Scholar