21st Century Policy Project

Future Search Conference Issue: Cross-Media/Cross-Government

Issue Definition and Scope

Federal, state, and local environmental agencies historically are organized on the basis of single environmental media or arbitrary groupings of waste types (e.g., air, water, toxics, solid waste, pesticides). These environmental agencies typically do not assess the tradeoffs in costs and benefits across different media and, as a result, cannot adequately consider innovative alternatives and long-term benefits. One example is the tradeoffs in air quality benefits and groundwater contamination costs associated with the gasoline additive MTBE. Another example is the tradeoffs associated with composting, such as air quality concerns versus landfill capacity savings from diversion and reduced nitrate leaching from agricultural applications of compost.

Background

Solid waste management impacts environmental media not regulated by the CIWMB, via, for example, emissions from landfills and certain recycling operations into the atmosphere and leachate from landfills into groundwater. Likewise, other agencies’ decisions can impact waste management. Examples include: 1) the Department of Toxic Substances Control’s proposal to deregulate certain "toxic" wastes, which would impact solid waste disposal at landfills; 2) AB 1220, which delineated CIWMB and State Water Resources Control Board authority over disposal but also limited CIWMB authority to address groundwater issues related to landfill management; and 3) draft proposals by the South Coast Air Quality Management District to limit emissions from diesel engines (common on tub grinders used to chip organic materials) and composting facilities. This impact will be exacerbated if international protocols like the Kyoto climate change agreement, with its focus on carbon dioxide and methane emissions, are implemented.

Issue Questions

• How should the policy framework be structured to address cross-media issues?
• How should the policy framework be structured so that relative long-term costs and benefits of different management options, across multiple media and resources, are factored into decision-making?
• What role should lifecycle analysis play in assessing cross-media issues?
• How can public health and safety and the environment be protected when current regulations address environmental media individually, instead of using an integrated approach, and do not address the long-term impacts of landfill disposal?
• Should the Board change its regulatory focus from a disposal-driven system to a cradle-to-cradle materials management system?
• How should solid waste management be integrated into a larger sustainable development context and, conversely, how should emerging global policies be factored into decisions about solid waste management?
• Are there fiscal mechanisms (such as tax credits, taxes, fees) and information tools (such as disclosure) that could influence cross-media decision-making and regulation?
• What actions should the CIWMB take to influence voluntary industry initiatives that may be cross-media in nature?
• What set of guiding principles or non-structural changes (such as permeable organizational boundaries) would be helpful in developing a framework or partnerships to address emerging environmental challenges?
• How can situations be resolved where a lack of defined standards by one regulatory agency has negative impacts on businesses that are needed to achieve the mission of another agency?

Last updated: October 18, 2007