Energy, Environment and Resources Center
The University of Tennessee
Highlights and Initiatives
January 1999
Energy, Environment and Resources Center
Jack Barkenbus, Executive Director
Center For Clean Products and Clean Technologies
Gary A. Davis, Director
Office of Communications and Publications
David Brill, Director
Center for Geography and Environmental Education
Rosalyn McKeown-Ice, Director
Oak Ridge Technology Research and Development Program
Sheila Webster, Director
Systems Development Institute
Donald Alvic, Director
Pro-Dialogue
Mary R. English and David L. Feldman, Directors
Water Resources Research Center
Tim Gangaware, Associate Director
For more information call Gail Farris at 865-974-4251 or write to EERC, 311 Conference Center Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-4134.
Visit our Web site at: http://eerc.ra.utk.edu/
Meetings. Associate Director Rosalyn McKeown-Ice recently participated in a meeting in Washington, D.C., that set directions and priorities for national environmental education research. McKeown-Ice was one of six researchers invited to participate in the meeting. The session, which was organized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Education, culminated in a "Framework for an Environmental Education Research Agenda."
In November, Senior Research Associate Catherine Wilt traveled to Portland, Maine, to meet with the Maine Advisory Group on Mercury-added Products. Wilt provided an overview of extended producer responsibility and summarized recent state policy trends. The advisory group will make recommendations to the Maine legislature concerning the management of mercury-containing products.
Presentations
. Research Leader Mary English presented "Rethinking the Role of Stakeholders in Environmental Policymaking" at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in December. The presentation was part of the Environmental Policy Seminar Series cosponsored by the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI), Rutgers’ Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, and Cook College. English’s address—based on her paper titled "Stakeholders: Whose Interests? At What Sacrifice?"—was followed by a question and answer session. EOHSI is cosponsored by Rutgers and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.Appointments.
EERC Executive Director Jack Barkenbus has been appointed to the "Growth Policy Law Implementation Advisory Committee," which will advise the steering committee that addresses the requirements of Tennessee’s growth policy law. The steering committee is developing a coordinated strategy for delivering technical assistance and training to Tennessee cities and counties. In conjunction with these efforts, a Growth Policy Conference is being planned for mid-1999.Mary English, who serves on the National Research Council’s Board on Radioactive Waste Management, has recently been appointed vice chair of a committee that is conducting a study of the long-term disposition of Department of Energy waste sites. The committee investigates such issues as waste-site closures and institutional controls.
International News
. Kerry Kelly, a senior research associate with the EERC’s Center for Clean Products and Clean Technologies (CCPCT), traveled to Graz, Austria, in December for the Society of Automotive Engineers Total Life Cycle Conference. The conference was attended by 250 life-cycle practitioners from industry and academia. The participants represented many countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Korea, New Zealand, Japan, and Russia. Kelly presented a "Comparison of Methodologies for Calculating Use-stage Environmental Burdens for an Automobile," a paper she coauthored with CCPCT Director Gary Davis, and "A Life-cycle Design Toolkit for Automotive Designers," also written by Davis. The conference, which was sponsored by ALCOA, General Motors, Eurostar, and others, promotes a cleaner environment through improved manufacturing methods, decreased vehicle emissions, and materials recovery.