RESTORATION-BASED COMPENSATION MEASURES IN NATURAL RESOURCE LIABILITY STATUTES

In the past two decades, the U.S. Congress has passed several major environmental statutes that designate natural resource management agencies as trustees of the resources on behalf of the public and that allow the trustees to recover damages for injuries to public resources from releases of hazardous substances and discharges of oil.
The standard measure of damages in the various statutes is the cost of restoring the resources to baseline conditions ("primary restoration") plus the interim loss in alue from the time of the incident until full recovery from the injuries. However, trustees are allowed to spend their damage recoveries only on enhancing or creating ("restoring, rehabilitating, replacing or acquiring the equivalent of") natural resources. The statutory restriction on the use of the recoveries has motivated the development of an alternative measure of damages for interim losses—the cost of "compensatory restoration" actions providing in-kind compensation—which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) incorporated in its 1996 regulations implementing the natural resource liability provisions of the Oil Pollution Act (OPA).
This analysis first identifies the statutory measure of damages and the traditional framing of damages for interim losses (monetary compensation). It then defines an alternative utility-theoretic measure of resource compensation and identifies alter-native methods of implementation.     

NONMARKET VALUATION AND THE COURTS: THE CASE OF THE EXXON VALDEZ

This paper examines a natural resource damages case, the Exxon Valdez, and contrasts the use and acceptance of market and nonmarket valuation methods in two related sectors: commercial fishing and Alaska native subsistence use of fish and wildlife. Much economic literature focuses on how, in principle, one should value environmental injury. These principles and methods have been codified in the Department of Interior and National Oceanic and Atmospheric and Administration natural resource damage regulations that implement the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. However, these liability rules are fairly new, and thus little evidence exists on the acceptance of valuation methods by the courts and juries. In this regard, the Exxon Valdez case is of particular interest because substantial resources were at stake and much of the case went all the way through to a jury verdict. The two major plaintiff classes—commercial fishermen and Alaska natives—are market and nonmarket versions, respectively, of otherwise fairly similar economic sectors. However, the court's acceptance of the "correct in principle" valuation methods appropriate to each sector was asymmetric. The court accepted as admissible the market valuation procedures (primarily "diminution in market price") used by the commercial fish experts but rejected the nonmarket valuation procedure applied to subsistence uses (a hedonic price model).     

OIL SPILL REDUCTION AND COSTS OF SHIP DESIGN REGULATION

The 1990 Oil Pollution Act mandates double hulls for new ocean-going tankers unless the U.S. Coast Guard can find superior designs to reduce oil spill risks. This paper, based on a 1991 National Research Council (NRC) study of alternative tanker designs, examines policy implications of prescribing construction standards. Alternative construction designs for tankers, such as that of the Exxon Valdez, have markedly differing effects both on oil transport costs and on the risks of future oil spills. Annual costs of shipping oil to the United States would rise by anywhere from $462 million to $2,047 billion, depending on which of five plausible designs are selected. The chief objective of such designs is to reduce the outflow of oil occurring during groundings and collisions. Over the past decade, an average of about 7,500 tons have spilled annually from these causes in U.S. waters—representing roughly 20 percent of transportation-related maritime oil pollution in 1990. NRC-sponsored simulation research indicates that the various designs likely would prevent 2,600–5,600 tons from being spilled in a typical year. The paper presents cost-effectiveness comparisons of the alternatives, contrasting these with available information on societal benefits per ton of oil spill avoided. Costs appear substantial relative to benefits, and lawmakers' emphasis on design standards deflects attention from alternative risk reduction strategies—e.g., operation and maintenance measures—that warrant equal attention.     

Responses of Economic Activity to Global Oil Market Shocks: A Comparative Analysis of Major Net Oil‐Producing and ‐Consuming Countries

We argue that four channels drive oil price shocks during 1986M5–2013M1, namely the oil supply, aggregate demand, oil‐specific demand and real exchange rates. Our findings are that oil price shocks driven by oil supply positively affect net oil‐consumer countries faster than net oil‐producer countries. Oil price shocks driven by aggregate demand are largely country‐specific. Oil shocks driven by other demands influence net oil‐producers faster than net oil‐consumers negatively, and persistently mostly among net oil‐producers. Other shocks have large negative effects on the industrial production of all countries, with responses appearing very quickly and persisting for at least a year.     

An Economic Analysis of Australian Damage Remedies for Misleading Prospectuses: Trade Practices Act versus Corporations Law

Laws that address damages caused by deceptive or misleading prospectuses impact on the incentive issuers face to create such prospectuses, and hence impact on the level of investment. In Australia, it has been proposed to shift from a strict liability regime under s. 52 of the Trade Practices Act to a due diligence regime under the Corporations Law. I argue that due diligence is inferior to strict liability for large firms, but in some cases may be preferred to strict liability for small firms. I conclude that due diligence—as a liability rule—increases the cost and complexity of legal action, rather than being a 'corporate law simplification' as intended by the Corporations Law Simplification Task Force. Compared to strict liability, it is more likely to result in greater demand for the services of lawyers and accountants than it is to improve the accuracy of reporting.     

美国石油安全战略分析及对中国的启示

美国一直把石油视作维护国家安全和推行全球霸权战略不可或缺的因素。新时期,在生态因素、石油成本因素、战略层面考虑以及安全利益需要的共同作用下,美国石油正向发展可再生石油、研发替代石油、塑造多元化石油格局方向转变。作为世界上最大的发展中国家,中国石油也存在石油供需缺口增大、石油依存度高、石油结构不合理、环境污染大等挑战。主要从美国石油储备战略、石油外交战略、石油运输通道安全战略、国际石油多边合作战略、新石油安全战略五个方面进行全方位进行分析;另外,提出了美国石油安全战略对中国的启示和借鉴。     

我国石油商业储备多元化筹资模式研究

我国的石油安全问题已经日渐突出,石油商业储备建设目前还远远不能满足我国日益紧张的石油供需安全需要,尽快建立完善系统的商业储备体系,规避石油供应中断和国际原油价格波动风险已经成为保障我国石油安全的重要战略措施。由于国家石油储备投资大、风险高、回收期长等特点导致我国石油商业储备筹资渠道成为制约商业储备建设的瓶颈。通过参考国际商业储备建设筹资模式方法和我国现阶段的国情,依据谁收益、谁投资的根本法则,组建由国家、企业、民资、银行四方共同出资的国家石油商业储备公司进行公司化运营管理,国家石油商业储备实现由国家低息贷款、企业融资、贷款担保、会员均摊等多元化的筹资模式,从而实现快速、公平、均衡、持久商业储备资金筹集渠道,加快我国石油商业储备建设的步伐,从而保障我国石油长期稳定的供需安全。     

油气田开发企业合同能源管理应用研究

随着绿色生产理念的推广,合同能源管理得以迅速发展,已成为大中型企业实行节能管理的重要措施及手段,也是企业实现绿色发展采用的重要模式。油气田开发企业作为资源生产企业,在勘探、开发、生产过程中需要消耗大量能源资源,通过分析其实施合同能源管理的优点和存在的问题,以及合同能源管理模式的适用性,可积极探索适合油气田开发企业的能源合同管理模式,以实现油气田开发企业节能降耗和绿色发展。     

Are More Innovative Firms Less Vulnerable to New Environmental Regulation?

Compliance with pollution limits and standards requires firms to implement adaptation processes that are not only costly themselves but also affect future profits in as much as they modify production systems and methods. This paper attempts to respond to the question of how technological knowledge moderates the effect that the implementation of a new environmental regulation has on the results of affected firms. The regulation selected for this study is the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Act (IPPC). A Multivariate Regression Model (MVRM) has been applied to the regulatory event. The most important implication of this paper is that technological knowledge prepares a firm for adapting to a greater environmental demand such as may be derived from a new regulation. This paper has been developed under the objectives of the CREVALOR Research Group (DGA-Spain). Moreover, it has been financed by the MEC-FEDER Research Project SEJ2005-07341.     

我国石油储备发展策略研究

石油是重要的能源和现代工业不可缺少的原材料,其稳定的供给关系到一个国家经济社会的持续、健康发展和国家安全,因此,构建完善的石油储备体系是必不可少的重要措施。石油储备具有实物性、法律强制性、可动用性及公共性等特性,其储备模式主要分为国家石油储备和商业储备。目前,我国已成为世界石油市场需求量第二大国家和增长量最快的国家,同时,石油对外依存度逐年扩大,建立科学完备的石油储备体系亟待我们认真研究、高度关注。通过阐述石油储备的内涵,分析了石油储备的作用和意义,从石油储备立法、石油储备结构完善、石油储备资金筹集等诸多方面,对我国石油储备体系建设的发展策略提出了建议。     

中西文化融汇语境下的中国写意油画审美内涵研究

对活跃在中国画坛的油画家进行的写意油画创作与研究状况进行了跟踪研究,从＂写＂和＂意＂两方面结合目前油画家的创作与实践,分析了中国写意油画的独特审美内涵,揭示了中国写意油画强调意境的主观构建和极富想象力的艺术特质,并提出中国油画家在系统学习和研究西方油画技法的同时,把传统中国画的审美意趣、表现技法引入自身的油画创作,可以创作出有中国特色的写意油画。     

第四方物流与中国油气调控中心定位研究

石油/天然气管道运输是中国石油工业发展不可或缺的组成部分,管道运输石油/天然气有着其他运输方式不可比拟的优势;但是,管输系统自身的技术经济特性,决定了较之其他运输方式,其适应外生变量变化能力弱,内生变量可控性差。鉴此,从事第三方物流的管道运营商需要在网络中运营,由此造就中国油气调控中心的产生背景。从第四方物流“是一个供应链的集成商,它对公司内部和具有互补性的服务供应商所拥有的不同资源、能力和技术进行整合和管理,提供一整套供应链解决方案”分析入手,得出了中国油气调控中心定位——第四方物流。     

国际石油价格波动与我国经济发展影响分析

随着社会工业化的发展,石油在我们工业社会中的应用越来越广泛,石油价格也逐渐成为目前全球普遍关注的问题之一,随着我国对石油依赖程度的增强,国际油价的变化对我国经济的影响日益突出。石油行业作为国民经济的基础行业,我们很有必要研究国际石油价格的波动对我国经济的影响,并采取相应的措施来避免石油价格波动的风险。     

Environmental regulation and safety outcomes: Evidence from energy pipelines in Canada

This paper investigates the effects of more stringent environmental regulation—specifically, paying amortized abandonment fees as accrued and absolute liability for adverse events—on the safety performance of Canadian oil and gas pipelines. We construct a comprehensive dataset that includes pipeline adverse events, throughput, and regulatory intensiveness for fourteen federally-regulated energy pipelines in Canada. We find that abandonment fees are significantly and positively associated with pipeline events. On average, a 1% increase in abandonment fees is associated with 1.3 more events per month. In contrast, establishing absolute liability is associated with significant decreases in the number of pipeline events: on average, absolute liability is responsible for eliminating 80% of quarterly events for Canadian major oil pipelines and 20% for smaller pipelines.     

Generalized Progress of Abatement Technology: Incentives Under Environmental Liability Law

This paper considers the incentives environmental liability creates to improve pollution abatement technology. Our analysis considers technical progress in end-of-pipe abatement and in the production technology used, thereby generalizing the approach taken by Endres et?al. (Environ Resour Econ 36:341?C366, 2007). We establish that this generalization has drastic repercussions on incentives under negligence liability, while the performance of strict liability is not compromised. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the social desirability of investment in abatement or production technology (or both) decisively determines how ex-ante and ex-post regulation fare with respect to welfare maximization in the case of negligence liability.     

Oil shale and climate policy in the shift to a low carbon and more resilient economy

Policy makers worldwide are recently debating options to implement an effective climate policy that would put a cap on green house gas emissions. At the same time, investors are carefully evaluating the profitability of unconventional fossil fuels such as shale oil. To enhance the understanding of the impacts of a climate policy such as the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, on oil shale production – and vice versa – we have customized an integrated assessment model, the Climate and Energy Assessment for Resiliency model for Unconventional Fossil Fuels to the U.S. Western Energy Corridor. Our analysis indicates that while the bill would increase the production cost of oil shale, the industry remains highly profitable in the longer-term, generating a potential profit of about $10 to $16 billion per year by 2040 at 2.5 million barrels per day. These results suggest that the oil shale industry may comfortably face the enactment of a carbon policy, albeit with some caveats. Furthermore, while its potential economic impact on non-compliant industries may be severe, it would generate mounting profits for those achieving energy efficiency gains, thereby increasing the profitability of energy efficiency investments.     

浅议建立中国石油安全体系

石油是具有不可再生性和稀缺性的资源,是关系到国民经济振兴和国家安全的战略物资。随着经济的快速发展,我国已经成为仅次于美国的世界第二大石油消费国,石油已经对社会经济的各个方面产生了巨大的影响。要解决石油安全问题,必须突破传统思维,建立起一个综合的安全体系。这个体系不仅包括能源替代、节约和来源进口多元化,还应该涵盖建立石油储备和发展石油期货等措施,从各个方面来确保供给来源,规避价格风险,维护我国石油安全。     

萨班斯法案对上市公司风险投资的影响

本文研究了2002年萨班斯一奥克斯利法案（简称萨班斯法案）颁布之后,对上市公司风险投资行为的影响。基于萨班斯法案对企业高层管理者赋予了更多的责任,公司将调整薪酬激励制度。萨班斯法案颁布后,上市公司普遍降低了高层管理者的激励薪酬,从而改变了高层管理者的风险投资行为。这些变化表明了萨班斯法案产生的机会成本。较低的激励薪酬导致了较低的风险投资行为。董事会降低高层管理者的激励薪酬,从而使以研发经费和资本支出为代表的风险投资降低。研究结果对我国金融监管和经济调控具有借鉴意义。     

论我国石油天然气矿权权利冲突及解决机制

矿权是石油天然气经济活动中最基本的权利,我国石油天然气的经济活动中存在着许多的权利冲突问题,矿权冲突是比较多元化的,但其实质而言是权限冲突与利益冲突的交错,并通过各种形式表现出来。加强对石油天然气矿权权利冲突及解决机制的研究,有利于进一步规范我国石油天然气经济活动,促进石油天然气行业健康和谐发展。     

A comparative analysis of the impact of oil prices on oil-rich emerging economies in the Pacific Rim

This paper examines the relationship between raw materials prices and economic growth through two channels, the terms of trade (ToT) and energy efficiency (EF), in three emerging Pacific Rim economies, Russia, Indonesia and Malaysia. We demonstrate positive relationships between changes in output and oil prices and between changes in GDP and energy efficiency (EF). We examine the impact of oil prices on output growth through the ToT and EF channels. The effect of oil prices on ToT in Russia and Malaysia is positive but negative in Indonesia. Oil prices have a positive effect on EF in all three countries.