(4/14/05) The National Park Service and other federal land management agencies have implemented the Fee Demo Program since 1996, allowing agencies to collect over $1.1 billion in user fees and affording them greater management flexibility and financial accountability. This new Reason study suggests improvements to the user fee program that would allow national parks to take further steps towards self-sufficiency and foster greater preservation of our nation’s natural wonders.
Full Text PDF | Policy Summary | Reason's Environment Resource Center

(3/30/05) With proposals moving forward in Congress to allow oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), the pertinent question to ask now is not whether drilling will take place or not, but what will be the extent of the drilling and its associated environmental impacts. In this policy brief, Reason's Michael De Alessi writes that performance-based measures offer the best means of ensuring that economically viable development in ANWR also minimizes environmental and cultural impacts.
Full Text

(1/27/05) Human ingenuity and the entrepreneurial spirit underlie most conservation success stories. Under private ownership and stewardship, problem-solvers become remarkably resourceful at protecting and enhancing the value of what they own. This new Reason Foundation study analyzes examples of conservation through private means and explores how performance metrics can aid in the protection of the environment.
Full Text | Policy Summary

(12/13-17) Negotiators in Argentina are hammering out the next stage of the Kyoto Protocol climate treaty. Two important questions remain unanswered: whether the Kyoto signatories can find a compromise to bring the U.S. back into the agreement, and whether the protocol's environmental goals are worth the effort. This week, Reason's Science Correspondent Ronald Bailey will be posting daily reports from Buenos Aires covering the negotiations, the scientific presentations, and environmental lobbying efforts.

• The Kyoto Protocol is Dead (12/17)
• Can We Avoid 'Dangerous' Climate Change? (12/16)
• Low Carbon Future? It's harder than you think (12/15)
• Adapting to Climate Change (12/14)
• Global Warming Negotiations Heat Up (12/13)

(12/9/04) Minor changes to Hawaii’s offshore aquaculture regulatory process would position the state as the national leader in oceanic fish farming and provide a significant boost to the Hawaiian economy, according to this new Reason study. The study also identifies the essential ingredients needed to develop an environmentally and economically sound offshore aquaculture industry.
Full Text | Reason's Environmental Resource Center | IFQsforFisheries.org

(11/18/04) Air quality continues to improve, but gains have come at the cost of a regulatory system that devotes enormous resources to creating and enforcing administrative requirements, rather than reducing pollution. In this American Enterprise Institute article, Reason Senior Fellow Joel Schwartz writes that achieving sufficiently clean air at the least possible cost will require overcoming special interests that benefit from a centralized, administratively complex regulatory system.
Full Text | Policy Summary | Reason's Air Quality Resource Center

(8/23/04) The city of San Francisco has control over the operation of the Hetch Hetchy water and power system, but suburban interests are attempting to transfer this authority to a regional public agency. According to this new Reason policy brief, this is not good policy in the best interests of San Francisco citizens. Furthermore, the Hetch Hetchy power system should be reorganized to function as a competitive service directly to San Francisco households and businesses.
Full Text | Reason's Water & Wastewater Resource Center | Reason's Environment Resource Center | Reason's Electricity Resource Center

(4/21/04) The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy Preliminary Report fails to create the framework needed to implement a comprehensive, coordinated approach that will protect and manage our oceans. Michael De Alessi, director of natural resources at the Reason Foundation, outlines a series of recommendations to improve fish populations, protect marine habitats, and reduce marine pollution.
Full Text | Reason's Environmental Resource Center | Private Conservation Resources | IFQs in U.S. Fisheries Policy Brief

(4/1/04) For decades, U.S. federal fisheries policy has relied on direct regulations to prevent overfishing. Such an approach has not eliminated overfishing, nor has it prevented the enormous waste and hazards of fishing under a destructive race for fish. The good news is that there is a better way to manage our ocean fisheries. Individual fishing quotas (IFQs), also called individual transferable quotas (ITQs), have proven effective in restoring health and sanity in a host of fisheries around the globe.
Full Text

(3/16/04) Parts of California have the worst air quality in the nation. Resources are being wasted around the edges of the issue and pursuing defunct strategies, this paper points out how to zero in on the most effective means of clearing the air.
Full Text

Congress is currently debating a national energy bill that is aimed among other things at reducing our dependency on foreign oil. As this study reveals, however, the provisions of the bill dealing with a national ethanol mandate run in precisely the opposite direction. Ethanol requires more energy to produce than it saves.
Full Text | Policy Summary | Environment Resource Center | Energy and Electricity Resource Center

Michael De Alessi pens the opening chapter to The Half-Life of Policy Rationales, a book that argues that the appropriateness of policy depends on the state of technology, and that the justifications for many public policies are dissolving as technology advances. As new detection and metering technologies are being developed for highways, parking, and auto emissions, and information becomes more accessible and user-friendly, this volume argues that quality and safety are better handled by the private sector.
More Information | Purchase Info

Cities across the nation are partnering with private companies to more effectively and efficiently build and manage water and wastewater systems. Why? How? With what results? Are there any pitfalls? These and other frequently asked questions are answered in this paper.
Full Text

This study explains the history of Earth Sanctuaries, particularly the successes and challenges it has faced in trying to save species through commercialization. Following recent financial difficulties, the company is now a leaner, more focused operation. And Australia's wildlife is all the better for it.
Full Text

This policy brief shows how market mechanisms that allow trading underneath a cap for both point and nonpoint sources offer a promising avenue to further and more practical improvements in water quality in the nation’s watersheds. The Fox-Wolf River Basin provides a good case study.
Full Text

Competitive sourcing gives the National Parks Service a valuable opportunity to focus on its mission and goals of enhancing environmental protection, ensuring the availability and enjoyment of recreational facilities, and providing for public safety.
Full Text