Environmental risks
larger than profits of major electric utilities
Over 90 percent of publicly owned U.S. electric utilities have
environmental risks larger than their operating profits, according to
researchers who have developed a new financial measure. In a study published in
the July issue of Environmental Finance, Robert Repetto, professor in the practice of economics and sustainable
development, estimates the environmental financial risks companies face and
compares them with their ability to bear such risks, if they materialize.
Repetto's new financial measure -- TRUEVA, for "true value added" -- compares
the operating profits companies make with their potential environmental costs.
The economic damages from the pollution and wastes a company generates in the
course of operations represent the extent of the company's potential financial
risk, should it be forced to assume responsibility for those damages. The
operating profits the company makes, after subtracting taxes and the costs of
capital it employs in the business, represent the ability of the company to
finance such risks. Companies whose profits are large compared with the damages
they cause are less risky investments.
TRUEVA was applied to publicly owned U.S. electric utilities, which
have large emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants. Of the 33
companies studied, all but three had environmental risks larger in financial
terms than their operating profits after taxes and capital costs. Two of the
largest companies, American Electric Power and the Southern Company, had
negative TRUEVA of $4.8 billion and $3.4 billion, respectively, indicating
large-scale risks to investors.
Environmental scientist receives NIH award to study ozone and
disease
Michelle Bell, assistant professor of environmental
health, is one of eight scientists to receive an Outstanding New Environmental
Scientist (ONES) award from the National Institutes of Health. She will receive
$500,000 to study the relationship between outdoor concentrations of ozone, a
reactive form of oxygen that is a primary component of urban smog, and the
incidence of respiratory disease and death in exposed populations.
Bell is one of two Yale University professors to receive a ONES award.
Sven-Eric Jordt, assistant professor of pharmacology in the School of Medicine,
will study the way in which certain airborne pollutants interact with sensory
nerve cells in order to produce eye, nose, and throat irritation.
Tropical ecology professor wins MacArthur "genius" award
Lisa Curran, professor of tropical ecology and director of the Tropical
Resources Institute at F&ES, has been awarded a five-year John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.
Like all MacArthur Fellows, the award came as a total surprise to
Curran, who was delighted by the news. "It's like winning the lottery after 20
years of Survivor in Borneo.
Actually, this has been a tremendous team effort. I've worked with some of my
Indonesian colleagues for 18 years. I'm part of all the people I've met: the
villagers, the loggers, the scientists, and the students -- both from the
U.S. and Indonesia."
Curran has focused her research on the forests of Borneo and the
ecology of its most economically important family of tropical timber,
Philippine mahogany. She has worked to devise new strategies to address
deforestation and its devastating environmental consequences. Curran and her
research team study the structure and dynamics of tropical forests using
satellite remote sensing, field ecology, ground-based surveys, and analysis to
learn how the environment is altered by human activities and to improve the
management of these forests by integrating scientific knowledge with the
sociological, political, and economic realities on the ground. She has been
instrumental in the establishment of national parks in Indonesia and has worked
to counter illegal logging and the corruption that allowed it to take place.
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