Environmental Policy and Sustainable Infrastructure - DEITABASE

Extreme Flooding Events in Quang Nam, Vietnam

Vietnam, particularly the region of Quang Nam, are located in an area extremely vulnerable to flooding events, which devastate the mostly agricultural region, and climate change has directly resulted in these flooding events getting worst in the past twenty years. Instead of addressing changes that could actually address the issue, however, the government has focused most of its effort on reforestation and forest management, despite lack of evidence that these actions are at all likely to help mitigate disastrous flooding events.

Guoyang2023-09-10T03:50:47+00:00June 16, 2023|Categories: Case Summary|Tags: Earth Systems, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Policy and Sustainable Infrastructure, Geotechnical Engineering, Hydraulics and Hydrological Engineering|0 Comments

Tar Creek Superfund Site

The Tar Creek Superfund site is located in northeastern Oklahoma on Quapaw tribal land and is the site of former zinc and lead mining site. The acid mine drainage from this site has been polluting the local community and watershed for over 50 years and is still toxic despite being a superfund site since 1983. Local community members have been fighting to continue the cleanup of the site despite the slow progress made by the EPA.

Guoyang2023-09-10T05:20:05+00:00June 16, 2023|Categories: Case Summary|Tags: Environmental Engineering, Environmental Policy and Sustainable Infrastructure, Water Quality and Health|0 Comments

Black Lives Matter in Engineering, Too! An Environmental Justice Approach Towards Equitable Decision-Making for Stormwater Management in African American Communities

This dissertation details the stormwater management practices and history in East Tampa, and uses them as a framework to address stormwater management on a larger level. It goes into detail about East Tampa, although it also mentions a number of other places, and does so by approaching the subject of stormwater management through a lens influenced by both environmental justice and critical race theory.

Guoyang2023-09-10T03:27:01+00:00June 16, 2023|Categories: Case Summary|Tags: Construction Engineering and Management, Earth Systems, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Fluid Dynamics, Environmental Policy and Sustainable Infrastructure, Water Quality and Health|0 Comments

Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)

A mega dam is being built in Ethiopia along the Blue Nile River. The new hydroelectric power plant is expected to generate 5GW electricity, lifting the whole country out of poverty and symbolizing the national power. However, as the river is a shared resouce with 10 other countries, it undergoes huge dispute, especially with Egypt, and the tension is escavating.

Guoyang2023-09-10T03:54:08+00:00June 16, 2023|Categories: Case Summary|Tags: Environmental Fluid Dynamics, Environmental Policy and Sustainable Infrastructure, Hydraulics and Hydrological Engineering|0 Comments

Environmental justice and drinking water quality: are there socioeconomic disparities in nitrate levels in U.S. drinking water?

This study was conducted to address possible disparities across socioeconomic strata in regards to drinking water contamination. Seeking to look specifically at nitrate, a number of findings were made that raised concern - specifically that Hispanic communities are much more likely to experience high nitrate contamination in the water.

Guoyang2023-09-10T06:09:33+00:00June 16, 2023|Categories: Case Summary|Tags: Environmental Engineering, Environmental Policy and Sustainable Infrastructure, Water Quality and Health|0 Comments

Syracuse I‑81 Removal

Syracuse's 1.4-mile stretch of the I-81, which is raised above the city and cuts through downtown, is posed for a new transition. While once displacing disadvantaged communities, officials have drafted plans to tear down the crumbling interstate and create a street-level grid to repair broken communities and create a revitalized urban core. The project is currently paused due to lawsuits from local groups questioning the impacts of such a decision and if it will really improve the area or cause more generational impacts.

Guoyang2023-09-10T05:17:50+00:00June 16, 2023|Categories: Case Summary|Tags: Construction Engineering and Management, Environmental Policy and Sustainable Infrastructure, Transportation Engineering|0 Comments

New Jersey Environmental Justice Law Forces Contaminated Site Cleanup

New Jersey's Environmental Justice Law helps protect underrepresented and disadvantaged communities from environmental impacts by limiting industrial and waste facilities in those communities. Additionally, greater attention has been focused on cleaning up contaminated waste sites and holding those accountable for polluting these communities.

Guoyang2023-09-10T04:08:32+00:00June 16, 2023|Categories: Case Summary|Tags: Environmental Engineering, Environmental Policy and Sustainable Infrastructure|0 Comments

Mega Dam on Great Bend in China

In 2022, Power Construction Corporation of China (Powerchina) announced its plan to build a mega dam along Yarlung Tsangpo River (Brahmaputra River). The dam is estimated to have 3 times the power generation as the Three Gorges Dam but it also goes along with many conerns like damage to ecosystem, future flood potential and geopolitics conflicts etc.

Guoyang2023-09-10T04:06:49+00:00June 16, 2023|Categories: Case Summary|Tags: Construction Engineering and Management, Environmental Fluid Dynamics, Environmental Policy and Sustainable Infrastructure, Environmental Politics, Geotechnical Engineering, Hydraulics and Hydrological Engineering, Structural Engineering|0 Comments

Brentwood Bus Depot in D.C. and How it Affects Communities of Color

D.C. is planning to build a 230 bus terminal in Brentwood, a historically black community in ward 5, that already faces disproportionate affects of pollution. Community members are upset with the decision due to the lack of a comprehensive environmental assessment done by the lawmakers as the city intends to transition to electric vehicles, eliminating the need for an assessment.

Guoyang2023-09-10T03:33:09+00:00June 16, 2023|Categories: Case Summary|Tags: Construction Engineering and Management, Environmental Policy and Sustainable Infrastructure|0 Comments

South Wake Landfill in Holly Springs

In the early 90's, the town of Holly Springs was predominantly African American, and was chosen for a site for a landfill to be built. Over time, the area shifted demographics until it was predominantly white, at which time the permit for the site was issued, denied, and re-issued. This is in spite of the fact that there appeared to be no such concerns when the area was predominantly African American.

Guoyang2023-09-10T06:05:38+00:00June 16, 2023|Categories: Case Summary|Tags: Construction Engineering and Management, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Policy and Sustainable Infrastructure, Water Quality and Health|0 Comments