224
Electric Power Generating Effluent Guidelines and Standards, enacted in 1974 and
most recently revised in 2015.
Assessing the nexus impacts of new development in any FEW sector requires a
sound understanding of the initial baseline conditions of all three sectors prior to
development. Several GAO reports since 2010 have cited a simple lack of
comprehensive data on the water impacts of energy development, making effective
regulation all the more problematic. Others highlight the lack of coordinated policymaking among different agencies. The Energy Policy Act does not specifically refer
to the nexus per se but does contain clear guidance that the DOE should research
and develop linked water and energy resource needs. In addition, the Act directed
the DOE to coordinate work with other relevant federal agencies including but not
limited to the EPA, the Interior Department, the Army Corps of Engineers, the
Commerce Department, and the Defense Department. The Act also includes
provisions governing energy impacts on water, for example, targeting leaking tanks
that risk contaminating groundwater. As the GAO reports show, much work remains
to be done to meet the coordination goals in the Energy Policy Act.
8.2.3 Food
In Chap. 2, we noted that “food systems integrate all of the inputs, processes, conversions, infrastructure, outputs, uses, wastes, allocations, and impacts of food.”
The relationship between food systems and water is complex: water use for food
production can be consumptive (water integrated into the product, for example) or
non-consumptive (water used in washing, or return flows from irrigation). Saundry
points out that our twenty-first-century food system is global in nature, which makes
it difficult to draw boundaries around systems for analysis, let alone regulation. Not
surprisingly, the global nature of the food system brings certain difficulties in terms
of law and policy.
Food law and policy scholars note a need to “view food and agriculture as part of
an integrated system,” and to broaden food and agriculture law to account for other
priorities such as public health, the environment, and economic development
(Beyranevand and Leib 2017). Food regulation implicates the nexus in four key areas:
food production, processing, transportation, and disposal. All these require energy and
water inputs. Poor management of food production and waste can also pollute water
resources through nutrient runoff. Therefore, increases in efficiency that reduces food
use and waste overall can reduce negative impacts on energy and water resources.
Food waste, such as manure, grain stalks, vegetable clippings, and even post-consumer waste, can also be a source of energy if the legal and physical infrastructure
permits collection and anaerobic processing of the waste to produce methane.
According to the Food and Agricultural Law Program at the University of
Arkansas, the USA wastes 96 billion pounds of food annually.
8
A significant
8 See “Food Recovery: A Legal Guide” at http://law.uark.edu/documents/2013/06/Legal-GuideTo-Food-Recovery.pdf.
B. Kinne and D. Magee
Electric Power Generating Effluent Guidelines and Standards, enacted in 1974 and
most recently revised in 2015.
Assessing the nexus impacts of new development in any FEW sector requires a
sound understanding of the initial baseline conditions of all three sectors prior to
development. Several GAO reports since 2010 have cited a simple lack of
comprehensive data on the water impacts of energy development, making effective
regulation all the more problematic. Others highlight the lack of coordinated policymaking among different agencies. The Energy Policy Act does not specifically refer
to the nexus per se but does contain clear guidance that the DOE should research
and develop linked water and energy resource needs. In addition, the Act directed
the DOE to coordinate work with other relevant federal agencies including but not
limited to the EPA, the Interior Department, the Army Corps of Engineers, the
Commerce Department, and the Defense Department. The Act also includes
provisions governing energy impacts on water, for example, targeting leaking tanks
that risk contaminating groundwater. As the GAO reports show, much work remains
to be done to meet the coordination goals in the Energy Policy Act.
8.2.3 Food
In Chap. 2, we noted that “food systems integrate all of the inputs, processes, conversions, infrastructure, outputs, uses, wastes, allocations, and impacts of food.”
The relationship between food systems and water is complex: water use for food
production can be consumptive (water integrated into the product, for example) or
non-consumptive (water used in washing, or return flows from irrigation). Saundry
points out that our twenty-first-century food system is global in nature, which makes
it difficult to draw boundaries around systems for analysis, let alone regulation. Not
surprisingly, the global nature of the food system brings certain difficulties in terms
of law and policy.
Food law and policy scholars note a need to “view food and agriculture as part of
an integrated system,” and to broaden food and agriculture law to account for other
priorities such as public health, the environment, and economic development
(Beyranevand and Leib 2017). Food regulation implicates the nexus in four key areas:
food production, processing, transportation, and disposal. All these require energy and
water inputs. Poor management of food production and waste can also pollute water
resources through nutrient runoff. Therefore, increases in efficiency that reduces food
use and waste overall can reduce negative impacts on energy and water resources.
Food waste, such as manure, grain stalks, vegetable clippings, and even post-consumer waste, can also be a source of energy if the legal and physical infrastructure
permits collection and anaerobic processing of the waste to produce methane.
According to the Food and Agricultural Law Program at the University of
Arkansas, the USA wastes 96 billion pounds of food annually.
8
A significant
8 See “Food Recovery: A Legal Guide” at http://law.uark.edu/documents/2013/06/Legal-GuideTo-Food-Recovery.pdf.
B. Kinne and D. Magee