LSU Graduate Students Present Historical Examination and Analysis of the Greater Baton Rouge Clean Air Coalition

12/01/2010 

BATON ROUGE – On Wednesday, Dec. 1, from 1:30 - 2:45 p.m., members of the Baton Rouge Clean Air Coalition, or BRCAC, will gather to hear presentations by graduate students in the LSU School of the Coast & Environment Environmental Sciences program. The meeting will be held in the Woods Auditorium inside the Energy, Coast & Environment Building.

This service-learning project, “An Historical Examination and Analysis of the Greater Baton Rouge Clean Air Coalition:  Lessons Learned from 20 Years of Efforts to Improve Air Quality in Louisiana’s Upper Industrial Corridor,” is a required component of Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences Margaret Reams’ Environmental Policy Analysis course. Fourteen graduate students were required to survey current and past coalition members, along with members of similar stakeholder groups in Michigan and Texas, about air quality and economic trends data in Michigan, Texas and Louisiana. The students also conducted a review of research concerning similar “collaborative management” environmental groups.  

The results are a case history of the BRCAC that will be posted on its website, a report of regional trends in air quality and federal and state air policies over the last 20 years, an annotated bibliography of research concerning these types of groups and a “how-to” guide for industry and other stakeholders who would like to establish a similar local group.  

The BRCAC is a coalition of local governments, state environmental agencies, businesses, industries, academic institutions and civic organizations committed to improving air quality in the greater Baton Rouge area through voluntary actions and reasonable, effective regulatory actions.  The goals of BRCAC are to improve air quality through voluntary actions; create public awareness and promote individual responsibility through education; and provide credible measures of air quality improvement efforts.  

BRCAC is comprised of representatives from LSU; Dow Chemical Company; ExxonMobil; Capital Region Planning Commission; Baton Rouge Area Chamber of Commerce; East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Iberville, Ascension and Livingston Parishes; Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality; Louisiana Department of Natural Resources; the LSU Center for Energy Studies; Louisiana Association of Business and Industry; Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association; Louisiana Chemical Association; Greater Baton Rouge Clean Cities Coalition; Trinity Consultants; Harris, DeVille & Associates; and Providence Engineering and Environmental Group. Former Secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality Mike McDaniel serves as BRCAC director.