University of Virginia Library

Study Recommends Creation
Of Environmental Center

By PARKES BRITTAIN

In a special study released Saturday,
the creation of a Virginia Environmental
Center was recommended to Governor
Linwood Holton.

The center would enlist the resources
of State colleges and universities in order
to deal with the problems of
environmental quality and the State's
policies toward them.

The study recommends the
establishment of such a center so that
individuals in higher education who are
qualified to deal with environmental questions
may have the resources at their disposal to
analyze the problems in depth.

The center would initially emphasize these
three general areas: the analysis of State policy
towards the environment, the State's capacity
to manage environmental programs, and the
utilization of existing resources for dealing with
these programs.

The study is sponsored by the State Council
of Higher Education and the National Science
Foundation, and prepared by the University's
Center for the Study of Science, Technology
and Public Policy.

The study envisions the center as a joint
effort by the State Council's Research and
Development Advisory Committee (RADAC),
and either the Division of State Planning and
Community Affairs or a new State Department
of Environment.

The priorities of problems to be dealt with
in the center would be determined by the
Division of Planning or the new environmental
department.

According to Dennis Barnes, associate
director of the University's center, the
proposed environmental center would utilize
"such new management science techniques for
identifying major problem areas and
establishing priorities as the so-called 'Delphi
method', which involves putting series of
questions to experts in a number of fields in
order to 'hone down on the essence' the issues
involved in a problem."

The study indicates that "nowhere else in
the State is there the variety and quality for
policy analyses as reside in the collective
colleges and universities."

It also notes that "State governmental
agencies are, for the most part, overwhelmed by
the exigencies of coping with existing
problems," and that higher education is a
significant resource for analyzing the aspects of
alternatives to governmental policies in dealing
with environmental problems.

Universities already have sufficient
reputation and apolitical image to avoid
unnecessary influence from the government in
attempting to solve environmental problems,
the study continues.