10.2190/T194-NPH9-LAGD-D048 T194NPH9LAGDD048 2 Transferring Information on a Regional Environmental Issue: A Hybrid Information System 257 269 20020509 20020509 20020509 20020509 T194NPH9LAGDD048.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=T194NPH9LAGDD048 4 David W. Layton Russell L. Gum Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona Economic Research Service, U. S. D. A. and Department of Agricultural Economics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona The transfer of environmental information on an issue of regional extent presents several informational problems to those groups and individuals involved with the issue. For an issue like coal-fired energy development in the Colorado River Basin, members of the interested public have difficulties in acquiring factual material on power plants, while electric utilities and government agencies have other problems related to the communication of information. The Hybrid Information System was conceived as a method of facilitating the flow of impact information among the parties concerned with the effects of eight power plants in the Southwest. It is a computerized system that uses stored material, simulation models, and computational routines to describe impacts. An evaluation of the system by thirty-five prospective users from Arizona found it to be a viable way of transmitting environmental information. C. Schoenfeld, (ed.), <i>Interpreting Environmental Issues</i>, Dembar Educational Research Services, Inc., Madison, 1973. K. P. Warner, <i>Public Participation in Water Resources Planning</i>, National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia, July, 1971. Task Force on Education, "Environmental Education Within the University of Arizona with Special Reference to Agriculture," Environmental Quality Committee, College of Agriculture, University of Arizona, Tucson, June, 1974. D. B. Kimball, "Public Participation in the Planning of Coal-Fired Electric Power Development in the Southwest," unpublished M. S. Thesis, University of Arizona, Tucson, 1974. D. M. Rubin, T. H. Harris, D. W. Jones, Jr., D. P. Sachs and C. A. Schoenfield, "Environmental Information," <i>Anals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 216</i>, pp. 171-177, May 18, 1973. T. P. Wagner and L. Ortolano, "Analysis of New Techniques for Public Involvement in Water Planning," <i>Water Resources Bulletin, 11</i>:2, pp. 329-344, April, 1975. Council on Environmental Quality, "Guidelines: Preparation of Environmental Impact Statements," <i>Federal Register, 38</i>:147, pp. 20550-20562, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., August 1, 1973. U. S. Senate, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, <i>Problems of Electric Power Development in the Southwest</i>, Hearings, 92nd Congress, 1st Session, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., Parts 1-7, 1971. U. S. Department of the Interior, <i>Southwest Energy Study, Draft</i>, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C., 1972. Arizona Public Service Company, Salt River Project, San Diego Gas and Electric Company, and Southern California Edison Company, <i>Kaiparowits Project Environmental Report</i>, June, 1973. Dames and Moore, Inc., <i>Environmental Report: Cholla Power Project, Joseph City, Arizona</i>, Arizona Public Service Company, 1973. W. J. McGuire, "The Nature of Attitudes and Attitude Change," in G. Lindzey and E. Aronson, (eds.), <i>The Handbook of Social Psychology, 3</i>, 2nd edition, pp. 136-314, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Reading, Massachusetts, 1969. B. H. Westley and W. J. Severin, "Some Correlates of Media Credibility," <i>Journalism Quarterly, 41</i>:3, pp. 325-335, 1964. J. J. Brecher (Native American Rights Fund, Boulder, Colorado), Correspondence to E. A. Lundberg, Bureau of Reclamation, Boulder City, Nevada, November 3, 1971, in U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, <i>Environmental Statement: Navajo Project, Appendix I, Review Comments</i>, pp. 143-171, National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia, February, 1972. P. G. Thorne, "An Ecosystem Assessment Technique for Environmental Impact Statements," unpublished M. S. Thesis, University of Arizona, 1974. W. R. King and D. I. Cleland, "Manager-Analyst Teamwork in MIS," in D. H. Li, (ed.), <i>Design and Management of Information Systems</i>, Science Research Associates, Inc., Chicago, pp. 19-27, 1972. R. A. Deininger, (ed.), <i>Design of Environmental Information Systems</i>, Ann Arbor Science Publishers, Inc., Ann Arbor, 1974. J. A. Gillcrist, <i>AEC/RECON User's Manual</i>, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, May, 1974. V. C. Lamont, "New Directions for the Teaching Computer: Citizen Participation in Community Planning," <i>Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 5</i>:2, pp. 145-162, 1973. D. W. Layton, "A Computerized Information System on the Impacts of Coal-Fired Energy Development in the Southwest," unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Arizona, Tucson, 1975. T. G. Roefs and R. L. Gum, (eds.), "Coal-Fired Energy Development on Colorado Plateau: Economic, Environmental, and Social Impacts," Natural Resource Systems Technical Report No. 23, Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson, July, 1974.