Post date: Dec 5, 2014 3:25:23 PM
I've continued working on my third chapter this week, trying to refine some of the messages of the manuscript and move forward with some kind of statistical analysis of what causes some development areas to have big, cheap payoffs in reducing impacts while others dont. Though I can see what's causing it, I'm having trouble coming up with a statistic and test.
I've also been working on a game-plan for my fourth chapter. I need to start the layout creation process for that chapter soon because it is bound to take a few months to run, what with slow runs, errors, and random computer shutdowns. This week I've come up with a mini-proposal of sorts that suggests some regulations to impose for reducing impacts. One thing has stumped me: are there any regulations that can target roads and pipelines without being impact-specific? I.e. can I come up with some reasonable regulatory system that will reduce all impacts from roads and pipelines? Pads are somewhat easy, because we know that reducing the density of well pads on the landscape should almost always reduce impacts. And pad density can be reduced by increasing the area drained by each pad. There's no clear outcome for having more or less roads or pipelines.