National Academies Press: OpenBook

Resolving Conflicts Arising from the Privatization of Environmental Data (2001)

Chapter: Potential Conflicts in the Roots

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Suggested Citation:"Potential Conflicts in the Roots." National Research Council. 2001. Resolving Conflicts Arising from the Privatization of Environmental Data. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10237.
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Suggested Citation:"Potential Conflicts in the Roots." National Research Council. 2001. Resolving Conflicts Arising from the Privatization of Environmental Data. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10237.
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Suggested Citation:"Potential Conflicts in the Roots." National Research Council. 2001. Resolving Conflicts Arising from the Privatization of Environmental Data. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10237.
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Suggested Citation:"Potential Conflicts in the Roots." National Research Council. 2001. Resolving Conflicts Arising from the Privatization of Environmental Data. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10237.
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Page 57
Suggested Citation:"Potential Conflicts in the Roots." National Research Council. 2001. Resolving Conflicts Arising from the Privatization of Environmental Data. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10237.
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Page 58

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WAR AND PEACE AMONG STAKEHOLDERS 54 Examples of successes and failures in the use of commercial data in public- sector environmental information systems are given below. INFORMATION SYSTEMS CREATED PURELY FOR PUBLIC PURPOSES Potential Conflicts in the Roots The need for credibility of public-sector information products requires the input data to be available on a full and open basis or at least be subject to a scientific audit with minimal restrictions (see Box 4.1). The rigor of the scientific audit needed depends on the nature of the data and how they will be used. Restricted data that improve the efficiency of core product development but do not affect their scientific validity (e.g., base maps) may require only limited scientific scrutiny. On the other hand, when restricted data are essential to the creation of the core product, the data must be made available on a full and open basis or they cannot be used in public-sector information systems (see Example 5.1). In some cases, unacceptable restrictions on commercial data are lifted after an initial proprietary period, when the economic value has declined (see Examples 5.2 and 5.3). Such data can be an important asset to the environmental sciences, which gain a valuable new resource at a fraction of the original cost. EXAMPLE 5.1 HYDROLOGIC DATA Hydrologic data are used for a variety of purposes. At global and regional scales they are collected and used by scientists and government agencies to study the hydrologic cycle, determine the global water balance, and analyze climate change. At national and local scales hydrologic data are used by decision makers to monitor and allocate water resources and assess the risks of floods and droughts. Because the data have economic and military value, they are commonly sold and/or restricted by the government agency responsible for their collection or by global or regional networks that collect and exchange data.a For example, streamflow data are collected under the auspices of the Friend Network for use in one of its five research projects.b Because such streamflow data are essential for understanding and monitoring global environmental change, the United States has joined with other

WAR AND PEACE AMONG STAKEHOLDERS 55 countries and organizations to collect historical hydrometeorological data and river basin characteristics for about 200 river basins from a range of climates throughout the world. c These data, which will partly duplicate the information in the Friend Network, will be freely available. Hydrologic information is also collected and exchanged on a global basis through the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Under WMO Resolution 25 a core set of hydrologic data are freely available for noncommercial purposes, and the remainder can be sold or restricted by the member country that collected the data.d Some of the core data, such as records of river flow from about 3,300 stations in 143 countries, are available through the WMO Global Runoff Data Center.e However, the center imposes three restrictions: (1) the amount of data that can be requested is limited; (2) users are not permitted to share the data with third parties; and (3) users must inform the center how the data will be used. Thus, the data cannot be regarded as being available on a full and open basis. The majority of hydrologic data are subject to even more restrictions and must be obtained directly from the government agency that collected them. Lessons learned. Limiting access to hydrologic data severely limits scientists' ability to construct or validate global or regional models of the hydrologic cycle, land-atmosphere interactions, and biogeochemical cycles. Because restricted data cannot be shared among colleagues, their use undermines the scientific practices upon which the research enterprise depends. Restrictions also create major inefficiencies in public- sector information systems because the same information must be collected by multiple organizations. a For example, 20 national meteorological services of Europe have joined to form ECOMET. Restrictions on data from the ECOMET network are described in their data policy at <http://www.meteo.oma.be/ECOMET/description.html>. b Streamflow data are contributed from countries in Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia. In Europe alone daily streamflow data from over 5,000 gauging stations in 30 countries are archived. See <http://www.nwl.ac.uk/ih/www/research/mfriend.html>. c The Model Parameter Estimation Experiment was initiated in 1999. d Before WMO Resolution 25 was enacted in 1999, very little hydrologic data outside the United States was available on a full and open basis. Its passage thus had the opposite effect of WMO Resolution 40, which substantially decreased the amount of data member nations made freely available. The text of the WMO resolutions can be found at <http://www.wmo.ch/>. e <http://www.wiz.uni-kassel.de/kww/irrisoft/hydro/grdc.html>.

WAR AND PEACE AMONG STAKEHOLDERS 56 EXAMPLE 5.2 OIL INDUSTRY DATA The U.S. oil and gas industry has spent billions of dollars to collect and produce geoscience data and information products, including geologic maps, seismic reflection profiles, and well logs. Because of corporate downsizing and a shift from domestic to foreign production, the oil industry is increasingly willing to contribute its proprietary data to facilities that operate in the public interest, such as libraries, universities, and federal agencies.a Although the commercial value of the data has declined, the data remain valuable for such public purposes as research and mitigation of earthquake hazards. Such information is especially valuable because areas explored decades ago are often less accessible now due to urban development (e.g., the use of seismic reflection profiles collected by Texaco, which have allowed seismologists to discover and map faults buried beneath the Los Angeles Basinb). Texaco provided both raw and processed data, which enabled the scientists to validate the information directly.c In return, the scientists agreed not to distribute the dataset without permission, except as part of normal scientific discourse. Although oil industry data have great scientific value, transferring large quantities to public repositories can be an expensive proposition. Not only must the data be physically transferred but they must be inventoried, assessed for quality, and suitably formatted and documented. A study conducted by the American Geological Institute estimated that it would cost about $2 million per year to obtain oil industry data and operate a public archive.d This cost is only a tiny fraction of what the data cost to collect originally. Lessons learned. Changing priorities in industry can lead to the transfer of valuable proprietary data to the public domain. When restrictions are lifted, data are often used in ways that were not anticipated when they were originally collected. Such additional uses greatly increase the value of the data collection, particularly to future generations. On the other hand, waiting for the commercial value to decline entails a cost to the public. a For example, industry-collected seismic data valued at more than $1 billion reside at the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Energy Research Seismic Library, <http://energy.usgs.gov/factsheets/NERSL/nersl.html>. Shell Oil transferred its core facility to the University of Texas in 1994. A survey of the types of data the oil and gas industry would consider transferring to the public sector can be found in AGI, 1997, National Geoscience Data Repository System: Phase II Final Report, American Geological Institute, Alexandria, Virginia., 127 pp.

WAR AND PEACE AMONG STAKEHOLDERS 57 b J.H.Shaw and P.M.Shearer, 1999, An elusive blind-thrust fault beneath metropolitan Los Angeles, Science, v. 283, p. 1516–1518. c J.H.Shaw, Harvard University, personal communication, May 14, 2001. d Geoscience data that might be contributed to a public repository include 100 million line miles of digital seismic data, 600,000 tapes of digital well logs, and millions of samples, paper records and analyses. See AGI, 1998, The National Geoscience Data Repository System: Promoting the preservation and accessibility of geoscience data. American Geological Association white paper, Alexandria, Virginia., 6 pp. EXAMPLE 5.3 SYSTEME PROBATOIRE POUR L'OBSERVATION DE LA TERRE (SPOT) Commercial imagery is an important complement to the medium- and low-resolution imagery collected by the government. For example, having multiple satellites increases the chances of obtaining cloud-free views of the land surface. For many land-surface applications (e.g., agriculture, forestry, geology) data from the commercial French satellite SPOT are the best available. However, SPOT data are subject to use restrictions and the cost to users is significantly higher than Landsat-7 data.a Consequently, SPOT data have not been widely used for public purposes in the United States. The use of SPOT data is likely to increase as the data become available at reduced prices through the USGS's Earth Resources Observations Systems (EROS) Data Center. The center is the backup archive for SPOT Image Corp. Under the terms of an agreement being negotiated between SPOT Image Corp. and the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. government and its affiliated researchers (e.g., NASA-approved investigators) will be able to obtain 700,000 SPOT images collected over North America from 1986 through 1998 for about $600 per scene, including access fees.b The USGS/EROS Data Center will produce and distribute the products and pay access fees to SPOT Image Corp. each time images are retrieved from the archive. SPOT Image Corp. benefits by collecting access fees without having to maintain an expensive backup archive. It is the intent of both parties to provide access to all users by 2002. When that happens, the U.S. public will benefit by gaining a valuable data resource at a fraction of the cost of building and operating a satellite. Lessons learned. A valuable commercial resource can sometimes be made available for public purposes at a lower cost than if the government built and operated an observing system. When the data are purchased to

WAR AND PEACE AMONG STAKEHOLDERS 58 give the public unrestricted access, the terms of the purchase should reflect the spirit of OMB A-130 (incremental cost). a Imagery firms call Landsat prices unfair. Space News, v. 10(42), November 8, 1999. SPOT Image Corp. offers 10- and 20-m resolution images at 50 cents to $1 per square kilometer, compared with 30-m resolution Landsat-7 imagery, which is available for 2 cents per square kilometer. SPOT data are copyrighted and may not be shared freely, except among those specified in the license agreement. b T.M.Holm, Chief of Data Services Branch, USGS EROS Data Center, personal communication, June, 2001; USGS adds SPOT imagery to satellite archive, Space Daily, March 22, 2000, <http://www.spacedaily.com/news/eo-00f.html>. The Commercial Space Act directs NASA to purchase Earth remote- sensing data from a commercial provider to the extent possible (see Box 2.1). The intention of the legislation was to prevent government agencies from competing with private-sector organizations. At the same time, unfounded complaints about competition can stifle innovation in the government (see Example 5.4). EXAMPLE 5.4 DEMETER Data from hyperspectral imaging instruments have many applications related to environmental changes on land and shallow marine areas. NASA's Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS), for instance, has been enormously successful, yielding over 500 scientific papersa and setting a high standard for implementation of the technology by the private sector. Several government agencies (and their associated research scientists) and commercial companies have been considering a variety of hyperspectral missions. For example, in December 1997 the Office of Naval Research entered into a partnership with Space Technology Development Corporation (STDC) to jointly produce the Navy Earth Map Observer (NEMO) to map coastal regions and other areas of mutual interest.b Six months later another group of scientists and commercial partners proposed a different imaging spectrometer (Demeter) for ecological applications in NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder competition. However, despite favorable reviews in the preliminary round of evaluations, the Demeter proposal did not advance to the next phase because NASA officials believed the mission would violate NASA and national policy to support private-sector investment in commercial space

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Reliable collections of science-based environmental information are vital for many groups of users and for a number of purposes. For example, electric utility companies predict demand during heat waves, structural engineers design buildings to withstand hurricanes and earthquakes, water managers monitor each winter's snow pack, and farmers plant and harvest crops based on daily weather predictions. Understanding the impact of human activities on climate, water, ecosystems, and species diversity, and assessing how natural systems may respond in the future are becoming increasingly important for public policy decisions.

Environmental information systems gather factual information, transform it into information products, and distribute the products to users. Typical uses of the information require long-term consistency; hence the operation of the information system requires a long-term commitment from an institution, agency, or corporation. The need to keep costs down provides a strong motivation for creating multipurpose information systems that satisfy scientific, commercial and operational requirements, rather than systems that address narrow objectives. Resolving Conflicts Arising from the Privatization of Environmental Data focuses on such shared systems.

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