Trust for the Future 14 C. Objective III: To seek authoritative responses to important domestic and international questions. 1. May-December 1985 Through interested members of Congress request the cooperation of the The General Accounting Office, and The Office of Technology Assessment. The following questions will be parcelled out to the appropriate office for response: 8. b. C. What is the precedent for creation of a National Natural Assets How would establishment of a fund, the return on which might Is there any reason why Congress should not continue to appropriate money annually, as is now the case with the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Historic Preservation Fund, or is there merit in severing it from the appropriations process? If the latter, what mechanism might be desirable to provide for budget review, priority setting, and expenditure control? d. Develop an historical perspective including but not limited to: (1) Previous proposals, legislation, etc. (2) Other federal funds of a similar nature mechanically. What would be the likely return on the corpus while protecting its value from inflation? (1) Best case (2) Worst case (3) Most likely case f. When should the return on the fund, if established, be allocated between federal agencies and the states? Or should this be a consideration? Trust for the Future 15 D. Objective IV: Certain questions may require research which can best be undertaken in a university setting. June 1985-June 1986 In order to broaden the long-range understanding of the concept, research may be commissioned outside Washington on many of the questions yet unanswered. If it is found desirable, many of the questions assigned to public agencies may be investigated concurrently by the university community. To achieve this objective, a search will be undertaken to recruit scholars who would investigate the following: Domestic Issues: 1. Using available econometric techniques, predict the future of our natural resource wealth in case studies of conservation--exploitation--depletion: with a trust fund 2. 3. b. without a trust fund Analyze the concepts of intergenerational equity and intertemporal fairness as related to this issue. Determine how much money would be available in the Corpus if such a policy had been in effect since: Trust for the Future 16 International Implications: 1. Historically, what have been the consequences for nations that depleted their natural resources endowment? 2. Which nations or jurisdictions today are depleting their natural 3. 4. Which nations or jurisdictions are depleting their natural What nations or jurisdictions are funding broad social programs through liquidation of natural assests? When the assets are depleted and the social programs end, will the likely disruption have the potential for serious harm to our interests? 5. What are the activities of the some of the best existing funds? How is the corpus invested? How are the earnings used? Trust for the Future 17 E. Objective V: Perform a search of the available literature on this subject. May-August 1985 A cursory study does not indicate much published material. Nonetheless, a systematic search will be performed using computer key word techniques as well as conventional methods. A bibliography will be developed, and researchers, scholars, and writers, both national and international, will be contacted for additional papers. F. Objective VI: Interested groups and individuals must be contacted, and communication networks developed. Currently ongoing: We have been in contact with the leadership of almost every natural resource-oriented organization on the national scene. Contact must be made with international associations in both finance and natural resource management. 1. Compile a listing of organizations with addresses and personal contact. Seek a commitment of support for our work. 2. 3. If affiliation is desirable, this will be investigated and proposed to the board. 4. Specific tasks may be assigned if desirable. G. Objective VII: A review and update of other jurisdictions. May-November 1985 Many states, provinces, and countries are in an advanced mode when it comes to protecting their environment. Useful information is available in the form of yearly reports. Other material is more difficult to come by. A search will be made, and we will attempt to get on the appropriate mailing lists. Trust for the Future 18 H. Objective VIII: A Washington Conference. April or May, 1986 As a means to bring all of these objective into focus and stimulate the further discussion of the subject, a conclave of representatives from sympathetic groups and from the network would hammer out the issues involved in the creation of the National Natural Assets Trust Fund. Representatives and scholars would present the results of their thinking and their research. For the first conference, it would be prudent to piggy-back the Publication of Proceedings. The proceedings would then be published in a compact form that would make these up-to-date findings available for mass distribution. |