Paying for Nutrient Reduction & Management

Fragmentation in the watershed and the limited cross-sector communication creates challenges to a holistic approach to effective nutrient management.

Key Questions

• What options are available to generate revenue to pay for nutrient management in Jordan Lake?
• Who holds the revenue?
• How is it spent?

Findings

• There is currently no perfect solution for North Carolina watershed management, and the State will have to look to legislative change in order to make use of some of the more effective models that our research identifies.

Jeff Hughes | UNC-Chapel Hill

Jeff Hughes is the Director of the Environmental Finance Center (EFC) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Jeff has thirty years of environmental finance experience as a researcher, policy analyst, consultant, and practitioner. Jeff is also an Associate Teaching Professor with the UNC School of Government where he teaches courses on environmental finance and policy for university students and practitioners. Prior to joining UNC, Jeff worked as a utility director for Chatham County, NC, and as an international finance advisor with RTI International. Jeff is an active member of the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and the Council of Infrastructure Authorities (CIFA). Jeff holds a seat on the Board of NC GreenPower and the EPA Environmental Financial Advisory Board. He received a master’s degree in environmental engineering with a focus on water economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Duke University.

Erin Riggs | UNC-Chapel Hill

Erin Riggs is a Project Director at the EFC and conducts applied research surrounding legal, policy, and accounting framework that influences environmental finance issues around the country. She graduated from the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law where she pursued a law degree with a specialization in Environmental and Land Use issues. She spent her third year of law school as a visiting student at UNC’s School of Law, where she worked as a legal intern with the Environmental Finance Center on sustainability issues in both North Carolina and Georgia. After law school, Erin worked as the Assistant Executive Director of Waterkeepers Carolina, a statewide organization representing the interests of the Riverkeepers across the state. She then spent three years working in Florida as a staff attorney for state court judges in the areas of both criminal and family law. Erin assists the EFC at UNC in studying the legal, policy, and accounting framework that would influence environmental finance issues around the country.