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EPA’s New Handbook on the Benefits, Costs, and Impacts of Land Cleanup and Reuse. Robin Jenkins & Heather Klemick EPA National Center for Environmental Economics Peter Meyer The E.P. Systems Group, Inc. June 22, 2012. Hosted by. Land Reuse Handbook. Land Reuse Handbook.
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EPA’s New Handbook on the Benefits, Costs, and Impacts of Land Cleanup and Reuse Robin Jenkins & Heather Klemick EPA National Center for Environmental Economics Peter Meyer The E.P. Systems Group, Inc. June 22, 2012 Hosted by
Land Reuse Handbook National Center for Environmental Economics
Land Reuse Handbook • What is the Handbook? • Summary of economic theory and methods for analysis of land cleanup and reuse projects & policies • What is the Handbook not? • Spreadsheet model or “toolkit” • Whom is it for? • Federal, state, and local analysts National Center for Environmental Economics
Economic Analysis at EPA Analysis of economically significant new regulations Retrospective analysis of major programs National Center for Environmental Economics
Measuring Economic Consequences • Benefit-cost analysis (BCA) • Is the aggregate well-being of the nation/state/city higher or lower with the action? • Some individuals might be worse off with the action, but could those who are better off potentially compensate those who are worse off? • Economic impact analysis (EIA) • Miscellaneous set of economic effects resulting from the action. • How will the allocation of resources across industries, regions, or other sub-groups change? Note: Chapter 3 of Handbook covers BCA vs EIA. National Center for Environmental Economics
For BCA and EIA • Key question: What is the relevant geographic scale for the analysis? • For most EPA regulations, national • For other projects, could be regional, state, or local • Key distinction: Gross vs. net impacts at the chosen scale National Center for Environmental Economics
EIA of Land Cleanup and Reuse • What types of impacts are measured? • Employment & income • Business openings & output, agglomeration • Taxes & government impacts • Household and residential impacts • Equity & environmental justice, gentrification Note: Chapter 8 of Handbook covers EIA. National Center for Environmental Economics
BCA of Land Cleanup & Reuse Value all social benefits and costs in $ terms If can’t monetize, quantify If can’t quantify, consider qualitatively Costs usually easier to measure than benefits Note: Chapters 6 (benefits) and 7 (costs) cover BCA. National Center for Environmental Economics
Social Benefits of Land Cleanup & Reuse • Many benefits are “intangibles” • Potential categories: • Human health • Ecological • Aesthetics • Materials • Increased land productivity • Relevant categories depend on type of site/context
Methods for Measuring Social Benefits • Risk Assessment – quantify direct health impacts • Economic valuation • Cost-of-illness and value of micro-risk reductions • Property value models • Stated preference • Cannot usually add up results across methods National Center for Environmental Economics
Methods for Measuring Social Benefits • Benefit transfer • Use estimates from one or more existing studies • Key question: how similar is the study site to the new site? • Affected population/neighborhood • Contaminants and affected media (soil, groundwater, other) • Size of site, types of land use • Large variations across contaminated sites make this difficult! National Center for Environmental Economics
Appendix: Data Sources by Cleanup Program • General • Pollution Abatement Costs and Expenditures Survey (PACE) http://yosemite.epa.gov/ee/epa/eed.nsf/webpages/pace2005.html • Cleanups in My Community http://iaspub.epa.gov/Cleanups/ • RCRA Corrective Action Program • RCRAInfohttp://www.epa.gov/enviro/html/rcris/index.html • Envirofactshttp://www.epa.gov/enviro/index.html • Superfund Removals & Remedial Programs • CERCLIS http://cfpub.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/srchsites.cfm • UST Program • UST Corrective Action Program State Policy Database http://www.gsi-net.com/USTPolicyDatabase/start.htm • Brownfields Program • ACRES http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/pubs/acres/acresinfo.htm
Handbook Location The Handbook is publicly available for download in a single PDF file at http://yosemite.epa.gov/ee/epa/eed.nsf/webpages/LandHandbook.html Robin JenkinsNational Center for Environmental EconomicsUS Environmental Protection Agency(202)566-2292 PHONE(202)566-2338 FAX jenkins.robin@epa.gov Heather Klemick National Center for Environmental EconomicsUS Environmental Protection Agency(202)566-2522 PHONE(202)566-2338 FAX klemick.heather@epa.gov National Center for Environmental Economics