The Cost and Benefits of Reducing Acid Rain

By Sarah Abdulkarim

Introduction:

Acid rain is considered one of the serious environmental problems and it is harmful to:

1. people2. Lakes, streams, forests 3. animals that live in these

ecosystems.

What is Acid Rain?

Acid rain is a term that describes the

mixture of wet and dry deposited material from the atmosphere containing higher than normal amounts of Nitric and Sulfuric acids

(U.S Environmental Protection Agency)

How is it formed?

from natural sources such as volcanoes

man made sources from fossil fuel combustion

(U.S Environmental Protection Agency)

Under the Clean Air Act Amendments (1990)

(EPA) set a goal to reduce the annual sulfur dioxide emissions by 10 million tons below the 1980 levels

Two phases were developed to achieve this goal.

Burtraw and Palmer

Under the Clean Air Act Amendments (1990)

Phase I:1. began in 19952. affected 445 units

Phase II:1. affected existing utility units2. began in 2000

TAF and NAPAP

The Tracking and Analysis Framework (TAF) is developed for the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP) to analyze the cost and benefits of the assessment.

Emissions are controlled by two major alternatives:

Scrubbing

Fuel switching:1. less costly (~$2 billion less/year) 2. Switching from high to low sulfur

coal.3. Expected to result in a net job loss

of 7,000.

Acid Rain Programs

EPA. 2005. National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program Report to Congress.

Per Capita Benefits in 2010 for Affected Population

The main source of benefits is reduced

human mortality

59.29

Benefits The main source of benefits is reduced

human mortality

Benefits were low on the aquatics, forests, and agriculture.

The economists stated some reasons:1. Availability of substitutes for recreational

or other kind of assets that the environment provides.

2. Individuals don’t have the same kind of substitution with respect to health and visibility

3. Environment can hold nonuse values

Costs

Based on the command and control approach under the market of insufficiency, the cost was $1500/ton.

Title IV 1990 of The Clean Air Act, the EPA predicted the costs in 2010 which could range between $450- $620/ton

The costs have continued to decline for two reasons:

The program gives utilities the flexibility to exploit advantageous trends in coal markets.

The cost of rail transport that have led to a drop in the cost of switching to lower sulfur coal.

EPA. 2005. National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program Report to Congress.

EPA. 2005. National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program Report to Congress.

Conclusion The dominant category of benefits is

mortality

About 89% of the total health benefits are attributable to changes in SO2 and 11% attributable to changes in NOX emissions.

The public wasn’t concerned about its effects on the ecological system as they were concerned on public health.

Benefits outweigh the costs of the emission reductions

Questions