the cost and benefits of reducing acid rain
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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
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