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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Design and cost-effectiveness of marketable emission permits for air pollution control. [St. Louis area]

Book ·
OSTI ID:5647652

The Environmental Protection Agency has recently shown substantial interest in controlling air pollution through the trading of pollution rights as an alternative to the present system of individual source emission requirements. This paper examines the economic efficiency of numerous types of marketable permit (MP) systems for trading of air pollution rights in a non-attainment area. Under all MP systems, MPs are traded among sources within zones so as to minimize pollution control costs. Alternative systems are characterized as mathematical programming models and applied to data on control costs and degradation of air quality at regional receptors (monitoring stations) for sources in the St. Louis region. This analysis indicates that all MP systems are substantially more cost-effective than the current system of control based on State Implementation Plan source requirements.

OSTI ID:
5647652
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English