The regional costs and benefits of acid rain control

Thesis/Dissertation · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:7031389

Berkman, M P

Congress recently enacted acid rain control legislation as part of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments following a decade-long debate among disparate regional interests. Although Congress succeeded in drafting a law acceptable to all regions, the regional costs and benefits of the legislation remain uncertain. The research presented here attempts to estimate the regional costs and benefits and the economic impacts of acid rain controls. These estimates are made using a modeling system composed of econometric, linear programming and input-output models. The econometric and linear programming components describe markets for electricity and coal. The outputs of these components including capital investment, electricity demand, and coal production are taken as exogenous inputs by a multiregional input-output model. The input-output model produces estimates of changes in final demand, gross output, and employment. The utility linear programming model also predicts sulfur dioxide emissions (an acid-rain precursor). According to model simulations, the costs of acid rain control exceed the benefits for many regions including several regions customarily thought to be the major beneficiaries of acid rain control such as New England.

• Research Organization: Pennsylvania Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 7031389
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290301* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Environment
Health
& Safety-- Regional & Global Environmental Aspects-- (1992-)
ACID RAIN
AIR POLLUTION CONTROL
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
CONTROL
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ECONOMETRICS
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
INPUT-OUTPUT ANALYSIS
LAWS
LINEAR PROGRAMMING
NORTH AMERICA
POLLUTION CONTROL
POLLUTION LAWS
PROGRAMMING
RAIN
REGIONAL ANALYSIS
US CLEAN AIR ACT
USA