Methods for Estimating the Social Benefits of EPA Land Cleanup and Reuse Programs (2007)

Paper Number: EE-0506

Document Date: 04/13/2007

Author(s):  V. Kerry Smith

Subject Area(s):

Land Cleanup, Land Reuse, Economic Analysis, Benefit-Cost Analysis,

Keywords:  Land Cleanup, Land Reuse, Economic Analysis, Benefit-Cost Analysis, Stated Preference, Revealed Preference

Abstract: 

The Environmental Protection Agency has faced a variety of challenges in developing policy evaluations that include measures of the social benefits of land clean up and reuse programs. In order to develop a policy-relevant summary of professional practices as well as emerging methods, the Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation’s National Center for Environmental Economics, and the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response’s Land Revitalization Office convened a workshop on risk assessment and benefit estimation methods in Washington, DC on September 28-29, 2006.  The agenda for the workshop and a list of the participants are provided in appendix A to this report. 　

Separate presentations were developed summarizing the state of the art in each of the four areas: risk assessment, stated preference methods, hedonic property value methods, and a general category labeled as broader approaches. Each presentation was organized as a brief summary of the method and asked to consider a series of issues. To initiate the discussion, Dr. Peter Eglinton of Abt Associates provided a “straw-man” proposal for conducting a risk assessment based benefits analysis for the Superfund and RCRA programs. Table 1 of the report summarizes the discussion/charge questions for all methods as well as specific issues asked of each presenter. In addition to the individuals selected to provide overviews several other economists active in research areas related to the workshop objectives were invited and a number of EPA analysts also attended the workshop. This report summarizes discussions by participants at the workshop.

This paper is part of the  Environmental Economics Research Inventory.

• Methods for Estimating the Social Benefits of EPA Land Cleanup and Reuse Programs (pdf) (199.39 KB, 04/13/2007, EE-0506)
  The Environmental Protection Agency has faced a variety of challenges in developing policy evaluations that include measures of the social benefits of land clean up and reuse programs. In order to develop a policy-relevant summary of professional practices as well as emerging methods, the Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation’s National Center for Environmental Economics, and the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response’s Land Revitalization Office convened a workshop on risk assessment