EPA Compromises Consistency in Its Coastal Oil and Gas Industry Cost-effectiveness Analysis PDF Download
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Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 4
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Book Description
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducts a cost-effectiveness (CE) analysis to estimate the cost of complying with each newly proposed set of industrial effluent limitation guidelines (ELGs). CE is defined as the incremental annualized cost of a pollution control option in an industry per incremental pound equivalent (PE) of pollutant removed annually by that control options. EPA's guidelines for conducting the CE analysis require that all costs be expressed in 1981 dollars so that comparison to other industries can be done on a consistent basis. In the results of its CE analyses, EPA presents information showing $/PE values for all the industries for which it has done the CE analysis. These examples indicate that EPA is interested in maintaining consistency and comparability. EPA is not legally bound by the results of a CE analysis; however, if the $/PE for a proposed ELG is calculated to be significantly higher than the $/PEs for other comparable ELGs, EPA might reconsider its proposal. EPA's approach of using an expanded pollutant list and revised weighting factors probably generates a more accurate estimate of the PEs removed for the coastal oil and gas industry, but in doing so, EPA loses the ability to equitably compare this CE analysis to the CE analyses that have been done for other industries. This shortcoming is particularly obvious since the offshore Ce analysis, evaluating a nearly identical waste stream, was completed just two years earlier. Given EPA's concern over consistency and comparability to other industries, it may be appropriate to modify this approach for the coastal CE analysis. Another alternative that would allow EPA to reflect the newest toxicological information and still preserve consistency and comparability would be to recalculate all earlier CE analyses whenever new weighting factors are developed.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 4
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Book Description
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducts a cost-effectiveness (CE) analysis to estimate the cost of complying with each newly proposed set of industrial effluent limitation guidelines (ELGs). CE is defined as the incremental annualized cost of a pollution control option in an industry per incremental pound equivalent (PE) of pollutant removed annually by that control options. EPA's guidelines for conducting the CE analysis require that all costs be expressed in 1981 dollars so that comparison to other industries can be done on a consistent basis. In the results of its CE analyses, EPA presents information showing $/PE values for all the industries for which it has done the CE analysis. These examples indicate that EPA is interested in maintaining consistency and comparability. EPA is not legally bound by the results of a CE analysis; however, if the $/PE for a proposed ELG is calculated to be significantly higher than the $/PEs for other comparable ELGs, EPA might reconsider its proposal. EPA's approach of using an expanded pollutant list and revised weighting factors probably generates a more accurate estimate of the PEs removed for the coastal oil and gas industry, but in doing so, EPA loses the ability to equitably compare this CE analysis to the CE analyses that have been done for other industries. This shortcoming is particularly obvious since the offshore Ce analysis, evaluating a nearly identical waste stream, was completed just two years earlier. Given EPA's concern over consistency and comparability to other industries, it may be appropriate to modify this approach for the coastal CE analysis. Another alternative that would allow EPA to reflect the newest toxicological information and still preserve consistency and comparability would be to recalculate all earlier CE analyses whenever new weighting factors are developed.
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ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 27
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Book Description
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted a cost-effectiveness (CE) analysis to estimate the incremental cost of complying with the proposed effluent limitation guidelines (ELGs) for the coastal oil and gas industry (EPA 1995a). EPA's CE analysis calculates the pounds of each pollutant that would be removed if the chosen discharge option is selected. In 1993, EPA issued final ELGs for the offshore oil and gas industry and published an offshore CE analysis. The chemical characteristics of produced water from the offshore region are essentially the same as those of produced water from the coastal region. It was surprising, therefore, that EPA chose a much longer list of pollutants and generally stricter weighting factors for the coastal CE analysis. This report reviews the data, assumptions, and analyses used in EPA's coastal CE analysis and identifies alternate data, assumptions, and analyses that could lead to significantly different cost-effectiveness conclusions. Two alternate lists of pollutants are proposed, along with recalculated weighting factors for several pollutants that contributed a large proportion of the total PEs removed--radium, benzo(a)pyrene, boron, and ammonia. By using different combinations of these variables, a range of revised estimates of CE is calculated.
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Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 28
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Book Description
In recent years, reforming the regulatory process has received much attention from diverse groups such as environmentalists, the government, and industry. A cost-benefit analysis can be a useful way to organize and compare the favorable and unfavorable impacts a proposed action night have on society. Since 1981, two Executive Orders have required the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other regulatory agencies to perform cost-benefit analyses in support of regulatory decision making. At the EPA, a cost-benefit analysis is published as a document called a regulatory impact analysis (RIA). This report reviews cost-benefit methodologies used by three EPA program offices: Office of Air and Radiation, Office of Solid Waste, and Office of Water. These offices were chosen because they promulgate regulations that affect the policies of this study's sponsor (U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy) and the technologies it uses. The study was conducted by reviewing 11 RIAs recently published by the three offices and by interviewing staff members in the offices. To draw conclusions about the EPA cost-benefit methodologies, their components were compared with those of a standard methodology (i.e., those that should be included in a comprehensive cost-benefit methodology). This study focused on the consistency of the approaches as well as their strengths and weaknesses, since differences in the cost-benefit methodologies themselves or in their application can cause confusion and preclude consistent comparison of regulations both within and among program offices.
Author:
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ISBN:
Category : Air
Languages : en
Pages : 276
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Author: Jessica Lincoln-Oswalt
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781614707240
Category : Air
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
The authorities and responsibilities of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) derive primarily from a dozen major environmental statutes. This book provides a concise summary of one of those statutes, the Clean Air Act. It provides a brief history of federal involvement in air quality regulation and of the provisions added by legislation in 1970, 1977 and 1990. It also explains major authorities contained in the Act as well as key terms and references for more detailed information on the Act and its implementation.
Author:
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ISBN:
Category : Sewage
Languages : en
Pages : 378
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Book Description
"This manual contains overview information on treatment technologies, installation practices, and past performance."--Introduction.
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309212553
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 162
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Book Description
Sustainability is based on a simple and long-recognized factual premise: Everything that humans require for their survival and well-being depends, directly or indirectly, on the natural environment. The environment provides the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Recognizing the importance of sustainability to its work, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been working to create programs and applications in a variety of areas to better incorporate sustainability into decision-making at the agency. To further strengthen the scientific basis for sustainability as it applies to human health and environmental protection, the EPA asked the National Research Council (NRC) to provide a framework for incorporating sustainability into the EPA's principles and decision-making. This framework, Sustainability and the U.S. EPA, provides recommendations for a sustainability approach that both incorporates and goes beyond an approach based on assessing and managing the risks posed by pollutants that has largely shaped environmental policy since the 1980s. Although risk-based methods have led to many successes and remain important tools, the report concludes that they are not adequate to address many of the complex problems that put current and future generations at risk, such as depletion of natural resources, climate change, and loss of biodiversity. Moreover, sophisticated tools are increasingly available to address cross-cutting, complex, and challenging issues that go beyond risk management. The report recommends that EPA formally adopt as its sustainability paradigm the widely used "three pillars" approach, which means considering the environmental, social, and economic impacts of an action or decision. Health should be expressly included in the "social" pillar. EPA should also articulate its vision for sustainability and develop a set of sustainability principles that would underlie all agency policies and programs.
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ISBN:
Category : Power resources
Languages : en
Pages : 928
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Book Description
Author: United States. Congress. House
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : CD-ROMs
Languages : en
Pages : 1488
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Book Description
Some vols. include supplemental journals of "such proceedings of the sessions, as, during the time they were depending, were ordered to be kept secret, and respecting which the injunction of secrecy was afterwards taken off by the order of the House".
Author: United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Sediment Oversight Technical Committee
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Environmental protection
Languages : en
Pages : 234
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Book Description
This document is a compendium of scientifically valid and accepted methods that can be used to assess sediment quality and predict ecological impacts...the intent here is to provide the most useful overall measures or predictors of ecological impacts currently in use rather than procedures that may have limited application outside of a particular regulatory framework... parag The information provided in the compendium on the relative strengths and weaknesses of the different assessment methods can provide assistance in selecting the appropriate methods.
