Paper Number: EE-0499

Document Date: 12/01/2006

Author(s):  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Subject Area(s):

Economic Analysis, Benefit-Cost Analysis, Economic Incentives, Market Mechanisms

Keywords: Economic Analysis, Benefit-Cost Analysis, Economic Incentives, Market Mechanisms

Summary: 

The purpose of the Environmental Policy and Economics Workshop Series is to hold in-depth workshops on timely topics that will further the use of economics as a tool for environmental decision making. Both NSF/EPA grant recipients and researchers (from EPA, fellow Federal agencies, academia, and others) will be invited to attend and discuss their on-going research. Topics will be chosen based on relevance to current EPA issues and, more broadly, to issues of concern to the environmental economics community. These topics include exploration of innovations in economic research methods as well as how research will further environmental policy making and future environmental economic studies.

EPA's National Center for Environmental Research (NCER) and National Center for Environmental Economics (NCEE) co-sponsored a two-day workshop to discuss research being conducted on market mechanisms and incentives for environmental management. This workshop, which was held on October 17 and 18, 2006 at Resources for the Future in Washington, DC, presented research results from EPA Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grants, NCEE, other EPA offices, and universities. There were presentations on the use of market mechanisms and incentives, such as trading programs, in the areas of air pollution, mobile sources, water quality, and Brownfields and land use.

Session I: Brownfields and Land Issues

• Introductory Remarks: Sven-Erik Kaiser, EPA, Office of Brownfields Cleanup and Redevelopment
• Environmental Liability and Redevelopment of Old Industrial Land, Hilary Sigman, Rutgers University
• Incentives for Brownfield Redevelopment: Model and Simulation, Peter Schwarz and Alex Hanning, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
• Brownfield Redevelopment Under the Threat of Bankruptcy, Joel Corona, EPA, Office of Water, and Kathleen Segerson, University of Connecticut
• Discussant: David Simpson, EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics
• Discussant: Anna Alberini, University of Maryland
• Questions and Discussion

Session II: New Designs for Incentive-Based Mechanisms for Controlling Air Pollution

• Dynamic Adjustment to Incentive-Based Environmental Policy To Improve Efficiency and Performance, Dallas Burtraw, Danny Kahn, and Karen Palmer, Resources for the Future
• Output-Based Allocation of Emissions Permits for Mitigating Tax and Trade Interactions, Carolyn Fischer, Resources for the Future
• Discussant: Ann Wolverton, EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics
• Discussant: Arik Levinson, Georgetown University
• Questions and Discussion

Session III: Mobile Sources

• Tradable Fuel Economy Credits: Competition and Oligopoly, Jonathan Rubin, University of Maine; Paul Leiby, Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and David Greene, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Do Eco-Communication Strategies Reduce Energy Use and Emissions from Light Duty Vehicles?, Mario Teisl, Jonathan Rubin, and Caroline L. Noblet, University of Maine
• Vehicle Choices, Miles Driven, and Pollution Policies, Don Fullerton, Ye Feng, and Li Gan, University of Texas at Austin
• Discussant: Ed Coe, EPA, Office of Transportation and Air Quality
• Discussant: Winston Harrington, Resources for the Future
• Questions and Discussion

Session IV: Air Issues

• Testing for Dynamic Efficiency of the Sulfur Dioxide Allowance Market, Gloria Helfand, Michael Moore, and Yimin Liu, University of Michigan
• When To Pollute, When To Abate: Evidence on Intertemporal Use of Pollution Permits in the Los Angeles NOx Market, Michael Moore and Stephen P. Holland, University of Michigan
• A Spatial Analysis of the Consequences of the SO2 Trading Program,  Ron Shadbegian, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth; Wayne Gray, Clark University; and Cynthia Morgan, EPA
• Emissions Trading, Electricity Industry Restructuring, and Investment in Pollution Abatement,  Meredith Fowlie, University of Michigan
• Discussant: Sam Napolitano, EPA, Clean Air Markets Division
• Discussant: Nat Keohane, Yale University
• Questions and Discussion

Session V: Water Issues

• An Experimental Exploration of Voluntary Mechanisms to Reduce Non-Point Source Water Pollution With a Background Threat of Regulation,  Jordan Suter, Cornell University, Kathleen Segerson, University of Connecticut, Christian Vossler, University of Tennessee, and Greg Poe, Cornell University
• Choice Experiments to Assess Farmers’ Willingness to Participate in a Water Quality Trading Market, Jeff Peterson, Washington State University, and Sean Fox, John Leatherman, and Craig Smith, Kansas State University
• Incorporating Wetlands in Water Quality Trading Programs: Economic and Ecological Considerations,  Hale Thurston and Matthew Heberling, EPA, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Cincinnati, Ohio
• Designing Incentives for Private Maintenance and Restoration of Coastal Wetlands, Richard Kazmierczak and Walter Keithly, Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge
• Discussant: Marc Ribaudo, USDA, Economic Research Service
• Discussant: Jim Shortle, Pennsylvania State University
• Questions and Discussions
• Final Remarks

This workshop is part of the Environmental Policy and Economics Workshop Series.

• Market Mechanisms and Incentives: Applications to Environmental Policy (2006 - part 2) (PDF)(592 pp, 5 MB, 12/01/2006, EE-0499)
  EPA's National Center for Environmental Research (NCER) and National Center for Environmental Economics (NCEE) co-sponsored a two-day workshop to discuss research being conducted on market mechanisms and incentives for environmental management, presenting results from EPA Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grants, NCEE, other EPA offices, and universities. Papers on market mechanisms and incentives - trading programs, in the areas of air pollution, mobile sources, water quality, and Brownfields