Environmental Valuation & Cost-Benefit News

Abstract: We examined the reliability of a large set of paired comparison value judgments involving public goods, private goods, and sums of money. As respondents progressed through a random sequence of paired choices they were each given, their response time decreased and they became more consistent, apparently fine-tuning their responses, suggesting that respondents tend to begin a hypothetical value exercise with relatively imprecise preferences and that experience in expressing preference helps reduce that imprecision. Reliability was greater for private than for public good choices, and greater for choices between a good and a monetary amount than for choices between two goods. However, the reliability for public good choices was only slightly lower than for the private goods.

Keywords: Valuation; Reliability; Public goods; Response time; Preference learning

by Thomas C. Brown 1, David Kingsley 2, George L. Peterson 1, Nicholas E. Flores 2, Andrea Clarke 3 and Andrej Birjulin 4
1. Rocky Mountain Research Station, U.S. Forest Service, 2150-A Centre Avenue, Fort Collins, Colorado 80526 USA
2. Department of Economics, University of Colorado, Boulder USA
3. Natural Resources Conservation Service, Washington, DC 20250 USA
4. OMNI Institute, Denver, CO 80203 USA

Journal of Public Economics via Elsevier Sales Direct www.SalesDirect.com
Volume 92, Issue 7; July, 2008; Pages 1595-1606
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2008.01.004

Abstract: This study examines the cost-effectiveness of alternative methods for diffusing integrated pest management practices in Bangladesh. Methods compared include farmer field schools, field days, and extension agent visits. Farmer field school participants were more likely to adopt integrated pest management practices than recipients of messages from field days and agent visits. However, due to lower costs per participant, field days were the most cost-effective means for stimulating adoption of simpler practices and extension agent visits were the most cost-effective for extending more complex practices.

by Jacob Ricker-Gilbert, George W. Norton, Jeffrey Alwang, Monayem Miah and Gershon Feder
1. Economist, U.S. Department of Agriculture/Economic Research Service.,
2. Professor, Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics, Virginia Tech.,
3. Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech.,
4. Scientific Officer, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute., and
5. Economist, Development Research Group, The World Bank.

Review of Agricultural Economics via Blackwell-Publishing www.Blackwell-Synergy.com
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9353.2008.00403.x
Online Early 2008
doi:10.1111/j.1467-9353.2008.00403.x

...
With the shutdown this year, a slow year in 2007 and the partial closing in 2006, salmon fishermen in Oregon and California are facing the third straight year of trying to find other ways to make a living in the summer. Some have gotten out of fishing altogether, while others have tried to stretch out the winter crab season or go after typically less reliable and profitable black cod or tuna....

One fisherman said he would spend at least $15,000 to convert his boats.

In a strong season, a top-performing salmon fisherman might gross as much as $100,000. But the forecast for next year is dim, too, and questions over ocean temperatures, the health of Northwest rivers, environmental restrictions and disputes over water rights make some fishermen and economists question what kind of future commercial salmon fishing has here.
...
The number of commercial salmon boats bringing in significant catches has shrunk. Of the 1,200 or so boats licensed to fish for salmon in Oregon, only about 150 have caught more than $30,000 worth of salmon each year in the decade before 2006, according to Hans Radtke, an economist who analyzes commercial fishing in Oregon.
...
Unlike in 2006, when the partial shutdown affected only commercial fishermen, the shutdown this year also applies to recreational fishermen.
...
Wages in the new tourist/retirement community economy are much lower than they were in fishing and logging, economists said, even as housing, gasoline and grocery prices have risen.
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Since late last summer, nearly $60 million in federal money has been dispensed to about 1,200 fishermen in Oregon and California, an unprecedented payout, according to Randy Fisher, executive director of the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, which administered the program. The direct payments have ranged from a few thousand dollars to more than $60,000 in some cases.

This year, the governors of the three West Coast states, citing what they say will be a $290 million economic loss due to declines in the number of salmon, have asked Congress to provide more disaster relief.
...
In addition, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is proposing to raise the cost of commercial fishing licenses, to $350 from $200.

by William Yardley
FOR FULL STORY GO TO:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/us/09salmon.html?th&emc=th
The New York Times www.NYTimes.com
Published: May 9, 2008

Abstract: Energy supply and use is of fundamental importance to society. Although the interactions between energy and environment were originally local in character, they have now widened to cover regional and global issues, such as acid rain and the greenhouse effect. It is for this reason that there is a need for covering the direct and indirect economic and environmental impacts of energy acquisition, transport, production and use. In this paper, particular attention is directed to ways of resolving conflict between economic and environmental goals by encouraging a power plant to consider co-firing biomass and refuse-derived fuel (RDF) with coal simultaneously. It aims at reducing the emission level of sulfur dioxide (SO2) in an uncertain environment, using the power plant in Michigan City, Indiana as an example. To assess the uncertainty by a comparative way both deterministic and grey nonlinear mixed integer programming (MIP) models were developed to minimize the net operating cost with respect to possible fuel combinations. It aims at generating the optimal portfolio of alternative fuels while maintaining the same electricity generation simultaneously. To ease the solution procedure stepwise relaxation algorithm was developed for solving the grey nonlinear MIP model. Breakeven alternative fuel value can be identified in the post-optimization stage for decision-making. Research findings show that the inclusion of RDF does not exhibit comparative advantage in terms of the net cost, albeit relatively lower air pollution impact. Yet it can be sustained by a charge system, subsidy program, or emission credit as the price of coal increases over time.

Keywords: Power production; Coal-fired power plant; Biomass; Refuse-derived fuel; Clean technology; Industrial ecology; Optimization; Grey programming

by Andi Setiady Ko 1 and Ni-Bin Chang 2
1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX, USA
2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

Journal of Environmental Management via Elsevier Science Direct www.ScienceDirect.com
Volume 88, Issue 1; July, 2008; Pages 11-27
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2007.01.021

Abstract: Antimicrobial drugs are fed to hogs at subtherapeutic levels to prevent disease and promote growth. However, there is concern that the presence of antimicrobial drugs in hog feed is a factor promoting the development of antimicrobial drug-resistant bacteria. This study uses a treatment-effects sample-selection model to examine the impact that feeding antibiotics has on the productivity of U.S. hog operations. No relationship was found between productivity and antibiotics fed during finishing, but productivity was significantly improved when antibiotics were fed to nursery pigs. Restrictions on feeding antimicrobial drugs during the nursery phase would likely impose significant economic costs on U.S. hog producers.

by William D. McBride, Nigel Key and Kenneth H. Mathews Jr all Economists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

Review of Agricultural Economics via Blackwell Publishing www.Blackwell-Synergy.com
Online Early 2008
doi:10.1111/j.1467-9353.2008.00404.x
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9353.2008.00404.x

Abstract: Cities across the United States that have considerable vacant land are debating whether to foster community gardens on that land, while cities with land shortages are debating when to replace gardens with other uses. Meanwhile, many cities are looking for new ways to finance green spaces. Little empirical evidence about the neighborhood impacts of community gardens is available, however, to inform the debate or to help cities design financing schemes. This article estimates the impact of community gardens on neighborhood property values, using rich data for New York City and a difference-in-difference specification of a hedonic regression model. We find that gardens have significant positive effects, especially in the poorest neighborhoods. Higher-quality gardens have the greatest positive impact.

by Ioan Voicu 1 and Vicki Been 2
1. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Washington, DC 20219; email: Ioan.Voicu@occ.treas.gov
2. New York University School of Law, New York, NY 10012; email: vicki.been@nyu.edu

Real Estate Economics via Blackwell Publishing www.Blackwell-Synergy.com
Volume 36, Issue 2; Summer, 2008; Pages 241-283
doi:10.1111/j.1540-6229.2008.00213.x
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1540-6229.2008.00213.x

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 has reached an agreement with Black Beauty Coal Co., Evansville, Ind., and with its subsidiary Arclar Co., Equality, Ill., for filling in streams and wetlands without a permit while mining in Indiana and Illinois. Black Beauty Coal is a subsidiary of Peabody Energy. Black Beauty Coal and Arclar will pay a total fine of $75,000, and Black Beauty Coal has agreed to spend $292,344 to create a forested wetland near its Farmersburg mine in Indiana.

EPA alleges that over the last several years, while mining in Sullivan, Vigo and Gibson counties, Ind., and Gallatin and Saline counties, Ill., the companies' operations adversely affected ditches, streams, creeks and wetlands near their mines. About 164,179 linear feet of streams were affected at all three sites with about 17 acres of wetlands affected at the Indiana sites. The companies did not have the required permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to place fill material in the waterways. Under the federal Clean Water Act, a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is required to fill in waters of the United States.

"In order to reduce its penalty, Black Beauty Coal has agreed to carry out a supplemental project to benefit the environment," added Mathur. "It will create a forested wetland that will improve water quality by reducing soil erosion, filtering pollutants and providing habitat for animals and aquatic life."

Black Beauty Coal will create 36.3 acres of forested wetland and 5.5 acres of forested buffer around the perimeter of the wetland. Planning, design, tillage and tree planting will be completed by Oct. 31, 2010. The company will monitor the wetland for an additional seven years and place the entire property into a perpetual conservation easement held by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

Copies of the agreements with Black Beauty Coal and Arclar are available at: http://www.epa.gov/region5/publicnotices/index.htm.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) www.EPA.gov
Press Release date: May 8, 2006
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/d0cf6618525a9efb85257359003fb69d/5048a29926cca3f285257443006f81cf!OpenDocument