Greener than thou
Jessica Tyrrell et al.
Environment International, September 2013, Pages 328-335
Abstract:
Low level chronic exposure to toxicants is associated with a range of adverse health effects. Understanding the various factors that influence the chemical burden of an individual is of critical importance to public health strategies. We investigated the relationships between socioeconomic status (SES) and bio-monitored chemical concentration in five cross-sectional waves of the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). We utilised adjusted linear regression models to investigate the association between 179 toxicants and the poverty income ratio (PIR) for five NHANES waves. We then selected a subset of chemicals associated with PIR in 3 or more NHANES waves and investigated potential mediating factors using structural equation modelling. PIR was associated with 18 chemicals in 3 or more NHANES waves. Higher SES individuals had higher burdens of serum and urinary mercury, arsenic, caesium, thallium, perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluorononanoic acid, mono(carboxyoctyl) phthalate and benzophenone-3. Inverse associations were noted between PIR and serum and urinary lead and cadmium, antimony, bisphenol A and three phthalates (mono-benzyl, mono-isobutyl, mono-n-butyl). Key mediators included fish and shellfish consumption for the PIR, mercury, arsenic, thallium and perfluorononanoic acid associations. Sunscreen use was an important mediator in the benzophenone-3/PIR relationship. The association between PIR and cadmium or lead was partially mediated by smoking, occupation and diet. These results provide a comprehensive analysis of exposure patterns as a function of socioeconomic status in US adults, providing important information to guide future public health remediation measures to decrease toxicant and disease burdens within society.
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Michael Amato et al.
Environmental Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
School suspensions are associated with negative student outcomes. Environmental lead exposure increases hyperactivity and sensory defensiveness, two traits likely to increase classroom misbehavior and subsequent discipline. Childhood Blood Lead Level (BLL) test results categorized urban fourth graders as exposed (2687; lifetime max BLL 10-20 µg/dL) or unexposed (1076; no lifetime BLL ≥5 µg/dL). Exposed children were over twice as likely as unexposed children to be suspended (OR=2.66, 95% CI=[2.12, 3.32]), controlling for covariates. African American children were more likely to be suspended than white children, but lead exposure explained 23% of the racial discipline gap. These results suggest that different rates of environmental lead exposure may contribute to the racial discipline gap.
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The BP Oil Spill Settlement and the Paradox of Public Litigation
Samuel Issacharoff & Theodore Rave
Louisiana Law Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
The streamlined administrative program that BP set up to pay claims arising out of the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill - the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) - promised a significant transaction-cost savings over litigation in the public court system. At least in theory, that savings should have worked to the benefit of BP and claimants alike, freeing up money that would otherwise have gone to lawyers and other litigation costs to fund claimants' recoveries. But a comparison of the GCCF to the class action settlement that replaced it reveals that the class settlement will result in greater payments to claimants. Paradoxically, the dispute resolution system with the higher built-in transaction costs appears superior. We offer some hypotheses for why this might be the case. Our central claim is that claimants did better under the higher-cost class action settlement because it allowed them to offer the defendant something it valued - a greater degree of finality than the GCCF could ever provide - in exchange for a "peace premium." And we analyze some of the features of the public system of class action litigation that enable parties to obtain a greater degree of closure than a purely private dispute resolution system like the GCCF, while at the same time providing guarantees of transparency, consistency, and equitable treatment of absentees.
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Will Additional Federal Enforcement Improve the Performance of Pipelines in the U.S.?
Sarah Stafford
International Review of Law and Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper provides the first empirical analysis of the effectiveness of regulatory enforcement in increasing the environmental and safety performance of U.S. natural gas and hazardous liquid pipeline operators. The analysis combines data on federal regulatory inspections, enforcement actions, and penalties with data on injuries, fatalities, property damage, and barrels of product lost through pipeline "incidents" for 2006-2011 for the 344 largest pipeline operators in the U.S. The results of the analysis do not provide compelling evidence that either federal inspections or civil penalties are particularly effective in increasing performance; however, the number of federal cases initiated against an operator does have a significant effect on many forms of performance, although not for incidents in general. The results also suggest that some targeting of federal enforcement resources is based on past performance, but there may be room for even more effective targeting. Finally, the analysis reveals interesting patterns between state and federal enforcement efforts.
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The rapid growth of OPEC′s domestic oil consumption
Dermot Gately, Nourah Al-Yousef & Hamad Al-Sheikh
Energy Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
OPEC′s domestic oil consumption has increased seven-fold in 40 years, to 8.5 million barrels per day (mbd). They consume almost as much oil as China. This constitutes one-fourth of their production. Such rapid growth in consumption (5.1% annually, faster than their income growth of 3.1%) will challenge OPEC′s ability to increase their oil exports, which are relied upon in long-term world oil projections by the International Energy Agency (IEA), US Department of Energy (DOE/EIA) and British Petroleum (BP). However, these institutions assume unprecedented slowdowns in OPEC oil consumption - to less than 2% in the future - allowing them to project increases in OPEC oil exports with only modest increases in production. We analyze 1971-2010 data econometrically, with panel co-integration methods. We estimate that the income elasticity of consumption is about 1 for energy and oil. This means that OPEC′s energy and oil consumption will grow as rapidly as their income. Hence, continued high growth rates for domestic oil consumption are more likely than the unprecedented slowdowns projected by IEA, DOE/EIA and BP - adding an extra 6 mbd of OPEC consumption in 2030. This will have major implications for OPEC production and export levels, and for world oil prices.
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Media attention and the Toxics Release Inventory
Shrawantee Saha & Robert Mohr
Ecological Economics, September 2013, Pages 284-291
Abstract:
This paper explores the relationship between the print media and toxic releases in the first wave of Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) filings. It first studies the degree to which neighborhood characteristics like racial composition and income status associate with the number of newspaper articles written about a TRI establishment, controlling for the volume of toxic releases, industry and observable establishment characteristics. It follows up to study whether establishments that receive media attention reduce toxics releases more than those that do not. Neither a qualitative review of the articles nor regression results show any significant correlation between race or income and the likelihood of being included in media reports. A difference-in-difference approach shows a statistically significant decrease in the toxic releases of establishments that received media attention compared to those that did not.
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Andrew Jonas, Stephanie Pincetl & James Sullivan
Urban Studies, August 2013, Pages 2311-2331
Abstract:
In the United States, new environmental policy instruments have emerged to address some of the economic, social and environmental contradictions of neoliberal urbanism. Amongst these instruments, regional habitat conservation planning under the Federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) is becoming de facto a suburban growth management tool widely deployed across different parts of Southern California. One reason why speculator-developers, property owners, conservationists, planners, municipalities and other suburban interests have bought into this tool is due to the growing link between the federal protection of endangered species and the availability of voter-approved funds for major road infrastructure projects. Evidence of this link is examined in the context of two regional conservation planning processes underway in Riverside County. The paper argues that inadvertently the Federal ESA has been transformed from a species protection law into a regulatory tool with which to co-ordinate private land development, public infrastructure provision and habitat conservation in suburbanising regions.
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Reliability in the U.S. electricity industry under new environmental regulations
Dallas Burtraw et al.
Energy Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
Implementation of new environmental regulations of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury in the U.S. electricity industry has triggered concerns about system reliability. Results from a national electricity market simulation model suggest that these regulations lead to little change in generation capacity and are unlikely to create the shock to the system that some anticipate. Large costs of investments in pollution controls are partially offset by a lower cost burden for tradable emissions allowances. The combined effects result in a 1 percent increase in national average retail electricity prices. In 2020 producers pay approximately 30 percent and consumers pay approximately 70 percent of the total costs of the regulations, which equal between $6.6 and $7.1 billion in 2020 (real 2009$). The regulation leads to substantial reductions in emissions of mercury and sulfur dioxide from the electricity sector.
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Induced seismicity associated with fluid injection into a deep well in Youngstown, Ohio
Won-Young Kim
Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, July 2013, Pages 3506-3518
Abstract:
Over 109 small earthquakes (Mw 0.4-3.9) were detected during January 2011 to February 2012 in the Youngstown, Ohio area, where there were no known earthquakes in the past. These shocks were close to a deep fluid injection well. The 14 month seismicity included six felt earthquakes and culminated with a Mw 3.9 shock on 31 December 2011. Among the 109 shocks, 12 events greater than Mw 1.8 were detected by regional network and accurately relocated, whereas 97 small earthquakes (0.4 < Mw < 1.8) were detected by the waveform correlation detector. Accurately located earthquakes were along a subsurface fault trending ENE-WSW - consistent with the focal mechanism of the main shock and occurred at depths 3.5-4.0 km in the Precambrian basement. We conclude that the recent earthquakes in Youngstown, Ohio were induced by the fluid injection at a deep injection well due to increased pore pressure along the preexisting subsurface faults located close to the wellbore. We found that the seismicity initiated at the eastern end of the subsurface fault - close to the injection point, and migrated toward the west - away from the wellbore, indicating that the expanding high fluid pressure front increased the pore pressure along its path and progressively triggered the earthquakes. We observe that several periods of quiescence of seismicity follow the minima in injection volumes and pressure, which may indicate that the earthquakes were directly caused by the pressure buildup and stopped when pressure dropped.
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Endogenous Decentralization in Federal Environmental Policies
Howard Chang, Hilary Sigman & Leah Traub
International Review of Law and Economics, March 2014, Pages 39-50
Abstract:
Under most federal environmental laws and some health and safety laws, states may apply for "primacy," that is, authority to implement and enforce federal law, through a process known as "authorization." Some observers fear that states use authorization to adopt more lax policies in a regulatory "race to the bottom." This paper presents a simple model of the interaction between the federal and state governments in such a scheme of partial decentralization. Our model suggests that the authorization option may not only increase social welfare but also allow more stringent environmental regulations than would otherwise be feasible. Our model also suggests that the federal government may choose its policies so that states that desire more strict regulation authorize, while other states remain under the federal program. We then test this hypothesis using data on federal regulation of water pollution and of hazardous waste, which are two of the most important environmental programs to allow authorization. We find that states that prefer more environmental protection authorize more quickly under both policies. This evidence suggests that states seek authorization to adopt more strict policies instead of more lax policies compared to federal policies.
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Brian Fontenot et al.
Environmental Science & Technology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Natural gas has become a leading source of alternative energy with the advent of techniques to economically extract gas reserves from deep shale formations. Here, we present an assessment of private well water quality in aquifers overlying the Barnett Shale formation of North Texas. We evaluated samples from 100 private drinking water wells using analytical chemistry techniques. Analyses revealed that arsenic, selenium, strontium and total dissolved solids (TDS) exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency's Drinking Water Maximum Contaminant Limit (MCL) in some samples from private water wells located within 3 km of active natural gas wells. Lower levels of arsenic, selenium, strontium, and barium were detected at reference sites outside the Barnett Shale region as well as sites within the Barnett Shale region located more than 3 km from active natural gas wells. Methanol and ethanol were also detected in 29% of samples. Samples exceeding MCL levels were randomly distributed within areas of active natural gas extraction, and the spatial patterns in our data suggest that elevated constituent levels could be due to a variety of factors including mobilization of natural constituents, hydrogeochemical changes from lowering of the water table, or industrial accidents such as faulty gas well casings.
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Global association of air pollution and heart failure: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Anoop Shah et al.
Lancet, forthcoming
Background: Acute exposure to air pollution has been linked to myocardial infarction, but its effect on heart failure is uncertain. We did a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the association between air pollution and acute decompensated heart failure including hospitalisation and heart failure mortality.
Methods: Five databases were searched for studies investigating the association between daily increases in gaseous (carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone) and particulate (diameter <2•5 μm [PM2•5] or <10 μm [PM10]) air pollutants, and heart failure hospitalisations or heart failure mortality. We used a random-effects model to derive overall risk estimates per pollutant.
Findings: Of 1146 identified articles, 195 were reviewed in-depth with 35 satisfying inclusion criteria. Heart failure hospitalisation or death was associated with increases in carbon monoxide (3•52% per 1 part per million; 95% CI 2•52-4•54), sulphur dioxide (2•36% per 10 parts per billion; 1•35-3•38), and nitrogen dioxide (1•70% per 10 parts per billion; 1•25-2•16), but not ozone (0•46% per 10 parts per billion; -0•10 to 1•02) concentrations. Increases in particulate matter concentration were associated with heart failure hospitalisation or death (PM2•5 2•12% per 10 μg/m3, 95% CI 1•42-2•82; PM10 1•63% per 10 μg/m3, 95% CI 1•20-2•07). Strongest associations were seen on the day of exposure, with more persistent effects for PM2•5. In the USA, we estimate that a mean reduction in PM2•5 of 3•9 μg/m3 would prevent 7978 heart failure hospitalisations and save a third of a billion US dollars a year.
Interpretation: Air pollution has a close temporal association with heart failure hospitalisation and heart failure mortality. Although more studies from developing nations are required, air pollution is a pervasive public health issue with major cardiovascular and health economic consequences, and it should remain a key target for global health policy.
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Raquel Silva et al.
Environmental Research Letters, July-September 2013
Abstract:
Increased concentrations of ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) since preindustrial times reflect increased emissions, but also contributions of past climate change. Here we use modeled concentrations from an ensemble of chemistry-climate models to estimate the global burden of anthropogenic outdoor air pollution on present-day premature human mortality, and the component of that burden attributable to past climate change. Using simulated concentrations for 2000 and 1850 and concentration-response functions (CRFs), we estimate that, at present, 470 000 (95% confidence interval, 140 000 to 900 000) premature respiratory deaths are associated globally and annually with anthropogenic ozone, and 2.1 (1.3 to 3.0) million deaths with anthropogenic PM2.5-related cardiopulmonary diseases (93%) and lung cancer (7%). These estimates are smaller than ones from previous studies because we use modeled 1850 air pollution rather than a counterfactual low concentration, and because of different emissions. Uncertainty in CRFs contributes more to overall uncertainty than the spread of model results. Mortality attributed to the effects of past climate change on air quality is considerably smaller than the global burden: 1500 (-20 000 to 27 000) deaths yr-1 due to ozone and 2200 (-350 000 to 140 000) due to PM2.5. The small multi-model means are coincidental, as there are larger ranges of results for individual models, reflected in the large uncertainties, with some models suggesting that past climate change has reduced air pollution mortality.
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From Green Users to Green Voters
Diego Comin & Johannes Rode
NBER Working Paper, July 2013
Abstract:
We estimate the effect of the diffusion of photovoltaic (PV) systems on the fraction of votes obtained by the German Green Party. The logistic diffusion of PV systems offers a new identification strategy. We take first differences and instrument adoption rates (i.e. the first difference in the diffusion level) by lagged diffusion levels. The existing rationales for non-linearities in diffusion, and ubiquity of logistic curves ensure that our instrument is orthogonal to variables that directly affect voting patterns. We find that the diffusion of domestic PV systems caused 25 percent of the increment in green votes between 1998 and 2009.
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Identifying the Elasticity of Driving: Evidence from a Gasoline Price Shock in California
Kenneth Gillingham
Regional Science and Urban Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
There have been dramatic swings in retail gasoline prices over the past decade, along with reports in the media of consumers changing their driving habits - providing a unique opportunity to examine how consumers respond to changes in gasoline prices. This paper exploits a unique and extremely rich vehicle-level dataset of all new vehicles registered in California in 2001-2003 and then subsequently given a smog check in 2005-2009, a period of steady economic growth but rapidly increasing gasoline prices after 2005. The primary empirical result is a medium-run estimate of the elasticity of vehicle-miles-traveled with respect to gasoline price for new vehicles of -0.22. There is evidence of considerable heterogeneity in this elasticity across buyer types, demographics, and geography. Surprisingly, the vehicle-level responsiveness is increasing with income, perhaps due to within-household switching of vehicles. The estimated elasticity has important implications for the effectiveness of price policies, such as increased gasoline taxes or a carbon policy, in reducing greenhouse gases. The heterogeneity in the elasticity underscores differing distributional and local air pollution benefits of policies that increase the price of gasoline.
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Does income inequality harm the environment?: Empirical evidence from the United States
Jungho Baek & Guankerwon Gweisah
Energy Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study revisits the growth-inequality-environment nexus in the context of country-specific time series data. The short- and long-run effects of income inequality, economic growth and energy consumption on CO2 emissions in the U.S. are examined using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach. We find that more equitable distribution of income in the U.S. results in better environmental quality in the short- and long-run. It is also found that, in both the short- and long-run, economic growth has a beneficial effect on environmental quality, whereas energy consumption has a detrimental effect on the environment.
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The Capitalization of Green Labels in the California Housing Market
Matthew Kahn & Nils Kok
Regional Science and Urban Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
The residential sector accounts for 33 percent of electricity consumption in the U.S., with a total expenditure of $166 billion in 2010. Increasing the energy efficiency of the durable housing stock can thus provide significant cost savings for consumers. One promising trend is the rise of homes labeled by a third party as "green" or energy efficient. This paper documents evidence on the effects of providing information about the energy efficiency and "sustainability" of structures in affecting consumer choice. We conduct a hedonic pricing analysis of all single-family home sales in California over the time period 2007 to 2012, and find that homes labeled with a green label transact at a small premium relative to otherwise comparable, non-labeled homes. We show evidence of spatial variation in this capitalization such that both environmental ideology and local climatic conditions play a role in explaining the variation in the green premium across geographies.
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On the Dual Nature of Weak Property Rights
Louis Hotte, Randy McFerrin & Douglas Wills
Resource and Energy Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
In the natural-resource literature, conventional wisdom holds that weak property rights will cause a resource to be over-exploited. This is because weak property rights are typically perceived as a problem of input exclusion - or theft of un-extracted resources. We present evidence to the effect that weak property rights often take the form of contestable outputs - or output theft - and that this has an impact on resource use. We propose a model of resource use under generally weak property rights - or weak state presence - when resource users face the dual problem of input exclusion and output appropriation. We show that introducing the possibility that outputs be contested acts as an output tax, with the added twist that resource users effectively determine the tax level. This tax has a depressive effect on input use. Whether the resource is under- or over-exploited depends on the relative severity of output appropriation and input exclusion problems. Increasing enforcement measures against theft may lead to severe resource overuse. Efficiency considerations requires to account not only for direct resource input use, but also for thieves' efforts and gains as well as the costs of enforcement against theft and trespass.