Abstract
This paper compares EPA’s ex ante cost analysis of the Cluster Rule, EPA’s first integrated, multi-media regulation, and MACT II Rule to an ex post cost assessment. The goal of this assessment is to determine if actual costs diverged from ex ante costs and, if so, what factors caused this divergence. We find the EPA ex ante costs overestimated the ex post capital costs for the Cluster Rule by 30 to 100%. Contributing factors appear to be use of cleaner technology, flexible compliance options, site-specific rules, shutdowns and consolidations. Ex ante estimates for the MACT II Rule are found to be overestimated by 25% for capital costs and 200 or more percent for annual costs. The primary reason for the overestimate is the use of the bubble compliance strategy that required fewer paper mills to install pollution abatement equipment than anticipated by EPA.
- Glossary – List of Acronyms
- APCD
Air Pollution Control Devices
- BAT
Best Available Technology
- ClO2
Chlorine Dioxide
- ELG
Effluent Limitation Guidelines
- HAP
Hazardous Air Pollutants
- MACT
Maximum Achievable Control Technology
- NCASI
National Council for Air and Stream Improvement
- NESHAP
National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants
- O2 delig
Oxygen Delignification
- PACE Survey
Pollution Abatement Costs and Expenditures Survey
- PM
Particulate Matter
- PSES
Pretreatment Standards for Existing Sources
Acknowledgment
We thank two anonymous referees for helpful comments on an earlier version of this article. We also wish to thank BECA, especially Tony Johnson, for assisting with the acquisition of data on water pollution abatement technologies.
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Article note
The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
©2014 by De Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Retrospective cost analyses of EPA regulations: a case study approach
- Ex ante and ex post cost estimates of the Cluster Rule and MACT II Rule
- Retrospective evaluation of costs associated with methyl bromide critical use exemptions for open field strawberries in California
- National primary drinking water regulation for arsenic: A retrospective assessment of costs
- A retrospective assessment of the costs of EPA’s 1998 Locomotive Emission Standards
- Do regulators overestimate the costs of regulation?
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Retrospective cost analyses of EPA regulations: a case study approach
- Ex ante and ex post cost estimates of the Cluster Rule and MACT II Rule
- Retrospective evaluation of costs associated with methyl bromide critical use exemptions for open field strawberries in California
- National primary drinking water regulation for arsenic: A retrospective assessment of costs
- A retrospective assessment of the costs of EPA’s 1998 Locomotive Emission Standards
- Do regulators overestimate the costs of regulation?