Pollution

Running head: Pollution 1 Pollution Laura Boles ENV345: Business and the Environment Dr. Janice Johnson October 17, 2017 Pollution 2 Pollution Pollution is an environmental hazard, as well as a human health hazard. In this paper, I will be discussing environmental and economic problems associated with transportation pollution, water pollution, and waste management pollution. Transportation The pollution emitted by vehicles is inefficiently high because owner-drivers so not pay for the full cost of pollution due to “implicit subsidies for road transport and a failure to internalize costs” (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 368). Implicit subsidies include road maintenance and construction costs, for which the driver does not directly pay (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 368). Free parking also gives incentives to drive a personal vehicle over choosing public transport (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 368). Externalities can include the number of road users (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 368-369). The more vehicles that are on the road at a time results in congestion inefficiency. This in turn creates a larger volume of pollution concentrated in a single area. The goal is to find “the efficient ratio of traffic volume to road capacity” (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 369). At this equilibrium point, the least amount of pollution is being expelled at the lowest possible cost. One of the current policies in place in America to regulate mobile source pollution is a certification program. In a certification program, several vehicle engines are tested for various emissions and gas mileage. If the engine passes the certification test, it is then allowed to be sold Pollution 3 in market (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 371). Another U.S. policy that was put into place to regulate mobile source emissions was the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFÉ, program. This program “was designed to reduce American dependence on foreign oil by producing more fuel-efficient vehicles” (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 372). The program was successful in its goal of reducing oil imports. One possible reform to the current system is fuel taxes. Fuel taxes force the owner-driver to internalize more of the costs of pollution created by driving (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 382). This method simply raises the cost of fuel. Another potential reform is called congestion pricing. “Congested pricing [… charges] for driving on congested roads or at congested times” (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 382). A third road to reform could be accelerated retirement strategies. “One version of the bounty program has become known as cash for clunkers” (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 386). These programs pay people larger amounts of money than their older, inefficient car is worth, just to get it off the streets, which proved to be very effective in phasing out older cars. This would open the doors for newer, more fuel-efficient models. I believe the best strategy would be using fuel taxes. This would directly internalize the costs to the owner-driver. “The introduction of a tax on diesel automobiles that would be quite effective in reducing externalities, and most particularly in reducing emissions of nitrogen oxide and particulate matter.” (Agostini, 2010, Pg. 110). Water Pollution Pollution 4 The contamination of water is a problem for the entire world. All of our water comes from surface water or ground water, both of which are susceptible to various types of contamination (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 394). Some of the sources of contamination come from agricultural runoff, and dumping of waste into the water systems (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 394-395). Runoff from agriculture expels pesticides and fertilizer, while landfills leak and oil spills occur around the world (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 395-396). One type of pollutant is a fund pollutant. These are pollutants that the environment has some capacity to absorb or convert to a less harmful substance (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 396-397). These pollutants are still able to pile up in the environment if the waste product is dumped at a rate faster than the environment is able to assimilate it. When the environment is entirely unable to absorb or convert pollutants, the pollutants will amass; these are known as accumulating pollutants (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 398). These inorganic chemicals and minerals collect in the environment and are extremely harmful to human health, as well as wildlife (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 398). In the United States, the Clean Water Act is a set of policies laid out for the protection and cleansing of water and waste (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 401). One of the water pollution control policies active within the Clean Water Act today is a Total Maximum Daily Load program, or TMDL. “A TMDL is a calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can receive and still meet water quality standards as well as an allocation of that amount to the pollutant’s sources” (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 403). Through this, the efficient amount of pollution for a specific body of water can be determined. “Many TMDLs [focus] on attaining ambient water quality standards, and include narrative standards for the Pollution 5 support of aquatic life” (Serveiss, Butcher, Diamond, & Jones, 2005, Pg. 143). Oil spills are another pollutant that is regulated by the Clean Water Act. Basically, any amount of oil spilled into the ocean is considered to be harmful, so there are several hefty fines and regulations concerning oil spills in the ocean (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 404). Even though there have been policies pertaining to water pollution for much longer than there have been for air pollution, there has not been as much success in cleaning up the water as there has been in cleaning the air. (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 400). First, the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, had problems enforcing pollution control requirements due to opposition in court; to alleviate these issues, technological progress had to slow down, and harsher policies were put on more dangerous wastes (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 406-407). This result is cost-inefficient. Next, allocating control responsibility has been deemed cost- inefficient by “a number of empirical studies [that] have investigated how closely the national effluent standards approximate the least-cost allocation.” (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 407). Managing Waste Waste disposal costs have risen in the last several years due to an increase in population and decrease in available land in which to bury waste products (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 424-425). This forces the population to come up with alternative solutions for waste management, mainly recycling. With a substitute, cost of waste disposal will still continue to rise, due to the increase in population and pollution, making recycling more attractive (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 425). Pollution 6 One way to use incentives to reduce waste output and promote recycling is to put a price- per-bag on waste. This internalizes costs of waste disposal to the individual. In Marietta, Georgia, this reduced nonrecycled waste by 51 percent (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 434). Another strategy that was found to be effective in Germany is the take back principle, which says that “all producers should be required to accept responsibility for their products [… and take] them back once they have outlived their useful lives” (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2009, Pg. 437). This gives companies incentive to use recyclable materials, since they will have to accept their return, which will eventually result in a net gain in benefits both socially and for the company as an individual. “The prerequisite for successful implementation of future waste management projects include satisfied customers of waste management companies” (Miletic & Bosna, 2016, Pg. 218). Recycling appears to be one of the most important gateways toward sustainability. In this paper, I have discussed problems with, and solutions to, pollution involving transportation, water, and waste management, with an emphasis on the importance of recycling. Pollution 7 References Agostini, C. A. (2010). Differential Fuel Taxes and Their Effects on Automobile Demand. CEPAL Review, (102), 101-111. Miletic, J., & Bosna, J. (2016). Associations for Consumer Rights as Mediators in Resolving Conflict Communication Situations between Waste Disposal Companies and Users. Poslovna Zircons’/Business Excellence, 10(1), 203-221. Serveiss, V. B., Butcher, J. B., Diamond, J., & Jones, K. C. (2005). Improving the TMDL Process Using Watershed Risk Assessment Principles. Environmental Management, 36(1), 143-151. doi:10.1007/s00267-004-0258-8 Tietenberg, T. & Lewis, L. (2009). Environmental Economics and Policy (6th ed.). New York, NY: Prentice Hall.