The Safe Water Drinking Act required the United States Environmental Protection Agency to establish action standards for

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The Safe Water Drinking Act required the United States Environmental Protection Agency to establish action standards for lead in drinking water. The EPA evaluated three options

(labelled A, B and C below) using cost–benefit techniques. A selection of the results of this analysis is presented in the following table.

Monetary values in the table are 1988 $ million, based on a 20-year life, discounted to present value at 3%. Option A involves the strictest standard, Option C the least strict, with B intermediate. The marginal cost and benefit figures refer to incremental costs/benefits incurred in moving from no control to Option C, from Option C to Option B, and from Option B to A respectively.
Source: EPA (1991). The EPA decision is discussed at length in Goodstein (1995), pp. 133–140.
The US Environmental Protection Agency selected Option B. Is Option B the economically efficient choice?

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Natural Resource And Environmental Economics

ISBN: 9780321417534

4th Edition

Authors: Roger Perman, Yue Ma, Michael Common, David Maddison, James McGilvray

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