Economic Effects of Air Pollution
Units of the National Park System are money makers. Visitors spend billions of dollars each year in the rural and urban communities near parks, monuments, seashores and other units. Visitor spending in communities surrounding national park sites was estimated at $10.6 billion dollars in 2001 (Stynes, Daniel & Ya-Yen Sun, 2003 "System-wide Impact Estimates"). This doesn't include multiplier effects, such as increases in personal income from jobs created and other resources that flow from tourism business.
Visitation is largely dependent upon protection of the very resources that draw visitors in the first place. A pervasive and persistent threat to our parks is air pollution. Air pollution impairs the views, injures vegetation and alters the chemical balance of water bodies and soil as a result of acid deposition. Whole ecosystems as well as historical buildings and monuments may be harmed by air-borne pollutants. Scenery, a primary attraction in many units, takes on a pall when masked by haze caused by air pollution. Visitor surveys consistently report that visitors value parks in their natural state. Studies have found that visitors notice haze and it detracts from their enjoyment of, and time spent in, the park (Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (1985). Assessment of Visibility Impairment on Visitor Enjoyment and Utilization of Park Resources. Colorado State University and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Ft. Collins, CO).
Economic assessments of air pollution and control strategies are routinely performed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of their regulatory analysis responsibilities. EPA, in fact, performs a variety of research on costs and benefits of air pollution control, as well as environmental economics in general. For example, EPA, in cooperation with the NPS, examined the benefits of installing the best available retrofit technology on major sources of sulfur dioxide in 9 western states.
Use the links below for more information on the economic effects of air pollution:
- Air Resources Division, Clear View: What is it Worth (Word 1.9 MB)
- Western Regional Air Partnership, Economic Analysis Forum