EPA $6 Billion WTP Finding Could Help States Focus, Implement Bay TMDL

摘要

EPA's environmental economics center has released its final report on a "willingness-to-pay" (WTP) survey seeking to quantify the value residents place on improved water quality in the Chesapeake Bay, which regulators hope will bolster their implementation of the agency's multi-state cleanup plan for nutrients and sediments in the watershed. The recently published report from EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics (NCEE), "A Stated Preference Study of the Chesapeake Bay and Watershed Lakes," finds that residents of the watershed are willing to pay for water quality improvements in the region but does not project a specific figure, instead estimating an overall WTP for the region of $1,202 billion to $6,487 billion per year.