Environmental Economics

More on the BP berms

Tim's already posted on this but I can't resist the numbers:

By October, about 10 miles of berms had been built several miles from the gulf coastline at a cost of $220 million, with construction paid for entirely by BP. Louisiana officials estimate that the berms stopped 1,000 barrels of oil from the spill.

By contrast, more than 800,000 barrels were captured at the wellhead, and roughly 270,000 barrels were burned off by Coast Guard vessels. Skimming operations recovered at least 34 million gallons of oil-water mixture.

“$220 million for a spill response measure that trapped not much more than 1,000 barrels of oil is not a compelling cost-benefit tradeoff,” the commission staff wrote.

via www.nytimes.com

The cost per oil stopped by berms is $220,000 per barrel.

I just got back from Cancun and have a lot to say about the climate talks*

And, instead of reporting what I learned (which was very little due to tequila), I'm pointing you to Rob Stavins' post at the Huffington Post (why aren't I getting his RSS feed? Maybe I'll check on that instead of grading finals**):

I begin by assessing the key elements of the Cancún Agreements. Then I examine whether the incremental steps forward represented by the Agreements should really be characterized as a success. And finally I ask why the negotiations in Cancún led to the outcome they did.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

*I didn't go to Cancun, although I was invited to lots of events via email. As if dork-blogger is my full-time job, with revenue.

**Speaking of finals, I plan to read Stavins' piece sometime after 5 pm today (when grades are due).

The net effect on climate was zero as all of the increased carbon was offset*

Here is a good one for backing out the demand or supply change and asking students to predict the effect on price:

Passenger counts at Raleigh-Durham International Airport continued to increase in November, after airlines made room for more customers by adding flights to their schedules.

RDU served 785,084 travelers last month, up more than 5 percent from November 2009. That growth came after Delta added 14 flights to five cities, JetBlue added one flight, and Southwest switched in some larger jets to provide more seats on some flights.

via www.newsobserver.com

I would** interpret this as an increase in supply, with downward pressure on price.

*Not really.

**If I were to interpret it.

If you add Env-Econ your homepage you too might get your comment promoted to a post

From reader Brandon:

Speaking of nonuse values...Tim you were cited in an article I read on acid rain in the Adirondacks and NY state residents WTP (it was mostly a methods paper). I'm an Adirondack resident currently resarching the combination of a rails to trails program and creation of a small state campground near my hometown.

I'm a recent BA in geography and policy studies and I have been taking a stab at economics in my free time. I like the blog so much you are on my yahoo homepage along with a stockticker (I have no stocks) and a feed of NHL scores and updates.

No point.  Just self-congratulations.

In case you want some bedtime reading, here's the citation for the article to which Brandon is referring:

"Valuation of Natural Resource Improvements in the Adirondacks" H. Spencer Banzhaf, Dallas Burtraw, David Evans, Alan KrupnickSource: Land Economics, Vol. 82, No. 3 (Aug., 2006), pp. 445-464

And for the record, I'm cited 5 times in that paper. 

Not that that means anything. 

I just like to see my name in print.

Do the ends justify the means in cost benefit analysis?

"From a long-term coastal restoration perspective, the berms may indeed be a 'significant step forward,' as Gov. Jindal has claimed, but they were not successful for oil spill response."

via hosted.ap.org

Presidential commission on the unintended side-benefits of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's $200 million dollar berms built to prevent oil damage to the Louisiana coastline.

My 8 year old has nonuse values

She adopted a wolf at Defenders of Wildlife on the 6th snow day of the school year. From the inbox:

Thank you for supporting Defenders of Wildlife's work to save endangered animals with your tax-deductible gift through our Wildlife Adoption & Gift Center! Your order receipt appears at the bottom of this message. For adoptions and wolf-saving gifts, link(s) to downloable versions of your certificate(s) appear below your receipt. Your adoption kit, including printed certificate, will still arrive in the mail.

Before you say that I've polluted my kid's mind, I'll say that she found the website herself and decided to do it on her own, with her own money. I'm quite proud.

And, of course, these aren't pure nonuse values. She did not turn down the free stuffed animal.

Comments indicating negative opinions of my oldest will be promptly deleted (and I'm looking at you W.E.!).

What would you do if I sang out of tune?

Obama Replaces Costly High-Speed Rail Plan With High-Speed Bus Plan

Hat tip: Newmark's Door

Five Top Career Opportunities in Environmental Economics

Occasionally we get questions from undergraduates (or parents of undergraduates) asking "What can I do with my degree in environmental economics?" Cromulently, a few weeks ago we received a guest post offer: "We would be interested in writing a guest article for your readers. The topic would be geared towards green/enviro majors or green career options for graduate level students." Perfect!

We've created a page at Env-Econ 101 which is guest authored by Bob Hartzel. We hope you (or your parents) find it useful. It begins like this:

While sustainability has become a marketable term in the corporate world the question remains about how far businesses are willing to go to embrace environmental responsibility when it is represented by a quantifiable cost. Thus far the most successful attempt at instituting an important sustainable practice has been the cap and trade market – a forum where environmental responsibility has been translated into dollars and cents. Convincing corporate executives who hide behind “the shareholders” that environmental costs deserve valuation too, is going to require a generation’s worth of educational processes inspired by regulatory mandates which may or may not ever occur.

The five career opportunities are environmental consulting, project management, resources policy advocacy, agricultural economics and resources management.

Economics Job Market Rumors discusses John List

One of my favorites:

Someone once asked John List what he thought of the instrument they were using. He calculated the regression results on the spot using only a piece of paper and slide rule. The instrument was weak compared to John List.

Post your fav in the comments. Or go home.

Hat tip: JDG

Is coal a backstop fuel for oil?

Usually when I draw the standard price path graph--say that 3 times fast--for the oil/renewable transition, I don't think to put coal as a transition fuel between oil and renewables. Maybe I should.

Coal may be the last thing on earth that many investors would consider putting a dime into. But the world is on course to transition back to coal. You may wish it wasn’t the case, but it’s inevitable. Coal isn’t as clean of a fuel source as other options – but there is room for clean coal technologies to improve, and I believe they will. Investors should have a position in coal companies to be able to profit from the transition – or risk being left behind.

via seekingalpha.com