Browsing by Subject "air toxics"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Hot Spots Regulation and Environmental Justice
    (2011-05) Turaga, Rama Mohana R; Noonan, Douglas S.; Bostrom, Ann
    This paper analyzes whether regulating “hot spots” of toxic air pollution by increasing the spatial resolution of regulation could address environmental justice (EJ) concerns. To examine this question, this paper develops a decision model of a regulator choosing emission controls within a net cost minimizing framework. An empirical application of the model using air toxic emission data for Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties in Florida estimates the emission standards and spatial distribution of risks at a coarse and a finer spatial resolutions. Implications for EJ are analyzed by combining the simulated spatial risk distributions at the two resolutions with the demographic data. Results indicate that different measures of EJ point to different conclusions regarding the question of whether finer resolution regulation alleviates EJ concerns. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for EJ policy.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Spatial Regulation of Air Toxics Hot Spots
    (Wiley, 2015) Turaga, Rama Mohana R.; Noonan, Douglas S.; Bostrom, Ann; School of Public and Environmental Affairs
    This paper analyzes the potential implications, in terms of net social costs and distribution of risks and abatement costs, of a policy to address the problem of air toxics “hot spots.” The policy we analyze involves regulation of air toxics sources at increasingly finer spatial resolutions. We develop a model of a decisionmaker choosing emission standards within a net cost minimization framework. Empirical application of the model to two counties in Florida demonstrates that regulation at finer resolutions could involve trade-offs between net social costs and equitable distribution of risks and, in some settings, between individual and population risks.