Energy production pollution costs billions of dollars: study
Washington (Platts)--19Oct2009/555 pm EDT/2155 GMT
Pollution from power plants and transportation have cost the US economy billions of dollars in "hidden" costs because of damage to human health and other environmental impacts, according to a report released Monday by the National Research Council.
In 2005, the most recent year data was available, electricity generation and motor vehicle transportation was responsible for $120 billion in damage to health, grain crops and timber yields, as well as damage to recreation and buildings, according to the report, which was requested by Congress.
"Because these effects are not reflected in energy prices, government, businesses and consumers may not realize the full impact of their choices. When such market failures occur, a case can be made for government interventions--such as regulations, taxes or tradable permits--to address these external costs," the report said. A 19-member committee of scientists and economists prepared the report for the congressionally created NRC.
The NRC report looked at the cost of human mortality resulting from pollution, such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone and particulate matter, and concluded that in 2005 about 19,000 people died prematurely from the harmful emissions from transportation and electricity generation.
The economic impacts of that pollution is expected to drop by half by 2030 as compliance with government regulation increases, the committee found.
The report also estimates that while the damage caused by greenhouse gas emissions would substantially increase by 2030, it did not did not make conclusions on the economic impact of those emissions.
The report comes while Congress debates legislation that would increase emissions controls on power plants, capping the amount of carbon dioxide they could emit.
Of the polluters examined, the committee found that electricity generation was the most harmful, resulting in $63 billion in damages, almost all of which stemmed from coal-fired power plants. Both natural gas-fired and nuclear power plants resulted in much less damage, although the committee did not look at problems stemming from nuclear waste.
The committee did not make financial estimates of the harm to ecosystems from the extraction techniques, such as mountain-top-removal mining, that provides coal and other fuels for power generation.
In 2005, damages from pollution caused by transportation was estimated to be $56 billion, and heating--which is largely from natural gas--was estimated at $1.4 billion.
--Derek Sands, derek_sands@platts.com
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