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U.S. Waste Management Policies: Impact on
Economic Growth and Investment Strategies
A monograph published May 1992 by the ACCF Center for Policy Research.
Introduction
U.S. Waste Management: Impact on Economic Growth and Investment Strategies
is the sixth volume the ACCF Center for Policy Research has published
in its series of conference volumes on "Tax and Environmental Policies
& U.S. Economic Growth." This book reports on a day-long symposium
that the Center sponsored on November 7, 1991. At that event, policymakers,
academicians, and representatives of the business community offered their
assessments of U.S. hazardous waste regulatory policies--including the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
(Superfund) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)--and
shared their views on the investment impact of lender liability for environmental
cleanup costs.
In terms of the effect of hazardous waste policies on U.S. economic growth,
perhaps the most significant observation to emerge from the symposium
was made by Dr. Paul Portney, vice president and senior fellow at Resources
for the Future. The study Dr. Portney presented, which is contained in
this volume, revealed that by the year 2000, total annual compliance costs
for all environmental programs will reach $170 to $185 billion; hazardous
waste costs will be about $32 billion of the total. According to Dr. Portney,
these outlays will make it increasingly difficult for affected firms to
invest in the new plant and equipment necessary to compete effectively
in international markets. In addition, he suggests that more attention
should be focused on measuring the social benefits as well as the costs
of U.S. hazardous waste policies.
Also included in this volume is a paper by John M. Campbell of General
Electric Capital Corporation. Mr. Campbell warns that, to the extent that
environmental programs have a disproportionately large impact on small
firms' capital costs, these firms may be less able to compete with large
firms, other factors being equal. He suggests that the direct and indirect
impact of environmental programs on financial providers may actually frustrate
the goals of these programs.
A third study, by Jan P. Acton and Perry C. Beider of the Congressional
Budget Office, notes that the abandoned hazardous waste sites across the
United States are more numerous than originally anticipated, and the geological,
chemical, and technical difficulties are more significant than originally
appreciated. Many of the remedies will require decades to carry out, Dr.
Acton and Dr. Beider conclude.
The keynote address that Congressman Al Swift (D-Wash.) delivered at
the November symposium is also included here. Warning that U.S. environmental
regulation can create a competitiveness disadvantage for U.S. firms, Congressman
Swift notes that U.S. trade and foreign policy should stress that "good
environmental practice is good for everybody."
We are deeply grateful to Congressman Swift, Dr. Portney, Mr. Campbell,
Dr. Acton, Dr. Beider, and the others who participated in the November
symposium and whose contributions are included in this volume. We also
express our gratitude to the groups that helped underwrite this book and
the November event: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.; American Business
Conference; American Petroleum Institute; Baltimore Gas and Electric Company;
Chemical Manufacturers Association; Crum & Forster Insurance Companies;
Dow Chemical USA; Dresser Foundation, Inc.; Exxon Company, USA; IBM Corporation;
Illinois Power Company; Inland Steel Industries, Inc.; LTV Steel Company;
Manufacturers' Alliance for Productivity and Innovation; Mitchell Energy
& Development; Monsanto Company; National Venture Capital Association;
Pennsylvania Power & Light Company; Pennzoil Company; Potomac Electric
Power Company; PSI Energy; Shell Oil Company; Texaco Philanthropic Foundation,
Inc.; Thermo Electron Corporation; and Weyerhaeuser Company.
We are pleased to be able to share important insights on tax and environmental
policies through our symposium series and our publication programs. We
welcome inquiries about this program or the Center's other activities.
Charls E. Walker, Chairman
Mark Bloomfield, President
Margo Thorning, Director of Research
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