Reducing pollution increases nature’s benefits in Pennsylvania by $6.2 billion
HARRISBURG – A first-ever analysis released by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) finds that the economic benefits provided by nature in the Chesapeake Bay watershed will total $130 billion annually when the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint, the regional plan to restore the bay, is fully implemented.
The Economic Benefits of Cleaning up the Chesapeake also reveals that in Pennsylvania, those annual benefits will approach $40 billion.
“We all know that reducing pollution makes great sense for our health and our environment, and today we can confirm what we have long thought. It makes good economic sense as well,” said William C. Baker, CBF president.
“The benefits nature provides to us will increase in value by more than $22 billion, a 21 percent increase, as a result of fully implementing the Blueprint. And we reap those added benefits every year.”
The bay, its rivers, forests, farms and wetlands provide multiple benefits to the region, and a restored bay watershed will provide cleaner water, cleaner air, hurricane and flood protection, recreational opportunities, and fresh, healthy food and seafood.
These benefits extend to everyone in the bay’s 64,000-sqare-mile drainage basin, from headwater streams to the Atlantic Ocean.
The peer-reviewed report, produced by economist Spencer Phillips and CBF Senior Scientist Dr. Beth McGee, compared the value of those benefits in 2009, the year before the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint began being implemented, to the benefits that can be expected as a result of fully implementing the blueprint.
The report estimates the value of natural benefits from the pre-Blueprint Bay watershed, even in its polluted and degraded condition, at $107 billion. Once the blueprint is fully implemented, that amount grows by 21 percent to $129.7 billion a year.
Equally telling, if the region relaxes efforts and does little more to clean up the bay than what has been done to date, pollution will worsen and the value of bay benefits will decline by almost $6 billion.
“The conclusion is clear: The region’s environmental and economic health will improve when we fully implement the Blueprint,” said Co-author Spencer Phillips.
“The clean-up plan was designed with the understanding that all people and communities in the watershed can contribute to making our waterways cleaner, and that everyone will benefit when pollution is reduced. Our analysis confirms this.”
Implementing the blueprint will have a significant, positive benefit for Pennsylvania’s economy. Once the blueprint is fully implemented, and the benefits fully realized, the value of the natural services provided would increase by $6.2 billion annually, from $32.6 to $38.8 billion.
“This report clearly validates that there is a real and measurable return on the investment Pennsylvanian’s have made in clean water for their local rivers and streams, and the bay,” said Harry Campbell, CBF’s Pennsylvania executive director.
“With this report, Pennsylvanian’s can be assured that cleaning up our waterways will have direct and tangible benefits to the citizens of the Commonwealth.”
According to the states most recent assessment, nearly one-quarter of the state’s waterways are polluted – largely by agricultural and urban/suburban polluted runoff. In order to ensure clean, healthy water for future generations and meet our commitments, the state should focus its efforts in three key areas:
· Through education, outreach and technical assistance, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) should accelerate efforts, programs and funding to ensure that farmers are meeting Pennsylvania’s water quality protection laws;
· Accelerate the planting of streamside forested buffers, which are the most cost-effective pollution reduction practice available;
· Assist local municipal officials with efforts to decrease polluted runoff from urban and suburban areas.
The report also identified impressive annual gains in other bay states from fully implementing the Blueprint. Virginia would see an increase of $8.3 billion, Maryland $4.5 billion, New York $1.9 billion, West Virginia $1.3 billion and Delaware $205 million.
CBF’s study addressed only benefits, not costs. While there are no recent estimates of the total costs of implementation, a 2004 estimate put costs in the range of roughly $6 billion per year.
Considering federal, state and local investments in clean water in the 10 years since that time, the CBF estimates the current number is closer to $5 billion annually. And once capital investments are made, it also estimates that the long-term annual operations and maintenance costs will be much lower.
The result, the blueprint, will return benefits to the region each year at a rate of more than four times the cost of the clean-up plan, according to the CBF. The complete report can be found at cbf.org/economicbenefits.