This paper reviews the economic justification for voluntary environmental programs to derive defensible measures of their positive social outcomes. We consider ideal experimental and statistical designs to detect and attribute benefits. We also explore a set of more practical approaches to benefit attribution that take into account the data gaps and statistical challenges that often make more rigorous approaches infeasible.

The authorities and responsibilities of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) derive primarily from a dozen major environmental statutes. This book provides a concise summary of one of those statutes, the Clean Air Act. It provides a brief history of federal involvement in air quality regulation and of the provisions added by legislation in 1970, 1977 and 1990. It also explains major authorities contained in the Act as well as key terms and references for more detailed information on the Act and its implementation.

"This manual contains overview information on treatment technologies, installation practices, and past performance."--Introduction.

Current developments: a weekly review of pollution control and related environmental management problems -- Decisions (later published in bound volumes. Environment reporter. Cases) --Monographs -- Federal laws -- Federal regulations --State air laws -- State water laws -- State solid waste, land use laws -- Mining.

Sustainability is based on a simple and long-recognized factual premise: Everything that humans require for their survival and well-being depends, directly or indirectly, on the natural environment. The environment provides the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Recognizing the importance of sustainability to its work, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been working to create programs and applications in a variety of areas to better incorporate sustainability into decision-making at the agency. To further strengthen the scientific basis for sustainability as it applies to human health and environmental protection, the EPA asked the National Research Council (NRC) to provide a framework for incorporating sustainability into the EPA's principles and decision-making. This framework, Sustainability and the U.S. EPA, provides recommendations for a sustainability approach that both incorporates and goes beyond an approach based on assessing and managing the risks posed by pollutants that has largely shaped environmental policy since the 1980s. Although risk-based methods have led to many successes and remain important tools, the report concludes that they are not adequate to address many of the complex problems that put current and future generations at risk, such as depletion of natural resources, climate change, and loss of biodiversity. Moreover, sophisticated tools are increasingly available to address cross-cutting, complex, and challenging issues that go beyond risk management. The report recommends that EPA formally adopt as its sustainability paradigm the widely used "three pillars" approach, which means considering the environmental, social, and economic impacts of an action or decision. Health should be expressly included in the "social" pillar. EPA should also articulate its vision for sustainability and develop a set of sustainability principles that would underlie all agency policies and programs.

Unit pricing, also known as variable rate pricing or pay-as-you-throw, is the practice of charging the user of solid waste services (like trash collection & disposal) per unit of service used. Communities that have adopted unit pricing programs have reported a number of benefits, ranging form reductions in waste generation to greater public awareness of environmental issues. This text discusses potential barriers & benefits to unit pricing in detail. Discusses planning, building & implementing a pay-as-you-go program. Case studies. Bibliography.

This book presents an insider's perspective on information in a wide range of disciplines, from quantum physics to library science. It reflects the diversity of understanding of information within these disciplines, but also brings clarity and coherence to the different perspectives through promoting information as a unifying concept.