Environmental Policy & Economics
For more than 40 years, ICF International has conducted policy and economic
analyses to support clients in developing and implementing environmental
protection programs in such areas as solid and hazardous waste management,
air quality, climate change, and sustainability. ICF brings extensive, practical knowledge of all major federal and many
state environmental programs and applies that knowledge to help government clients:
- Analyze the costs and
benefits of possible program improvements
- Implement day-to-day program
activities
- Evaluate program effectiveness
We understand existing and emerging environmental legislation, regulations,
polices, and guidance, and support private clients in understanding and complying with government
requirements. ICF also brings substantial knowledge of state-of-the-art applications
in environmental economics. This includes techniques for determining the
value of environmental resources so they can be considered in a traditional
cost-benefit analysis framework.
ICF also assesses organizational capabilities relative to emerging expectations
and in charting a course of Environmental Management System (EMS) development,
implementation, and improvement. ICF helps federal agencies meet the requirements
of Executive Order (EO) 13423, supports private clients in building the business
case for EMSs, and supports public and private entities in meeting Environmental,
Health, and Safety Management System challenges.
ICF Environmental Policy & Economics Services
- Economic analysis and modeling
- Cost-benefit analysis
- Economic impact modeling
- Cap and trade policy analysis
- Econometric and statistical analysis
- Non-market valuation
- Environmental policy analysis
- Environmental regulatory support
- Economic development and competitiveness strategies
- Risk and uncertainty analysis
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Selected Environmental Policy & Economics Clients
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- U.S. Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service
- Federal Highway Administration
- State departments of transportation
Selected Environmental Policy & Economics Projects
Technical Support for Regulatory Development Activities
U.S.
Environmental
Protection Agency
Clean Air Markets Division
ICF has been providing continuing support to EPA's Clean Air Markets Division
(CAMD) with technical and advisory services for market-based programs. This
has included modeling and analytical support related to various single- and
multi-pollutant market-based programs. For example, ICF modelers and economists
have been using the Integrated Planning Model (IPM®) and Technology Retrofit and
Updating Model to assist CAMD in analyzing the costs and emissions reductions,
compliance behavior, economic impacts, and temporal and spatial emission
distributions associated with various program options. Recently, ICF has
been assisting CAMD with its efforts to respond to the Washington, D.C. Circuit Court's
ruling to vacate the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) and the subsequent
remand on EPA appeal. This has included analyzing potential episodic control
options for power plants in areas that are projected to be in ozone nonattainment;
conducting Monte Carlo simulations to assess the uncertainties over the costs
of multi-pollutant trading programs; and examining the potential for developing
an inter-pollutant trading program between SO2 and NOx in which reductions
in the emissions of one pollutant may be substituted for reductions in another
in the context of CAIR.
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Hedonic Analysis of the Benefits of Addressing Brownfields
U.S.
Environmental
Protection Agency
ICF investigated the benefits of addressing potentially contaminated sites
(commonly referred to as "brownfields"). ICF economists conducted a hedonic
analysis to measure the effects of brownfields on the market value of nearby
houses. After collecting data on the locations of brownfields in Lowell,
Massachusetts, the characteristics of nearby houses and neighborhoods, and
the market values of those houses over time, ICF estimated regression equations
that explained most of the variability in market values. These equations
showed that—all other things equal—houses closer to brownfield
sites, or near greater numbers of sites, had significantly lower values.
Just as important, the analysis showed that the negative effects of nearby
brownfields disappeared once the EPA program addressed the potential contamination
through site assessments and corrective action. ICF extended this case study
to a larger city (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) and replicated the main points of
its initial study. These studies will help EPA's Brownfields program to fill
an important gap in previous regulatory analyses, which relied on qualitative
discussions of the benefits provided by cleanups and redevelopment.
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Environmental Management System Development and Implementatio
Internal
Revenue Service
ICF is assisting the IRS with EMS development at a program level and on-site
at 15 major sites across the nation. ICF is supporting EMS and compliance
audits, Environmental Health and Safety System program development, and stewardship
and sustainability initiatives. The EMS is now being expanded to include
safety and health aspects.
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