Benefit-Cost Assessment of the Port Mackenzie Rail Extension

Costs We assume that the Port MacKenzie rail extension would cost $275 million to construct.1 This is a conservative estimate based on a range of between$200 million and 300 million for different route options. The time horizon runs 50 years from 2012 to 2061. O&M costs are assumed to be 1.5 million per year, with a net present value of $26.1 million. The net present value of all costs using a 5$301.1 million. Benefits The rail extension would provide two distinct types of benefits: 1) It reduces the cost of rail transportation; and 2) It is likely to stimulate significant new mines and other major development. These benefits come from a diverse mix of potential projects – thus a strength of the rail extension is that its economic viability does not depend on any one project. Reduced transportation costs Relative to Seward, using the extension would save 140.7 miles per one-way trip.3 Assuming an average cost savings of 6 cents per ton-mile and a 5.0% real discount rate, we estimate that using the extension would save $572 million in avoided rail costs, avoided port costs, and avoided railroad and road upgrades. These savings are shown in the table and figure on the following page. In addition to the above, we estimate that about 22,000 train crossings of Pittman Road and other roads would be avoided by the extension, saving motorists up to 64,000 vehicle-hours of travel time delay between now and 2061.Matanuska- Susitna BoroughExecutive Summary / Introduction / Benefits from Reduced Transportation Costs / Fiscal benefits to State of Alaska / Community and Regional Economic Impacts / Reference

Cost-Benefit Studies use scarce resources too: some lessons from a study of forested wetlands in the Moreton region

Although proposed developments which may adversely affect environmental assets are increasingly subjected to scrutiny through the application of an environmental assessment technique such as cost-benefit analysis, little consideration has been given to the question of the optimal allocation of resources to the actual cost-benefit study itself. It is argued here that significant resource savings may be made if the allocation of resources to cost-benefit analyses is commensurate with the importance of the decisions being informed by the analyses. Using a study of the Melaleuca quinquenervia dominated forested wetlands of the Moreton Region, it is demonstrated that the decisions about their future use may be accompanied by significant resource savings as a result of the development of rules of thumb linking the characteristics of wetland vegetation with the functions which wetlands perform.Cost-benefit, environmental assessment, wetlands, vegetation characteristics,

An Economic Analysis and Cost Sharing Assessment for Dryland Salinity Management: A case study of the Lower Eyre Peninsula in South Australia

Report to Primary Industry and Resources SA. This report has 2 components. Firstly, it discusses issues relating to cost sharing for dryland salinity management. Secondly, it presents an economic analysis and cost sharing assessment of six dryland salinity management options for the Lower Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. The report includes a benefit-cost analysis of revegetation to control salinity.Australia;dryland;salinity;economic analysis;cost sharing;revegetation

Integrated assessment of biological invasions

An assessment of the consequences of biological invasions and of the measures taken against must be at the base of each social decision in this field. Three forms of uncertainty can be distinguished that make such a decision difficult to take: (1) factual uncertainty, which encompasses not only risk, but also unknown probabilities of known consequences, and unknown consequences, (2) individual uncertainty, i.e. insecurity about the values to consider, and about the form how to consider them, and (3) social actor uncertainty, i.e. uncertainty about the social actors to consider and how to do it. This paper furnishes axiomatic reflections about the difficulties of assessments integrating these three uncertainties. Using this analytical separation, it restructures two main assessment techniques, and herewith shows the main differences between cost-benefit-analysis and multi-criteria decision aid in supporting public decisions about biological invasions. It is shown that the main difference between cost-benefit-analysis, the classical economic decision support, and multi-criteria decision analysis is less its mono- vs. multi-criteria approach, but its facility to be embedded in a social decision context. With multicriteria decision aid it is more facile to lay open the uncertainties in all three dimensions and to make them an explicit topic for public discourse. Therefore, it seems more suitable as an assessment method for biological invasions. --Biodiversity,Multi-criteria analysis,Uncertainty,Integrated Assessment,Biological Invasion,Cost-benefit analysis

Cost/benefit analysis of advanced materials technology candidates for the 1980's, part 2

Cost/benefit analyses to evaluate advanced material technologies projects considered for general aviation and turboprop commuter aircraft through estimated life-cycle costs, direct operating costs, and development costs are discussed. Specifically addressed is the selection of technologies to be evaluated; development of property goals; assessment of candidate technologies on typical engines and aircraft; sensitivity analysis of the changes in property goals on performance and economics, cost, and risk analysis for each technology; and ranking of each technology by relative value. The cost/benefit analysis was applied to a domestic, nonrevenue producing, business-type jet aircraft configured with two TFE731-3 turbofan engines, and to a domestic, nonrevenue producing, business type turboprop aircraft configured with two TPE331-10 turboprop engines. In addition, a cost/benefit analysis was applied to a commercial turboprop aircraft configured with a growth version of the TPE331-10

Economic Valuation of Oceanographic Forecasting Services: A Cost-Benefit Exercise

This paper provides an assessment of the economic value of the oceanographic services provided by the Mediterranean operational forecasting system, MFSTEP. The main purpose of this exploratory study is to carry out a cost-benefit analysis for different development scenarios, by comparing the costs associated with the project implementation with the private benefits that arise from delivering its products on the market. As far as the costs are concerned, a total cost assessment has been performed by identifying, classifying and estimating the wide range of inputs that have been allocated both to the project development and maintenance. Against this context, a cost questionnaire has been designed and administered to all MFSTEP partners. In addition, the study focuses on an end-users analysis in order to examine end-users’ attitudes and interests for the forecasting products, their needs and satisfaction. As before, we make the use of a survey. Finally, this questionnaire is characterized by exploring the use of the contingent valuation approach so as to address and estimate the private benefits derived from the provision of the MFSTEP products. Estimation results show that the mean willingness to pay for accessing the forecasting products amounts to 65 euro per download. Cost-benefit analysis reveals that, from a market perspective relying on the profit maximisation, a total of 163 downloads per day are required for total maintenance costs recovery, whereas 90 downloads per day are required to recover personnel maintenance costs. Finally, 33 downloads per day are required so as to recover durable equipment maintenance costs.Cost-Benefit Analysis, Contingent Valuation, Survey Design, Willingness to Pay, Cost Assessment, Observing and Modelling Oceanographic System

Environmental Economics

This article, prepared for the forthcoming second edition of the New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, provides an overview of the economics of environmental policy. Included are the setting of goals and targets, notably the Kaldor-Hicks criterion, and the related method of assessment known as benefit-cost analysis. Also reviewed are the means of environmental policy, that is, the choice of specific policy instruments, featuring an examination of potential criteria for assessing alternative instruments, with focus on cost-effectiveness. The theoretical foundations and experiential highlights of individual instruments are reviewed, including conventional command-and-control mechanisms and market-based instruments.environmental economics, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, benefit-cost analysis, market-based instruments, tradeable permits, pollution taxes

The Empirics of Environmental and Distributional Impacts of Conservation Targeting Strategies

This study compares the environmental and economic effects of alternative targeting strategies (benefit, cost, and benefit-cost ratio targeting) for reducing nitrate-N water pollution in the Des Moines Watershed in Iowa. The objective is achieved by applying an integrated modeling system to nitrate-N runoff from the Des Moines Watershed. Our integrated modeling system consists of an econometric model and a physically-based hydrologic balance simulation model. The econometric model estimates the opportunity cost of CRP participation is calculated at each parcel. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is then used to simulate the level of nitrate-N runoff at each NRI parcel in the watershed. Our results show that the benefit-cost targeting achieves the highest nitrate-N runoff reduction for a given budget. The cost targeting results in the largest amount of land out of production. This strategy, however, results in the smallest environmental benefits. The benefit targeting takes the smallest amount of resource out of production and results in highest output level. The percent differences in the amount of land retired and total nitrate-N runoff reduction among alternative targeting strategies tend to be larger when the conservation budget is smaller. Finally, benefit targeting and benefit-cost ratio targeting tend to result in similar environmental and economic outcomes. Differences in nitrate-N runoff and acres of land retired between these two strategies are shown to be quite small.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Analysing options for the Red Gum Forests along the Murray River

The Victorian Environmental Assessment Council is conducting an investigation into the management of the public land River Red Gum Forests of the Murray River Valley in Victoria. In this paper the authors apply the results of an earlier Choice Modelling exercise commissioned by VEAC to estimate the non-use values of the forests. A Benefit Cost Analysis of VEAC's draft recommendations included assessment of the market and non market values associated with different River Red Gum forest management strategies. It is concluded that the use of water for environmental flows is competitive with its use for irrigation. Other economic values associated with timber harvesting, grazing and duck hunting are small in comparison with the water values.Choice Modelling, Environment, River Red Gums, Benefit Cost Analysis, Water Resources, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,