Analyzing Cost Implications of Water Quality Trading Provisions: Lessons from the Virginia Nutrient Credit Exchange Act

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dc.contributor.authorAultman, Stephenen
dc.contributor.committeechairStephenson, Stephen Kurten
dc.contributor.committeememberWolfe, Mary Leighen
dc.contributor.committeememberBosch, Darrell J.en
dc.contributor.committeememberGeyer, L. Leonen
dc.contributor.departmentAgricultural and Applied Economicsen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T20:44:31Zen
dc.date.adate2007-10-02en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T20:44:31Zen
dc.date.issued2007-07-26en
dc.date.rdate2011-09-05en
dc.date.sdate2007-08-30en
dc.description.abstractThe purpose of this study was to analyze the cost implications of various provisions of the Virginia Nutrient Credit Exchange Act. The first objective was to estimate the cost implications of point source trading provisions of the Act. An integer programming cost minimization model was constructed to estimate the cost of achieving four point source trading policy scenarios. The model estimated the annual cost of meeting two different nutrient cap levels, each with and without a limits-of-technology concentration standard requirement for new and expanding point sources. The limits-of-technology concentration standard requirement was found to significantly affect cost while providing little apparent benefit to water quality. The second objective was to develop a screening procedure for municipalities to estimate the cost of generating waste load allocation from nonpoint source offsets under their jurisdictional control. A spreadsheet based cost screening procedure was developed for municipalities to estimate the cost of implementing of nitrogen offsets from stormwater practices, septic retirement, and land conversion. One of the important findings from developing the screening procedure is that the cost of generating WLA from non-point sources under the control of local governments was much higher than the cost of removing nitrogen at wastewater treatment plants.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.identifier.otheretd-08302007-163808en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-08302007-163808/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/34852en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartAultmanFinal.pdfen
dc.relation.haspartFairUseLetterAultman.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectmarket-baseden
dc.subjectNitrogenen
dc.subjectoffsetsen
dc.subjectChesapeake Bayen
dc.titleAnalyzing Cost Implications of Water Quality Trading Provisions: Lessons from the Virginia Nutrient Credit Exchange Acten
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineAgricultural and Applied Economicsen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen

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