The document summarizes the results of a report to Congress which estimates comprehensively the direct costs of pollution control activities in the United States. Estimates of annual pollution control costs over the years 1972-2000 for various levels of the public sector, as well as for the private sector are presented. Cost estimates are given for five categories of environmental media (air, water, land, chemicals, multi-media) and basic types of costs (capital, operating, annualized). Distinctions are made among the costs of existing regulations, new regulations, and full implementation of existing laws, regulations, and programs for which attainment of environmental goals was not achieved by 1987. The estimates are also used to provide some comparisons with several Western European nations and to make a number of other cost comparisons that may prove important over the next several years. In the current report, several points stand out: first, spending on environmental problems is rising; second, the allocation of resources between environmental media is changing; and third, the costs of pollution control are rising at a time when unmet environmental needs are still quite large.

"Summarizes data presented in ... Environmental investments : the cost of a clean environment : report of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to the Congress of the United States"--Executive summary. Date of issue: December 1990. Report no. EPA-230-12-90-084.