The study documents the costs of environmental protection for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the states, and local governments and uses these data to: Examine differences between current expenditures and future costs of environmental protection; Assess trends in the distribution of costs among EPA, the states, and local governments; and Identify the cost impact of environmental policies on local governments, capital markets, and households. The report examines the public costs of environmental protection over the period 1981-1987 and projects them to the year 2000. These projections are estimates of the future costs of maintaining existing environmental standards, assuming the same level of quality as in 1987. In addition, the report examines the local costs of selected new environmental regulations and programs that local governments will bear in the future.