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ENCOURAGING INNOVATION THROUGH UMBRELLA PERMITTING
Description:
The purpose of this project is to assess the behavioral, technical, economic, and environmental effects of removing disincentives to innovation in production and pollution management through more flexible environmental permitting. The study will examine the characteristics of traditional and selected flexible permitting programs being used in different states by reviewing previous studies, reviewing governmental protocols for permits, and by interviewing both state permitting officials and the staff at facilities that have obtained/are obtaining flexible permits. This qualitative characterization of traditional and flexible permitting schemes will be used to develop a simulation of facility investment and operating decisions when confronted with changing factor and product prices under various permitting designs. This simulation exercise will provide a quantitative comparison of the economic and environmental performance of traditional and flexible permitting programs. In addition, the study will examine differences in permitting agency resource needs under various permitting designs.