Ancillary Benefits of Reduced Air Pollution in the U.S. from M

This paper considers how actions to slow atmospheric accumulation of greenhouse gases from fossil fuel use could also reduce "criteria" air pollutants (as defined in the Clean Air Act) in the U.S. The benefits that result would be "ancillary" to greenhouse gas abatement. Moreover, these benefits would tend to accrue in the near term, while any benefits from reduced climate change mostly accrue over a time frame of several decades or longer. Primary emphasis is placed on reduced pollutants from the electricity sector. We present a preliminary analysis using a new model of the electricity market to predict changes in nitrogen oxides (NOx) from moderate carbon policies. These changes are fed through an atmospheric transport and health model to predict changes in health status, and to characterize these changes in monetary terms. We find that ancillary benefits from a tax of $10 per metric ton of carbon emissions would yield NOx related health benefits of about $3 per metric ton of carbon reduced (1996 dollars). Additional savings accrue from reduced investment in SO2 abatement in order to comply with the SO2 emission cap due to the shift away from coal for electricity generation under a carbon tax. At greater levels of a carbon tax, the value of ancillary benefits from NOx reductions per ton of carbon reductions declines; however, more aggressive carbon reduction policies are also likely to lead to additional benefits from sulfur reductions if the SO2 emission cap is no longer binding.