Analysis of PM2.5 using the Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program (BenMAP).

As epidemiological work from around the world continues to tie PM2.5 to serious adverse health effects, including premature mortality, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) has developed a number of policies to reduce air pollution, including PM2.5. To assist in the benefit-cost analyses of these air pollution control policies, the U.S. EPA has developed the Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program (BenMAP). BenMAP is meant to (1) provide a flexible tool for systematically analyzing impacts of changes in environmental quality in a timely fashion, (2) ensure that stakeholders can understand the assumptions underlying the analysis, and (3) adequately address uncertainty and variability. BenMAP uses a "damage-function" approach to estimate the health benefits of a change in air quality. The major components of the damage-function approach are population estimates, population exposure, adverse health effects, and economic costs. To demonstrate BenMAP's ability to analyze PM2.5 pollution control policy scenarios, we assess two sample applications: (1) benefits of a national-level air quality control program, and (2) benefits of attaining two annual PM2.5 standards in California (annual average standards of 15 microg/m3 and 12 microg/m3). In the former, we estimate a scenario where control of PM2.5 emissions results in $100 billion of benefits annually. In the analysis of alternative standards, we estimate that attaining the more stringent standard (12 microg/m3) would result in approximately 2000 fewer premature deaths each year than the 15 microg/m3 achieves. BenMAP has a number of features to help clarify the analysis process. It allows the user to record in a configuration all of the choices made during an analysis. Configurations are especially useful for recreating already existing policy analyses. Also, BenMAP has a number of reporting options, including a set of mapping tools that allows users to visually inspect their inputs and results.