Benefit-Cost Analysis of Proposed VOC Emissions Rules in New Mexico
On behalf of Environmental Defense Fund, Synapse conducted a benefit-cost analysis of proposed emissions rules drafted by the New Mexico Environment Department. These proposed rules curb emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the oil and gas industry in New Mexico. The analysis compared implementation costs to four types of benefits to the state of New Mexico: sales from newly captured gas, avoided costs related to human health impacts, avoided nonattainment costs of reduced GHG emissions, and the global societal benefit of reducing methane emissions into the atmosphere. The report presents three different approaches to the benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of the proposed rules (e.g., New Mexico BCR, National BCR, and Global BCR) – all of which are cost-effective according to the Synapse analysis.