NCEE Seminar: Paving the Swamp: Consequences of Land Use Regulation Under the Clean Water Act

Virtual Seminar
Washington, DC 20460
United States

Presenter:  Charles Taylor

Hannah Druckenmiller Joseph S. Shapiro and Charles A. Taylor

We study how environmental regulation of land use affects the environment and the economy. We overlay dramatic recent changes in Clean Water Act jurisdiction due to White House and Supreme Court rules with cross-sectional variation in water resource extent that allows us to approximate property-level exposure to deregulation. We then estimate the impact of water resource deregulation on property values. Additionally, we study project-level decisions by the Army Corps of Engineers on the regulation of individual water resources. Four findings emerge. First, recent rule changes to the Clean Water Act greatly alter regulatory stringency. Second, regulation decreases development activity, as measured from permitting and satellite data. Third, Clean Water Act regulation substantially decreases values of non-residential land parcels that include water resources. Fourth, we compute the economic costs of the Clean Water Act’s land use regulation.

Note: Hosting these seminars does not necessarily express or imply EPA approval or endorsement of the speaker’s views.

Contact: Ann Wolverton, 202-566-2278 (wolverton.ann@epa.gov)

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This seminar is not open to the media. The purpose of the seminar, and all our seminars, is to foster the free exchange of information. For media inquiries, please contact the Office of Public Affairs (https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/about-office-public-affairs-opa).