Economic Analysis

Economic Analysis of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL)

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) of 2021 directed investment in U.S. infrastructure to over 350 distinct programs across more than a dozen Federal departments and agencies. Of the Department of the Interior (DOI) activities under BIL, several programs are directed to address legacy pollution, restoration, and critical water resource issues. Using economic input-output analysis, PPA developed estimates on the number of jobs supported and contributions to GDP. 

FY2022 Orphaned Wells Economic Contributions  (October 2022)

Section 40601 of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) provided direction and funding for work to plug, remediate, and reclaim orphaned wells. The spending on these measures generates economic activity including supporting jobs. Using economic input-output analysis, PPA developed estimates on the number of jobs produced by spending on Section 40601 expenditures by the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture Forest Service. (Note that methodological differences between this analysis and the FY22-23 report, above, means they are not directly comparable.)

Economic Review of Wildland Fire Damages

Wildland fires shape nature and affect people in many parts of the United States. Understanding the benefits and costs of these fires and their management is essential when allocating resources to improve outcomes for people and nature. PPA staff conducted a literature review on benefits and economic costs of wildland fire and society’s investment in its management. PPA staff concluded that ongoing additional investment in DOI wildfire-management workforce capacity and capabilities would likely help society avoid some of the large losses associated with catastrophic wildfire.

Provisional Inflation Framework 

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) is currently managing transformative levels of investment concurrent with volatile prices for goods, services, and labor. Offices and program areas need to account for inflation in budgeting, planning, and policy decisions, especially when historical costs may not serve as an accurate proxy. To help address this challenge, PPA staff developed a provisional framework for estimating inflation and illustrate it with three real-world examples from the Department.

Economic Contributions of Great American Outdoors Act Legacy Restoration Fund Projects 

The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA)  is an unprecedented investment to address critical deferred maintenance projects and improve transportation and recreation infrastructure in national parks, national wildlife refuges and recreation areas, and at Bureau of Indian Education schools. Under this legislation the newly created National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund will provide up to $1.6 billion a year, for five years, to help address a multi-billion-dollar deferred maintenance backlog.  These reports provide estimates of the economic contributions of the Department of the Interior’s Fiscal Year National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund projects.    

Economic Impacts of Restoration: Case Study on New Jersey Dam Removals

The Combe Fill South Landfill is located in the New Jersey Highlands Region, an area known to support an exceptionally diverse array of natural resources including unique biotic communities and critical habitats. Natural Resource Trustees, including the USFWS NJ Field Office (NJFO) for Interior, determined that the release of hazardous substances from the landfill resulted in a 230‐acre plume of contaminated groundwater beneath and around the Site. Using NRDAR settlement funds, the NJFO initiated a cooperative agreement with The Nature Conservancy to remove the Columbia and Remnant Dams, located on the Paulins Kill River, NJ. Staff from PPA, USFWS NJFO, and USGS completed a case study evaluating the economic impacts of the project.

Economic Contributions of Outdoor Recreation on Federal Lands

Outdoor recreation on Federal lands and waters provides benefits to individuals who participate in these activities in a variety of ways, supporting physical, mental, and spiritual health, and providing opportunities to spend time with family and friends. Outdoor recreation is also a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States. Local communities and businesses derive significant benefits from the economic activity and spending associated with trips to these locations. Outdoor recreationists made more than 889 million visits to Federal lands and waterways in 2016, spending $49 billion and supporting 826,000 jobs. This paper summarizes economic contributions from 2016 for seven agencies: BLM, NOAA, NPS, Reclamation, US Army Corps of Engineers, USFS, and USFWS.

Estimating Recreational Visitation to Federally-Managed Lands

The Office of Policy Analysis led a Service First funded project looking at methods to estimate recreational visitation data. As part of this project, in April 2017 a report was completed by Industrial Economics, Inc. that describes the methodologies currently used by federal land management agencies to characterize visitation on the lands under their jurisdiction and a number of alternative approaches that capitalize on technology that may be useful to these agencies in the future. The report also provides a series of recommendations for improving data collection, documentation, and accessibility of the data.

 

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