EPA Considers 'Green GDP' Method In Bid To Bolster Cost-Benefit Tools

EPA is eying new approaches economists are developing to calculate the value of a clean environment to economic growth -- a controversial approach known as Green Gross Domestic Product (Green GDP) -- to boost its ability to value ecosystem improvements and help the agency cite those benefits when justifying strict regulations. Environmentalists have long argued that ecosystem "services" provide benefits to humans, such as wetlands that control flooding and provide clean water, and that damage to the ecosystems comes at...