We assist our government clients in addressing complex environmental management, regulatory, and policy challenges. We are a key provider of analytical support to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We also work around the world on projects that address environmental health and pollution. Abt Associates work has had significant impact for our clients in measuring the social costs and benefits of environmental regulations and environmental impacts both in the United States and around the world. We are also a leader in the development of decision-support tools that allow our clients to more easily access, analyze and understand environmental data.
Developing a guidance document outlining the requirements of the Envirornmental Protection Agency (EPA) Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) rule
Insight: With input from regulators and affected industries we incorporated issues and questions raised by the regulated community, as well as the EPA's SPCC Technical Workgroup, to develop consensus and support for this comprehensive document.
Client Impact: For the first time, regional EPA inspectors and regulated companies implementing an SPCC Plan to prevent oil spills from reaching U.S. waterways can refer to a consistent, national policy statement on oil spill prevention rules.
Assessing health and environmental risks posed by the Amran Cement Plant in Yemen for USAID
Insight: This was the first study of its kind in Yemen to assess health risks posed by an industrial plant. The study recommended a series of specific steps and interventions that the cement plant could take to reduce health risks to communities in the plant's vicinty.
Client Impact: As a result of our assessment, the plant agreed to invest $7 million to reduce environmental and health risks and has contracted with a Dutch firm to implement the recommendations to reduce environ-mental hazards, including replacing an outdated filter system that has been a major cause of respiratory illness. This USAID-funded activity serves as a model of good governance and collaboration with the private sector
Helping the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers understand the effects of Hurricane Katrina and to prepare for future hurricane threats
Insight: We assessed the human health effects from Hurricane Katrina for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and provided an exhaustive overview of the morbidity and mortality associated with the event. We also performed a loss of life modeling to study the relationship between actual and hypothetical system performance scenarios as well as future flood-related mortality risk.
Client Impact: For future hurricane scenarios, the Army Corps of Engineers can estimate the flood elevation that would be expected in each drainage basin. Using our report, they can tie a fatality estimate to each potential hurricane event. Along with information on the likelihood of each hurricane scenario, they can estimate the overall residual fatality risk in the New Orleans area as well as evaluate the risk of fatality under different assumptions about the storm protection system.
Estimating the health impacts, and associated economic values, connected with changes in ambient air pollution
Insight: We developed the Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program, or BenMAP, with funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This software program and database allows users to estimate the health impacts and economic values associated with air pollution. It also serves as a Geographic Information System, allowing users to create maps of air pollution, population, incidence rates, and other types of data.
Client Impact: BenMAP allows policy makers in many countries assess future policy options by exploring multiple scenarios. It allows users to see where improvements can be made in mortality and understand the economic costs of changes in policy. The program is available free of charge from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Estimating the avoidable health effects of a series of alternative regulatory scenarios for power plants
Insight: We analyzed the effects in 2010 and 2020 of three policy alternatives to the proposed Clear Skies Act. Using EPA estimates and forecasting methods, we prepared future ambient air quality projections for each of nine possible scenarios.
Client Impact: Our analysis identified the cost in lives of each alternative and helped inform the policy choices and decisions made by the U.S. Congress
Estimating the benefits of enforcing existing regulations governing ozone levels for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Insight: In the Clean Air Act of 1970, EPA identified ozone as one of six "criteria pollutants" of serious concern. Numerous scientific studies since 1996 have provided strong evidence of an association between ozone and health problems, including premature death. The Abt Associates analysis using BenMAP, an Abt Associates developed computer program for estimating the effects and benefits of changes in air pollution, was able to quantify those effects and their economic costs. The researchers estimated the total economic benefit of having met the ozone standards at $5.7 billion.
Client Impact: The work of the Abt Associates researchers was recognized as "groundbreaking science" in the application of BenMAP to the problem of quantifying the health benefits of reducing ozone. The work received the EPA Science and Technological Achievement Award for 2006.
Identifying ways to significantly improve the environmental attributes of electronics and electronic equipment
Insight: Funded by a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and contributions from the electronics industry, we examined the environmental impacts of lead and lead-free solders during their lifecycles, from mining to industrial applications to disposal or recycling. We also completed a comparative assessment of the impacts of lead-free solder alloys as alternatives to tin/lead.
Client Impact: The study was designed to provide the electronics industry with the information needed to improve the environmental attributes of electronics and electronic equipment containing solder. Its potential to significantly improve a serious environmental problem was recognized by the EPA's Scientific and Technological Achievement Awards Program.
