Cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay brings billions in benefits

We all value clean air, clean water, and nature’s beauty, but we often overlook the actual dollar value of the services which nature provides for us. Recently, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation released a report, The Economic Benefits of Cleaning Up the Chesapeake Bay, which assesses these benefits and gives them a current dollar value as it determines the increased value given full implementation of the plan to clean up the Bay (which has been discussed previously on this blog).

In 2009, before the Bay cleanup plan was developed, the land and waters of the Bay region provided annual benefits of $107.2 billion in the form of air and water filtering, agriculture, seafood production, increased property values, and protection from hurricanes and flooding.

Once the Bay cleanup plan is fully implemented, the value of these same benefits will increase by $22.5 billion every year. For Pennsylvania, this translates to an annual increase in the value of natural services by $6.2 billion, from $32.6 billion to $38.8 billion. This significant increase is driven largely by the enhanced value of the water supply -- both quantity and quality -- for drinking, agriculture, and industry, valued at $1.3 billion annually, and a $2 billion annual increase due to improved aesthetics and the ability to attract people to live, work, and recreate in the region.

Conversely, failing to clean up the Bay would reduce the natural benefits Pennsylvania receives by $1.8 billion annually, and increased pollution throughout the Bay region would reduce natural benefits by $5.6 billion every year.

Given the billions of dollars in benefits that cleaning up the Bay will bring, it’s hard to believe some folks are still opposed to cleanup efforts. It will take time, effort, and resources from all levels of government and various sectors of society to implement the Bay cleanup plan, but with a rate of return more than four times the cost, this one is a no-brainer.

Jennifer Quinn is central Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Harrisburg. She tweets @QuinnJen1.