As part of the Philadelphia Air Toxics Project, EPA Region 3 and EPA headquarters evaluated the economic impact of diesel particulate matter (PM) in the five county Philadelphia metropolitan area.

The evaluation estimates that in 1999 diesel PM caused 260 deaths at a cost of $1.4 billion; 450 non-fatal heart attacks at a cost of $37 million; 32,000 missed days of work at a cost of $11 million in wages; and 3,700 asthma attacks at a cost of $160,000 EPA developed an economic analysis software for fine particulate matter called BenMAP.

Philadelphia is the first test case of the local-scale version of the software. It works by matching changes in particulate matter with known health impacts and the cost of those impacts. This study investigated the diesel on-road and non-road contribution to PM. The costs of diesel PM were calculated by subtracting the diesel PM from the overall PM concentration - the diesel difference.

Health impacts were based on peer-reviewed epidemiological studies. Costs were calculated using willingness to pay, cost of illness, and lost wages in year 2000.

8/20/2004