The economic costs of wind erosion in the United States

Authors: FENG, IRENE - George Mason University; TONG, DANIEL - George Mason University; GILL, THOMAS - University Of Texas - El Paso; Van Pelt, Robert; Webb, Nicholas

Submitted to: Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/20/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Mineral dust suspended in the atmosphere is a hazard to safety and human, animal, and environmental health. In spite of the associated hazards, little literature is available concerning dust's impact on the economy. USDA wind erosion scientists collaborated with university scientists to assess the impacts of atmospheric dust on the economy of the United States. Dust impacts on transportation safety and delays, public health, and energy infrastructure have been identified as the primary economic costs and conservatively exceeded $187 billion USSD in 2017. These economic impacts are often overlooked and under-appreciated pointing to the need for more research in how to control fugitive dust.

Technical Abstract: Wind erosion and its resulting dust have myriad adverse economic impacts, but its socioeconomic costs in the USA were last assessed comprehensively during the 1990s. Since then, dust-associated disasters, such as at Owens Lake, absorbed high mitigation costs; solar and wind energy usage (with adverse effects from dust) rose dramatically; Valley fever, an infectious disease caused by soilborne fungi, has been increasing; and dust impacts on snowpack hydrology and transportation safety became emerging issues. These and other impacts led us to re-assess wind erosion’s economic burden. We examined past cost estimates and used domestic research data and government sources to update them when possible. Some cost estimates, such as for dust morbidity, were directly taken from existing studies. Other estimates, such as losses from renewable energy generation, Valley fever, and transportation costs were built from the ground up. The data were modified by findings from other studies (i.e. percentage of loss attributed to wind erosion), enabling total costs to be calculated with the cost per increment, such as the cost per KWh of wind energy or per motor vehicle crash. Using the most conservative parameters, windblown dust cost the U.S. at least $186 billion in 2017. This is clearly an underestimate as multiple acknowledged economic impacts were not considered. However, as a low baseline, it emphasizes the under-appreciated economic impact of wind erosion in the USA, and we hope serves as a call for detailed research to create a more complete cost estimate for wind erosion in the United States.